POMANDER SAVEUR

Lunch of Little Fishes

2009-08-06T14:12:00.006-04:00

The other day for lunch my father's friend and honorary patron at La Touche cooked up a very tasty fishy treat from Brittany. Brigitte is from Bretagne, a region in north-western France. Bretons are sadly the butt of many French jokes which make light of their accents, dress, and food. Sometimes, however, the food is delicious, as was the case with this crêpe sarrasin à la sardine, or buckwheat crêpe with sardines. Brigitte artfully grilled fresh sardines over a wood fire to impart a smoky flavor and lessen the sardines' greasy fishy quality. She then deboned and filleted each little sardine with great finesse and served them in piping hot crêpe with a generous pat of quality breton butter. She also threw in a few thinly-sliced green onions from the garden, which was a departure from the breton classic, albeit a scrumptious one. Props to Brigitte for teaching us a new way of eating often-neglected little fishies and for sharing a piece of her heritage (which we will try not to make fun of her for.) As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Rigatoni Alla Norma

2009-08-05T11:36:00.009-04:00

I realized the other day that I have gone longer than usual without eating pasta. I love pasta and I tend to eat it at once a week which some may argue is too much but hey, it’s cheap, versatile, and easy. We have been eating extremely French food for the past week which is perfectly normal given our setting but every now and then it is fun to mix it up with some Italian. My father presented me with a recipe for something called “pasta alla Norma” that came shockingly from French Elle. Elle features a cooking section in France and my dad regularly cooks from it much to my chagrin. As a matter of fact the tagine that he is making for dinner tonight comes from its pages. Pasta alla Norma has more of a poetic name that it deserves, basically a pomodoro sauce with the addition of eggplant which I took as the base of my pasta dish. I started out by sautéing some shallots and garlic in olive oil then added strips of eggplant and a splash of red wine. After the liquid evaporated I threw in a couple of cans of whole tomatoes, a teaspoon of dried oregano, and a handful of chopped basil. I cooked the whole thing over low heat for about 40 minutes before mixing in al dente rigatoni. The funny thing was that my father boiled way too much rigatoni so we had about four cups of cooked noodles leftover to work with at lunch the next day. I grated some Parmesan and threw another handful of fresh basil on top before serving the heady pasta packed with succulent eggplant pieces.

Valerie was in charge of dessert which is a recent development in her cooking career. She has recently been baking up a storm making cookies, tarts, pies, as well as ice creams and sorbets much to my delight. She had a large box of absolutely gorgeous long stem strawberries from the local farmer’s market to work with and set about doing so. These were no ordinary strawberries however. Not only were they organic and cultivated by a local farmer, they were Mara des bois, an exceptional Mediterranean variety valued for its amazing taste reminiscent of fraise de bois. This particular variety along with Garriguet are the two kings of French strawberries therefore it is best to serve them with as little manipulation as possible. Valerie arranged each plate with a generous handful of strawberries and dressed them with Chantilly, a thick whipped cream sweetened with vanilla sugar. It was an excellent dessert that really highlighted the summer fruit and seemed rather light despite the cream. Overall it was a tasty meal that showcased two of my favorite things, pasta and strawberries. Way to go team. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Courgettes, Courgettes, Courgettes

2009-08-05T10:39:00.015-04:00

Our garden at La Touche is impressive and I feel obliged to further sing its praises. In the fruit department there are multiple old growth trees including three varieties of apple, two pears, and three plums. There are also a couple of fig trees, one wild that popped up of its own accord and a second that was planted in honor of my 21st birthday a few years back. Neither produce fruit but it is only a matter of time. We also have a few cherry trees scattered about the property but the birds get to them before we even spot the ripened fruit. The vegetables we harvest include potatoes, leeks, onions, carrots, haricots verts, artichokes, tomatoes, lettuces, and of course our famous courgettes de Nice. I have already devoted a significant amount of copy to these light green gems hailing from the south of France (see 7/30/09) but there are so many to eat that they keep recurring in our meals.

The problem and the joy of having a significant vegetable garden at home is that when things are in season they must be eaten and sometimes eaten in redundant surplus. For the past three or four days we have been racking our collective minds to figure out ways of cooking these tasty zucchinis and in turn eating them for almost every meal. We have had them baked in gratins, pureed into soups, steamed, and sliced into carpaccios. I have been the one in charge of dressing and/or marinating these large plates of thinly sliced courgettes. These are two examples of my handiwork, an Asian inspired circular carpaccio and an Italian style cut lengthwise. I wanted to crate a sort of East meets West dynamic between the two so I brushed the former with soy sauce, sesame oil, and purple basil and the latter with olive oil, lemon juice, and mint. Among those present at lunch I think it was a toss up between the two, some preferred the Asian flavors and others the simple Mediterranean marinade. Either way we made use of about four large courgettes which is a victory in my book.

The second salad among the many we ate for lunch on the lawn in the sunshine under the shade of a parasol consisted of golden string beans with mustard vinaigrette and purple basil. These long yellow beans are another summer vegetable that we have in excess but thankfully they are not as well adapted to our climate. They are a little less fibrous than their green cousins and have a milder flavor and less waxy skin that takes on sauces nicely. Normally we eat them with some quartered tomatoes and black olives but in this case I went with a Dijon and sherry vinaigrette with chopped basil which I had leftover from the Asian carpaccio. It was a simple and delicious summer salad that showcased the golden beans inherent flavor.

The main course of the meal was a Spanish omelet packed with onions and chorizo eaten with a green salad and crusty bread. My father and I went to one of our favorite little markets in Paris last week to buy some Spanish and Basque treats like Pata Negra, pickled sardines, and chorizo. They sell big honking pieces on long strings that are much wider and better aged than those sold in the States. I often use chorizo in omelets and scrambles, particularly my chorizo, scallion, and smoked Gouda scramble, because of its lovely color and amazing flavor. This one was a bit spicy which brought a welcomed bite to our farm raised eggs whipped with a bit of cream for richness. It was flipped halfway through cooking to crisp both sides and give the whole thing a quiche-like appearance, served in wedges right from the pot. Lunch was very tasty and the setting was stunning with a nice view of the house and the adjacent woods. We also managed to use the courgettes in a relatively new fashion and at the very least killed a few of them off. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Regional Meal Back At La Touche

2009-08-05T07:17:00.016-04:00

After a lovely though overly brief stay in Paris last week doing the tour of the usual museum suspects and tasty restaurants Valerie and I made our way back to the countryside. We left on Sunday morning accompanied by my cousin Nick and his lady Delphine despite traffic warnings due to the August rush of vacationers leaving Paris. We made good time however and made it in time for arriving in the early afternoon for a tasty lunch that I completely forgot to photograph. Dinner was another story however. We spent the day lounging around the property and went for a walk in the late afternoon when Delphine spotted some cèpes. Cèpes are woodsy mushrooms akin to porcinis that grow among the forests of France particularly around Bordeaux though we have a variety, cèpe des pins, in the Sologne. The large light brown and white mushrooms resemble porcini in flavor and texture but I find them much superior. Eaten fresh they are nutty and meaty with a smooth, creamy, and slightly slimy texture. Cèpes are eaten raw in Italy sliced paper-thin and dressed with olive oil and sea salt and in France they are commonly sautéed with butter or added to pasta, risotto, or soups. At La Touche we prefer them cooked and eaten with minimal preparation which allows you to really savor the flavor of the woods. We foraged quite a heavy load and brought them back to the kitchen to be fried up with a bit of minced garlic and parsley. They were absolutely delicious and I look forward to going back into the woods in search of more.

The dinner was a typical Solognot meal with a roasted meat, garden side dish, and tasty foraged appetizer. The only difference was that we did not raise, hunt, and dress the lamb ourselves, opting instead to buy a lamb leg from the local butcher. I love lamb and it has become one of my go to meats when I host company at my apartment in New York. Leg of lamb also happens to be one of my favorite cuts, the perfect roast for a large crowd that usually guarantees leftovers. The bone insures that the meat remains moist throughout cooking and imparts a delicious flavor to the roast which I stuffed with tons of garlic and rosemary. I rubbed the whole thing with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper before throwing it into a hot oven to cook for about 40 minutes give or take. It was a little overcooked but I like it very rare or seignant as they say in France. I think that generally people enjoyed it especially when eaten with our new favorite; truffled mustard, basically Dijon loaded with black truffle paste.

We ate the crisp roasted lamb packed with garlicky goodness and herbal flavor alongside roasted potatoes plucked from the garden. These spuds happened to be of the Ratte variety. La Ratte is a small French fingerling potato held in high esteem by French chefs for its nutty flavor and creamy texture. I have mostly encountered them in France whether at Parisian markets, restaurants, or from our garden at La Touche. In the past five or six years however Ratte potatoes have been popping up at Farmer’s markets in the States much to my delight. There is an ideal function for every potato and unfortunately roasting is better suited to Charlottes or potatoes with a higher starch content that will not dry out. Our roasted la Rattes did exactly that and some where simply to hard to chew through, much better steamed with a bit of sweet butter or olive oil and tons of fresh herbs. We ate our meat and potatoes followed by the ubiquitous green salad and cheese course consisting of Roquefort, Comte, Brebis Bleu, Cantal, and my current favorite, Rocamadour. It was a tasty meal that was very much a product of the region and Michael Pollan would have been beside himself because we used all natural whole foods coming from the woods, garden plots, and pastures around us. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Dinner With Family At Auguste

2009-08-04T16:32:00.010-04:00

Last Tuesday evening my father, Valerie, and I went to dinner with some very cheery company at a highly regarded new restaurant in the neighborhood that my father wanted to try. My cousin Cuote, his lovely wife Ashley, and their golden retriever Cassidy joined us for dinner and it was great to catch up after not seeing them since Christmas. My dad is always on the prowl for new places in Paris and combs through countless magazines, newspapers, and cooking channels to find them. Auguste, a one star restaurant in the 7th arrondissement boasted a short but ambitious menu full of interesting sounding things and a modern décor dominated by reds and blacks. Chef Orieux could be considered a young executive chef/proprietor at 32 but he has an impressive resume behind him. He was a disciple of Bocuse in his youth before working as sous-chef under Yannick Alleno at Meurice in Paris. His food is typical nouvelle cuisine using international ingredients mixed with seasonal produce to create vibrant and exciting dishes. My father and Cuote started their meal with tomates anciennes confites de Jacky Mercier, chantilly de yaourt au basilic, et rouget à la fleur de sel. The appetizer is roughly translated to slow-roasted tomatoes with basil-yogurt mousse and salted red snapper. They thought it was good but not great with a clever concept behind it though overall the flavors were dull. The red snapper was the best part but it looked out of place on the plate, isolated from the rest of the dish.

For my first course I had the special of the day, langoustines frito au basilic et petites pois a la verveine or fried langoustines with basil and peas. The peas came in the form of a bright green mousse that tasted exactly like fresh peas and reminded me of spring. The langoustines were good, I am so crazy about them that there is no way they cannot be, but it was a shame to fry them so thoroughly which jeopardized their delicate texture. They were wrapped in filo and would have benefited from a lighter material like a tempura batter to really keep the seafood bits tender. There was supposed to be lemon verbena somewhere in the dish but I think it was omitted otherwise it was tasteless. I was bummed about that because it was one of the main reasons that I chose the dish other than the fact that if there is langoustine on the menu I order it without fail. Like the tomato and red snapper dish it was a good idea that got a little lost in the execution and the flavors were not as clearly pronounced as they should have been.

There is a trend that happens all too frequently in restaurants these days whether in Paris or New York where the entrees and desserts are excellent while the mains are sub par. Unfortunately Auguste adhered to this increasingly common model and I was disappointed with my main course and I do not think I was alone in my judgment. I had the other special of the day which ended up biting me in the ass; cabillaud aux herbes, mousse de carrotes, et curcuma espuma or herb crusted cod with carrot mousse and curcuma (wild turmeric) foam. The fish was perfectly cooked but bland despite the herbs and the chunks of steamed carrots surrounded by carrot juice elevated with butter was really boring. The curcuma mousse was interesting and contrasted nicely with the fish and sweetness of the carrots but overall the dish was not good; if I had served it, let alone as a daily special, I would be ashamed. Overall the highlight of the meal was the company, a rich ensemble of family and friends that I was thrilled to spend the evening with. The food was ok but way overpriced for what it was and chef Orieux was overly ambitious in the planning of his dishes. I did not learn until afterwards it had a Michelin star and I would certainly not have guessed. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

La Patrimoine Gastronomique Au Villaret

2009-08-04T11:14:00.016-04:00

Upon my return to Paris this past week from the countryside my father and I scheduled a tour of restaurants. Our first stop was Le Villaret, an interesting bistro with a rustic farm-like atmosphere in the 11th arrondissement. My father and I both started with a Provençal tomato tart topped with garlicky frog’s legs. The tart was overly greasy, practically drenched in olive oil but the frogs were wonderful and I always relish the opportunity to eat them. Paris is a great place to eat because there is such a diverse range of cuisines and foods to choose from, whether French, Italian, Chinese, or Middle Eastern. There is also a wealth of regional restaurants in Paris testament to a wider trend in French gastronomy. Terroir and la patrimoine gastronomique or culinary patrimony have become embedded in French culture since the early 1980s with the arrival and subsequent widespread acceptance of fast food chains like McDonalds. Much like in the United States, European city centers like Paris and Rome have seen the birth of alternate food movements that have rapidly grown in popularity. The organics, sustainability, locavore, and slow food movements have incarnations in France largely driven by people opposed to globalization and industrial food. These twin antagonists have given rise to a revival of two cornerstones of French culinary identity: regional cuisine and local foods.

Regional cuisines, local food goods, and anything related to terroir are in demand right now and restaurateurs, chefs, and politicos are responding to the trend. As a result Paris is rife with Basque, Provençal, Breton, and Niçois restaurants serving the regional foods of that gourmet cultural microcosm. This increased focus on regionalism and local knowledge lies at the heart of the social movement French food anthropologists call la patrimoine gastronomique, which situates itself in opposition to widespread homogeneity due to globalization. Le Villaret has its own characteristic cuisine that I would call neo-bistro fueled by la nouvelle cuisine, another major element of French culinary identity. The second courses all looked amazing and my father decided on the warm lobster salad with spring vegetables and herb vinaigrette. It was a simple dish composed of a perfectly steamed lobster half on a bed of sautéed carrots, peas, asparagus, and baby potatoes drizzled with a peppery vinaigrette reminiscent of pesto. I was jealous that I did not order it because it was both tasty and summery. The chef used fresh seasonal ingredients in inventive ways to produce rather light and intriguing dishes that were beautifully plated, directly inspired by the nouvelle cuisine movement in French cooking. La nouvelle cuisine is a response to the orthodoxy of la cuisine classique characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased emphasis on presentation. It is marked by a move from excessively fattening and rich dishes featuring large amounts of animal protein like butter, cream, and eggs in favor of more imaginatively prepared food and inventive usage of a diverse array of ingredients. Some of the main tenets of la nouvelle cuisine include that cooking times should be reduced to preserve natural flavors; that cuisine should feature and highlight the freshest possible ingredients; and that chefs should always strive to experiment.

Another aspect that I find particularly interesting is that the founding chefs of the movement, Bocuse, Troisgros, and Chapel, used regional dishes for inspiration instead of dishes. I believe the celebration of regional cooking in cuisine classiquela nouvelle cuisine is a product of French culinary identity rooted in the preservation of uniquely French regional foods and at odds with the perceived homogeneity brought by industrial food conglomerates like McDonald’s. My main course at Le Villaret was rabbit medallions with buttered cabbage and caramelized shallots, a gamey dish that was exceptionally well presented. The dish looked too artistic to eat and it was a shame that I did because it looked better than it actually ended up tasting. The rabbit was a little tough due to overcooking though the shallots were sweet and almost candy-like. Le Villaret is deeply emblematic of French nouvelle cuisine with hints of Provençal cooking, inventive pairing of flavors, and a detailed attention to presentation. La nouvelle cuisine is one of many social movements advocating locality, terroir, and the preservation of la patrimoine gastronomique, critical aspects of French culinary identity. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Bistro Classics: Coq Au Vin

2009-07-31T07:21:00.010-04:00

The other day the guardien of the house alerted us to the fact that one of the two roosters had recently been terrorizing the other which became an increasingly dangerous affair as the two vied for control of the flock of hens. I use the past tense because the problem was resolved and the aggressor was put to rest resulting in a fresh coq or rooster primed for cooking. Rooster is seldom used due to its extreme toughness and wealth of connective tissue; the male birds are far more active than their female counterparts. They have tons of flavor which is slightly gamier than chicken and their toughness lends itself to a richer broth when cooked. There are a variety of ways to cook a coq though virtually all involve marinating in some form of alcohol to tenderize the meat and lengthy low and slow cooking. One of the oldest French recipes that is served to this day is the archetypal dish and paragon of old school haute cuisine; coq au vin or rooster cooked in wine. It dates back to the 16th century when monarchs like Henry IV enjoyed the rust colored stew, though some say that even the ancient Gauls and their nemesis Julius Caesar dined on the dish.

Jean-Claude and I tried to make a traditional coq au vin last year, relying on a Google search to peruse recipes and ultimately decided on a hodge podge improvisation. We did not cook it long enough the meat ended up dry and very difficult to eat let alone cut with a knife. This year he and my father took another crack at it using Paul Bocuse’s recipe. Bocuse is widely held as an ambassador of modern French Cuisine and is easily one of the most prominent chefs of the 20th century credited as the founding father of French nouvelle cuisine. The dish is a complicated one indeed involving a lengthy bath in a mixture of red wine, carrots, onions, and plenty of fresh herbs after which the coq is dried for a day and then braised. Another round of vegetables including mushrooms is sautéed with lardons before the meat is added and stewed for hours and hours over low heat with more wine, in this case a bottle of Saumur from the Loire. Characteristic of French cooking, terroir plays an important role and affects the taste of each individual coq au vin. Each region has a variant using local wine such as coq au vin jaune in the Jura or coq au Riesling in Alsace though the most extravagant is coq au Chambertin though that runs a little expensive these days and with which it is kind of a shame to cook. The dish came out a lovely golden-red color with a thick, rich broth and tender meat that went excellently with the bottle of Côtes-du-Rhône we were drinking. We served the coq with some steamed potatoes from the garden which helped sop up all of the tasty sauce and was a perfect summer one pot meal.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I never make desserts and I flat out dislike the concept of baking though I respect the art which is way beyond me. Sugar and flour are simply to hard to work with and every time I bake, it turns out virtually inedible. It is curious however that I often make sweet treats in La Touche, leaving the savory cooking for the older guys who clearly know what they are doing. I prefer to be the young apprentice watching from the shadows or occasionally chopping vegetables or making runs to the garden to collect herbs. In short, I experiment with desserts in La Touche because there is little else for me to contribute and we generally lack a patissier or dessert-maker. There is a fancy ice cream maker that I love to toy with and one of my favorite activities is to convert whatever fruit from the garden or local markets my father brings back into frozen treats. For tonight’s dinner I poached a bunch of tiny pears from the single tree we have in the garden. I poached them in some vin du paille or hay wine which is a regional specialty to impart a boozy flavor with some cloves, cinnamon, honey, and lemon. The second sweet treat was donut peach sorbet with fresh strawberries and a strawberry-thyme coulis. Tasty tasty indeed and I think the older dudes were impressed with my dessert duo that was a refreshing treat after a rather rich old school meal. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Dejeuner Du Dimanche

2009-07-30T11:50:00.014-04:00

I mentioned in a recent post that we eat a lot of salads at La Touche, my father’s country house in the Loire which he shares with a couple of long time friends. Lunch typically consists of several salads, a panier of bread, and a substantial wedge of cheese. It is a meal large enough to satiate an afternoon hunger but is not overly filling because there is rarely meat served unless it is reheated from the night before. A main reason for the plethora of salads is the summer surplus of garden produce including the aforementioned courgettes de nice, tomatoes, potatoes, and haricots verts. I wanted to do something creative with courgettes, the amazing little light green zucchinis, so I decided to make a carpaccio. Our kitchen is equipped with tons of culinary gadgets and the professional mandolin is one such toy perfect for cutting long translucent slices of zucchini. I arranged the slices on a large platter and dressed them a half hour before sitting down to lunch with lemon juice, olive oil, and sea salt. The brief marinating time gives the acidity in the sauce enough time to slightly breakdown the fibrous cells of the vegetable. I topped the zucchini with some shredded basil, a crack of black pepper, and a white impatient to dress up the presentation before we tucked in.

These little green strings look like haricots verts at first glance but they are far from their terrestrial cousins. These are in fact salicorns or samphire in English, an aquatic succulent that is very tasty whether raw or cooked. They are basically string beans of the sea which are a delicacy in France though they are beginning to be eaten with increasing frequency in England. In an interesting historical and linguistic note the term samphire is believed to be a British corruption, or bastardization depending on whom you ask, of the French name for the plant, herbe de Saint-Pierre. I have always eaten them steamed or boiled and coated in sweet butter or olive oil as a scrumptious accompaniment to seafood. Because salicorns are cultivated mainly in salt marshes they have a very high salt content and must be cooked without salt in plenty of water. It looks a lot like seaweed when cooked but does not really taste like the sea besides being salty. In fact the flavor is more akin to baby spinach, green beans, or asparagus. These are a very tasty vegetable indeed, one of the rare foods that I eat solely when I come to France highlighting the richness and variety of French cuisine that I find so intriguing.

The third dish we had for our Sunday lunch on the patio along with a delicious piece of Comte and a creamy wedge of Roquefort was sliced melon served au nature without any preparation. The French love a good melon and even though these French table melons look like cantaloupe, they are most certainly not. They actually taste nothing like cantaloupe, often served with ham, prosciutto, or with aged port poured into the cavity of a halved melon. Originally cantaloupe referred only to lightly ribbed gray-green European melons like these though it has gradually come to connote any orange-fleshed melon. They are a bit smaller than American cantaloupes and are eaten as a savory rather than sweet treat even though they are sweeter than their US counterparts. Anyway you slice it however a melon is a melon and these are incredibly popular in France and are particularly delicious in the summertime. I like mine with a generous crack of black pepper which creates an interesting dynamic between sweet and spice, a very tasty and refreshing lunch item to enjoy when dining outside in the sunshine. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Birthday Celebration Au Lion d'Or

2009-07-30T09:14:00.025-04:00

I turned twenty four last Saturday and my father surprised me with an invitation to the local one star restaurant in the town adjacent to La Touche. Romorantin is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France known for its rugby team, small but charming chateau, and elite luxury hotel. The principal draw of the town however is the Grand Hotel du Lion d’Or or hotel of the golden lion. It is on the list of Relais-Chateau’s finest hotels and its restaurant is truly top notch. I have been celebrating my birthday at the Lion d’Or off and on since I was ten years old and it is consistently one of the gastronomic highlights of the year. I had the fixed menu, a five course affair with little treats along the way and a “surprise dessert”. We sat outside in the 18th century courtyard that provided an ideal setting for dinner though unfortunately did not facilitate photography. As a result I could only capture the first half of the meal so a textual description of the latter will have to suffice. The chef offered us a few small plates to whet our appetites consisting of, clockwise from top-left, a foie gras emulsion, sardine rillettes, and mackerel mousse with tomato coulis.

The first course was actually split into three dishes making the five course dinner seem more like seven or eight. It was a trio of chanterelle mushrooms or girolles in French, a veritable feast for the eyes and palate. The first was an overly rich eggy concoction that blew me away; oeuf mousseux aux girolles et sauce poulette or egg mousse with chanterelles and Poulette sauce. The dish was simply a buttery egg sauce paired with lightly browned chanterelles but the pairing of egg and mushrooms worked extremely well. Thankfully it was served in a small portion because otherwise I would have filled up before the subsequent four courses arrived. This is one of those things that seems easy enough to make but actually requires a ton of technical skill, experience, quality ingredients, and timing that amounts to what I imagine to be a very difficult dish to pull off at home.

The second of the chanterelle trio was girolles en gelee a l’estragon et sorbet de petits pois or chanterelles with tarragon jelly and pea sorbet. The sorbet was a vibrant green with an amazingly fresh pea flavor that must have had a hell of a lot of cream in it to enrichen the vegetal flavor. The sautéed chanterelles came surrounded by a deeply flavorful jelly and a crisp slice of prosciutto that virtually melted in your mouth, bringing a much-needed saltiness to the dish.

The last of the opening course was a jalousie de girolles et de pommes de terre persillees or chanterelles with potatoes and parsley. This was the most classic dish of the trio and by extension the most boring but the flavors were there and it was a nice end to an amazing round of appetizers. It was a little crazy and not to mention excessive to have chanterelles, one of my very favorite mushrooms, served three ways but man was it good.

The second course was langoustine avec mousse d’agrumes et pickles au vinaigre de sureau or langoustines with citrus mousse and elderberry vinegar-pickled vegetables. Langoustines or Norway lobsters are a slim, orange-pink lobster fished in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and North Sea as far north as Iceland. They taste like a cross between lobster and shrimp with an incredibly sweet and hardly fishy taste that is absolutely amazing whether steamed, grilled, sautéed, boiled, or eaten raw. They are one of my very favorite foods and I am so pissed that they are not available in the States. The citrus mousse had a very bright flavor reminiscent of Meyer lemons with notes of tropical fruit that contrasted perfectly with the lightly steamed langoustine and elderberry pickles. The little dish to the side was a langoustine tartare with “curry sauce”, basically a cream sauce with lots of curry powder, kaffir lime, and ginger. This dish was pristine and damn good, far and away my favorite course of the night. By the end of it night had fallen which unfortunately marked the end of the photography.

The third course was foie gras chaud avec lait d’amandes et cerises or sautéed foie gras with almond milk mousse and cherries, a very heavy dish that I could have done without. The third was sole et tourteau au menthe et corinadre avec un rouleau de printemps or sole with crab, mint, cilantro, and a fresh spring roll. Sole is a rather boring fish that signals fine dining and traditional French haute cusine but the dish as a whole lacked inventiveness. The final dish before we moved on to dessert was carre d’agneau au cumin et citron avec travers confits or lamb chop and ribs with cumin and preserved lemon. This was the second highlight of the meal consisting of two perfectly cooked pieces of lamb on a bed of minced eggplant with a robust sauce of cumin and preserved lemon. The surprise dessert in fact was two small treats. The first was a fantastic white peach soufflé with gooseberry coulis and lemon verbena ice cream, the third highlight of the meal. The second dessert was much less interesting; strawberry “jam” with lemon cake and milk ice cream. The meal was good as a whole but not nearly as scrumptious as I remember from previous visits. There were three or four truly remarkable things that I will try to replicate at home but others like the sole were just not that memorable. All in all it was a great night as we ate the remainder of the meal by candlelight which made for an elegant atmosphere and very special birthday. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Lunch On The Veranda

2009-07-27T12:08:00.010-04:00

The three of us spent the morning by the pool before huddling around the television to watch an exciting mountain stage of the Tour de France. My first lunch at La Touche for the summer took place at my favorite spot, a little iron table on the brick veranda at the back of the house with a view of the donkeys. Per usual I left the serious cooking to the professionals, my father and Jean-Claude, as I often do because they have years of age and experience on me. I do cook in small spurts however like my cauliflower appetizer though strangely I experiment mainly with desserts. I never make dessert at home but since the savory cooking is mostly handled and I want to take advantage of the pedagogic element of observation in the La Touche kitchen I tend to lean towards sweets. For lunch however I made a savory salad to impress my hosts, a beet salad with shallots, yogurt-curry dressing, and cilantro. For lunch we had a few salads, a tasty terrine, and the ubiquitous cheese plate accompanied by a bottle of white Burgundy.

The second salad that I had the foresight to photograph before devouring was a lunch staple that I eat pretty much once a week while I am in the French countryside: tomato salad with eggs and black olives dressed with olive oil and house made vinegar. This tasty summer salad is a lunch favorite incorporating house ingredients like eggs, garden tomatoes, and the Nicois olives brought north lovingly once a year by Jean-Claude when he visits his family. In addition to the annual deposit of olives he also brings our major supply of cold pressed olive oil which his Aunt is responsible for. In addition to the farm goods and peppery Nicois olive oil making up the salad, the house vinegar really seals the deal. About four years ago we started to produce our own vinegars after realizing how much we had been wasting on wine that had gone passé or bad. Instead of dumping bad or old wine we began to seal it in terracotta basins with huge corks and tiny spouts to sit in the cellar and develop acidity and character.

The main course of the meal deviating from the salad routine was a terrine de cerf or deer terrine. It is basically a luxurious cold meatloaf with tons of spices and jellified fat. A terrine is a glazed earthenware terracotta dish with vertical sides and a tightly fitting lid that is rectangular or oval. The term also refers to food served in a terrine whether ground game or venison, offal and pâtés, or fois gras. The first step is to marinate your chosen meat in a mix of wine, armagnac, and a wealth of herbs and spices overnight. The meat, in this case deer given to us by a hunter neighbor, is then ground with ham hock to supply fat and flavor. Thick slices of bacon are placed on the bottom of the earthenware dish, topped with ground meat, another layer of bacon, a layer of herbs and spices, and finally gêlée or meat jelly. It is not a very appetizing sounding thing but meat jelly is an important aspect of the French art of pâté, fois gras, and terrine making. You can make your own with heavily reduced stock and bones that serve as a natural thickener but in this case my father bought gêlée from the local butcher which he heated to liquid form and poured over the terrine. The whole thing is then pressed and cooked in a hot water bath or bain marie for two hours, then refrigerated for three days to settle and collect itself before being sliced and enjoyed. It is a rather lengthy and difficult process for some and I totally understand that but it is truly unique, delicious, and extremely French dish. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Pomander Saveur Is In France...Again!

2009-07-27T11:35:00.015-04:00

I arrived in France last week and my father treated to me to a three day blitz of fine dining Parisian style. Little can be said about French cooking and the superb quality of life to be had in the city of lights that has not been said by others so it will suffice to say that I am thrilled to be here. Thursday morning we drove to our country house in the Loire to enjoy a relaxing weekend and of course cook up a storm. Our house La Touche is an unbelievable place and I relish the opportunity to cook mostly from the local ingredients characteristic of the region as well as the bounty of foods we produce. In addition to the chanterelles that run wild around the woods surrounding the house we grow a number of fruits and vegetables as well as raising chickens and ducks. The Sologne region in the Loire is mainly dense woodland, a popular destination for hunters and fishermen. We are often given large cuts of wild boar, deer, and fresh water fish by our friends and neighbors which allow us to keep the freezer packed. The Loire is also Chateau country that draws countless tourists a year, particularly to the massive royal residences of Chambord and Cheverny, two gems of the ancien regime. La Touche is an ideal place for me to celebrate and deepen my love for cuisine, French culture, and wine, three pre-requisites of the bonne vivant.

My father and I arrived in the late afternoon after a two hour drive from the capital rife with traffic due to fellow summer vacationers and settled down to a glass of Chablis with my father’s best friend and housemate Jean-Claude. After catching up over an aperatif the three of us started to casually prepare a dinner of vegetables and steamed fish. I was excited to show off some of the recent inspiration garnered by my three days of eating and drinking in Paris so I made a cold appetizer to wet the palate. Cauliflower is one of the many vegetables that gets shafted in the produce section, a lesser cousin of broccoli that does not get the respect it deserves. The florets were steamed and tossed lightly with sesame oil before I sprinkled shaved raw florets blended with green tea on top as a garnish. It sounds crazy but the Asian touch and contrasting cooking techniques complimented each other nicely. It was strange, unique, and tasty all at once which is exactly what I was going for, kicking off an excellent first meal in La Touche.

One of the highlights of my first meal at La Touche was steamed zucchini dressed simply with olive oil, sea salt, and fresh basil. The zucchini came from the garden and was no ordinary variety. Courgette de nice hail from the south of France and have a sweet taste and buttery texture that puts ordinary zucchini to shame. The light green color and spotted skin look lovely on the plate and should be cooked, dressed, and eaten as minimally as possible to really savor its unique flavor. Jean-Claude was born and raised in Nice and as a result is a firm believer that these particular zucchini are the best species. I tend to agree especially after eating them all weekend in a variety of different ways showcasing their delicate flavor. The main course, which we ate along with assorted vegetables including the delicious courgettes before passing onto cheese was steamed carrelet with ponzu.

Carrelet is a delicate white fish resembling cod or haddock fished in the Atlantic that has a rather bland flavor demanding a bold finishing sauce or aggressive seasoning. My father steamed the fish in a wild Asian mixture of soy sauce, lime juice, ginger, five spice, cilantro, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and garlic. It was a powerful cooking liquid that flavored the otherwise dull white fish nicely. He then dressed the plated fillets with ground Sumac, a North American spice used primarily in Middle-Eastern cuisine that often replaces lemon in seafood dishes because of its peppery taste, decorative yellow color, and slight acidity. In addition to Sumac, my father garnished the fish with chopped cilantro and ponzu sauce, a Japanese finishing sauce traditionally accompanying sashimi that is both tart and sweet. The fish was very good and had a deep, complex series of Asian flavors running throughout making the dinner a sort of east meets west experience. The fresh garden vegetables and salad served in typical Mediterranean French fashion contrasted culturally with the Asian inspired fish and my cauliflower concoction. It was a tasty meal that welcomed me to La Touche and I am sure glad to be here able to share my experiences both in and out of the kitchen. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Pasta Alla Checca

2009-07-21T04:40:00.008-04:00

There is a little Italian joint in West Hollywood that my parents would take me to weekly called Angeli that serves rudimentary staples like pizza, pasta, and salad at affordable prices and outstanding quality. There are three specialties that I remember fondly; pizza Quattro stagione with four toppings on an individual pie, Insalata Forte named for its garlicky dressing, and spaghetti alla checca. Checca is a sauce made of raw tomatoes, garlic, basil, and olive oil minced finely tossed with warm pasta that effectively cooks the ingredients, rendering the dish pleasantly aromatic. Angeli was my first introduction to checca, mainly prepared in the summer time when tomatoes are at their peak, though I have made it many times since. It is a very good, fresh tasting sauce that takes about 3 minutes to make if one has a food processor or about 15 if wielding a chef’s knife. I threw one tomato into my food processor along with two cloves of garlic, a handful of fresh basil, and about a 1/4 cup of olive oil. After it was coarsely pureed into a salsa-like consistency, I tossed the sauce with some Gigli noodles (again not to be confused with the terrible 2003 film) and had myself a mean little Sunday lunch. I recommend this super simple and delicious sauce which is perfect for a quick summer meal as August approaches and heirloom tomato season hits. You can also double checca as a sauce for chicken or delicate white fish. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

A Tale Of Two Parties

2009-07-21T04:01:00.010-04:00

My good friend and fellow foodie Jessica who I have spoken of many times in the past celebrated her twenty fourth birthday recently and decided to have two parties. The first was held the night before her actual day of birth at our favorite local bar Nita Nita in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with plenty of Jameson shots and blueberry lemonades. The second birthday event I am honored to say was held at my apartment; a soiree of sorts with Jessica and my other good friend Matt. I wanted to cook something elegant without going overboard and unfortunately that is exactly what I did, planning a menu that was a little over my head. The three courses that I visualized and drew up ahead of time sounded easy enough but I got caught up in the details. The first course was a creamy pasta dish with creminis and peas. I used Gigli noodles, a sort of amphibious looking pasta not to be confused with the J-Lo and Ben fiasco, dressed with lots of fresh thyme, cream, and the aforementioned veggies. It was really quite tasty and my guests, birthday girl included, enjoyed the food as well as the laugh we all shared at Gigli’s expense.

The second course is really where the meal took a turn for the worst and I barely pulled it off let alone served something edible. The dish I was going for, inspired by the short-lived midtown eatery The Lever House, was black cod with roasted potatoes and scallion cream. The main problem was my execution of the fish which is a protein that I really need to learn how to cook effectively. I can sear or roast thin fillets or sashimi grade cuts of Ahi and Salmon well enough but it’s the delicate, thicker pieces that totally escape me even with a recent upgrade to a fish spatula. The fish was underdone, overly moist, and did not have a single shred of crust, the three things that you should avoid most when cooking fish. It was sort of a catastrophe which thankfully do not occur often, but when they do, they tend to be pretty bad when I am running the kitchen. The side dish and accompanying sauce were both fantastic however and I will certainly be using both in the near future. The sauce made by pureeing sautéed scallions simmered with heavy cream had a robust oniony flavor that managed to make the fish edible and paired well with the potatoes. The spuds were steamed and then roasted with caramelized sweet onion and crispy bacon crumbs, a trio of flavors that worked exceptionally well together. I was so flustered by the end of the meal that I neglected to prepare the dessert of roasted peaches with ricotta and honey that I had planned. Jessica, Matt, and I agreed to see a movie instead which made me happy as a clam; 500 Days of Summer, great film and perfect for a post-dinner birthday night. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Guest Chef: It's Jackson

2009-07-17T15:29:00.013-04:00

It sort of defeats the purpose of the whole guest chef idea if I include myself but I figure that since I am visiting, I am just as qualified to fit the label as anyone. Since sleeping at someone else’s house dubs you a houseguest, the label should extend to guest chef when cooking in someone else’s kitchen. My brother and his lady have been hoping that I would cook for them for quite a while after getting a taste of it in Connecticut about a month ago. I spent Friday night with some old friends and we had ourselves a pretty raucous time involving Patron and cucumber martinis, a shocking combo I know. Needless to say Saturday was a little rough so I spent it by the pool after sleeping in. The three of us decided to stay in for an early dinner before hitting the new Woody Allen movie so I ransacked the fridge and took it from there. The first course, more like a tiny salad amuse, was degorged cucumber with Dijon vinaigrette. Degorging is essentially the process of removing water from vegetables like zucchini or cucumber using salt and dry kitchen towels. After I had drained them of their liquid I tossed thin slices of cucumber with a vinaigrette spiked with basil oil and fresh basil chiffonade.

Pilar, my brother’s lady, is very pregnant and therefore must eat a ton of protein whether dairy products or animal protein so I wanted to cook something that would fill her dinnertime quota. I thought a frittata would be the perfect thing since it is made almost entirely of eggs. They had some lovely purple asparagus spears in the fridge so I went with an asparagus frittata. A frittata is an omelet of sorts that you do not have to flip; one side is fried in a skillet before being transferred to a hot oven which crisps the top half. I used about eight eggs and a tablespoon of cream for richness along with about ten asparagus spears, fibrous stems peeled and chopped. This is a really fantastic and easy dish to make because it only takes about fifteen minutes and everybody enjoys a good egg dish every now and then. Pilar enjoyed the departure from her habitual egg sandwich, cheese wedge and glass of milk, or bowl of ricotta which made the whole venture worth it.

The third dish was about as banal and simple as it gets; a green salad with sliced cherry tomatoes. The vinaigrette however was an interesting thing however, derived from a recipe I learned from my sister about a decade ago. She developed an Asian inspired vinaigrette which is nice because it is so radically different from most salad dressings, especially the French standard mustard vinaigrette. The dressing is made with pressed garlic, soy sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and olive oil whisked together. It is so unique and jazzes up even the dullest salad greens like iceberg and romaine. I loved visiting Los Angeles and spending time with my friends and family, going about eating and drinking in my hometown. I grew up and spent the first eighteen years of my life in LA which will always hold a place in my heart and I welcomed the opportunity to catch up, as well as cook, in the city I know and love. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Guest Chef: Sausage And Peppers

2009-07-17T14:24:00.006-04:00

The third day of my awesome weekend in Los Angeles was mostly spent by the pool at my brother and my friend Nick’s respective homes. I have known Nick since preschool and he is one of my best friends who I always look forwarding to visiting. His mother Sara has long been like a surrogate mom; chaperoning play dates when we were kids and catching me sleeping on the couch after late nights as adults. She is a mean cook effectively preparing simple but scrumptious food. You can tell that Sara gets a kick of out cooking which I feel is an important aspect of food. Nick and I were lounging by the pool when she poked her out and asked me what to do with a bag of leftover sausages. I suggested sausage and peppers and she was thrilled by the proposition even though she had little experience with the Italian standard. The two of us sat back drinking seven and sevens on the veranda overlooking the city while Sara threw together a delicious dinner, cementing her as the second guest chef of the trip. Her spaghetti with sausage and peppers was truly tasty with a nice blend of pork and chicken sausages alongside multicolored peppers and sweet tomato sauce. We had dinner on the veranda as the sun was setting and relished the opportunity to spend time together as they welcomed me back to Los Angeles after a long time away. It is so nice to have people cook for me for a change, especially old friends in my hometown. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Guest Chef: Egg McMuff

2009-07-17T13:58:00.006-04:00

I was in Los Angeles this past weekend and had an absolute blast visiting with friends and family. The weather was gorgeous as always staying a dry 85 or 90 during the day and crisp low 60’s at night, ideal for dining out and bar hopping. I stayed with my brother and his lovely lady who is very pregnant during my stay at their beautiful house in Hollywood. My first morning in town I came to the realization that I probably would not be doing very much cooking, opting instead to eat out as much as possible and have others host. After Pilar, my brother’s lady, and I went for a long hike in the hills she cooked us up a mean breakfast that she dubbed the egg McMuff. It was essentially a breakfast sandwich with egg, ham, and cheddar on a sprouted wheat English muffin inspired in name only by McDonalds. Pilar is a great cook and big time foodie who because of her preggers status has to eat excessive amounts of protein. After she cooked our tasty egg McMuff breakfast I decided that it would be cool to publish posts featuring guest chefs and the meals they served. I had a wealth of delicious food during my trip, Pilar’s tasty egg sandwich included, and hope to share some of the highlights. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

A Dinner Of Salads

2009-07-08T21:15:00.015-04:00

I apologize in advance for the sloppy photography of this post which is probably the saddest example to date. The food was delicious however even though you have to take my word for it given the poor visual aesthetic. I cooked last night for three very important women in my life that make up a solid portion of my kinship network; Melissa, Emma, and Dorothy. You could say it was a dinner of salads because that is basically all I served accompanied by a wedge of cheese and bread. The meal was rustic to say the least, made with ingredients cultivated by my mother on her farm upstate. I know farm to table dining is really hot right now and it should be because it is the best way to make your food shine. The first of the three dishes I made was a basic green salad with Dijon vinaigrette that showcased my mom’s exceptional micro greens. There were all sorts of baby lettuces, shoots, and herbs thrown in making a fantastic salad because the organic farm produce makes a world of difference.

Sorry to bring the pessimistic self-critical angle back into play but this kale salad was way tastier than the photo conveys. Believe it or not those ominous dark green shreds are thinly sliced pieces of kale, my attempt at Emma’s favorite salad. She loves Italian food and I tried to make her a special treat which we order all the time around the corner at Gennaro. The salad consists of kale, reconstituted dried fruit, and a generous grating of nutty cheese whether pecorino, parmesan, or ricotta salata. For my attempt I braised thin strips of kale and tossed it with raisins, parmesan, and quality olive oil. The real mystery differentiating the delicate, barely cooked yet tender strips of heavily goodness in Gennaro’s salad lies in the cooking of the greens themselves. I have tried baking, parboiling, sautéing, and braising the kale to no avail leaving it rubbery or waterlogged. My only conclusion is that hey do some sort of black magic in the kitchen back there.

The third dish I served to some of my favorite women was my preferred and most photogenic plate of the evening. I love lentils and have been eating them since childhood, which granted is a weird thing for a kid to be into. They are full of protein, cheap, tasty, and flexible enough to be cooked in a variety of ways. My father often makes a warm lentil salad in the summer time which was the inspiration for this dish. He uses French lentils and stews them with onions, garlic, bay leaves, homemade stock, and a ham hock to infuse them with bacony flavor. My father uniformly dresses his lentil salad with strong mustard vinaigrette so I decided to go a different route. You could say I Italianified the dish with the roasted red peppers, basil, and olive oil. The sweetness of the roasted peppers paired nicely with the almost dirt-like earthiness of the lentils and the shredded basil added a fresh top note. I always enjoy cooking for people I love and last night’s dinner was a real treat indeed, allowing me to spend time with people that rarely get the chance to eat, drink, and chat with one another. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Appetizer Showdown: Cold Vs. Hot

2009-07-02T21:43:00.012-04:00

I had an interesting idea this evening which has blossomed into a new element I am bringing to Pomander Saveur; the appetizer showdown. This idea is devoted to the art of the app, both cold and hot. Basically two appetizers will be prepared and judged before a winning recipe is crowned. I hope to invite guest judges and cooks to either help critique or contribute a dish to the showdown. The inaugural match-up consisted of my interpretation of two classic appetizers; the first was an insalata caprese. Tomato, mozzarella, and basil is as tried and true a combination as onions and garlic. Caprese is the penultimate summer salad and reminds me of happy times in the French countryside. Here I created a caprese mille-feuille with caper vinaigrette. I stacked layers of grape tomatoes and mozzarella dressed with vinaigrette and basil chiffonade. It was very good, especially the interplay between Italian and French culinary traditions but was it enough to bring down the hot appetizer of the night?

The second appetizer was a French bistro classic that is always exceptionally good, asparagus with oeuf mollet and shallot vinaigrette. Asparagus and egg is a very good pairing principally because the richness of the egg yolk brings a buttery quality to earthy asparagus. Oeuf mollet is a fancy French way of saying soft-boiled egg which is exactly what I placed on a bed of steamed asparagus topped with a drizzle of vinaigrette. The egg was slightly overcooked which hurt its standings but overall all it was a very nice appetizer. The acidity in the vinaigrette complimented the egg yolk that made a lovely sauce and the asparagus were perfectly cooked with a nice crisp to them. It was a heated battle and I being the sole judge had a difficult call to make. The asparagus won it. It is a perfect dish and when well executed will knock you or any diner you have over’s socks off. This is just the start of many appetizer showdowns to come and it is sure to get heated as the cold appetizer contingency seeks a big comeback. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Asparagus, Oeuf Mollet & Shallot Vinaigrette
Serves 2

20 Asparagus Spears, trimmed down to tender bits
2 Large Eggs
1 Small Shallot
1 Tsp. Dijon Mustard
1/2 Tsp. Honey
1 Tsp. Sherry Vinegar
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

1. Mince the shallot finely and toss into a small bowl. Add the mustard, honey, and vinegar and whisk until emulsified, slowly incorporating the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Bring 2 separate pots of water to a boil with a pinch of salt. Steam or blanche the asparagus until just tender, 5-10 mins. Gently dip the eggs in boiling water and cook for 4:30. Drain and rinse the eggs under cold water and peel them.
3. Place 5 asparagus spears in one direction on a plate and then overlap another 5 in a different direction. Place an egg on top of each bed and drizzle a liberal amount of shallot vinaigrette over and around the egg. Season with cracked black pepper and serve immediately.

Sufferin' Succotash!

2009-07-02T18:46:00.011-04:00

Remember the cartoons featuring Sylvester The Putty-tat, the overgrown black and white cat with a horrendous speech impediment whose trademark slogan was “Sufferin’ Succotash!” For some reason that was what came to mind as I was snacking on a bowl of sweet potato, corn, and leek succotash last night. “Succotash” dates back to the 18th century and refers to a dish of corn and lima beans cooked together. In parts of the South and Midwest any mixture of vegetables prepared with lima beans and topped with lard or butter is deemed a succotash. This method of preparing veggies became a common use for dried beans and other staple grains like corn during the Great Depression. I use “succotash” to refer to any combination of corn and seasonal vegetables dressed with any fat whether lard, butter, or cream and I make them quite often. Succotashes are an easy way to make use of the wealth of summer produce or loose vegetables one has on hand. That was the case last night when I was feeling hungry but not enough to go to the store, which led me to foraging around the pantry and refrigerator. I found a single leek, a couple of ears of corn, and a lonely sweet potato tucked away behind the bread. Upon closer inspection two strips of bacon presented themselves along with a small hunk of parmesan. I rendered the bacon fat and then sautéed the uniformly cut vegetables until they were fork tender then finished the succotash with crumbled bacon bits, a splash of heavy cream, and grated parmesan. Sufferin’ succotash was an understatement; this impromptu bowl of goodness was super tasty and actually fell within the technical definition of a succotash given the lard and corn components. Go out and experiment with succotash, at the very least it is fun to say and reminds one of cartoons. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Soup And A Tartine

2009-06-30T21:56:00.012-04:00

The other night I wanted to cook a light French supper that my Franco-father would be proud of, in this case a simple though elegant soup and tartine. A soup au courgettes or zucchini soup with a tartine au chevre et prosciutto or open-faced goat cheese and prosciutto sandwich to be exact. Tartine is the French equivalent of bruschetta and connotes the same general principal of loading ingredients onto toasted bread. Either way you swing it linguistically toast with cheese and luxurious toppings like cured meats, grilled vegetables, or raw produce is tasty stuff. Tartines are commonly eaten at breakfast or goûter (afternoon snack) in France where crusty baguettes are lathered with butter, melted chocolate, or nutella. Cheese tartines are more of a lunch thing oft paired with rillettes, pork products, or egg. I have increasingly used tartines to open dinner parties as either a palate warmer or first course, an easy way to both sate and wow guests. For this particular incarnation I toasted country bread slices and topped them with goat cheese, prosciutto, a drizzle of honey, and a generous crack of black pepper. It was creamy, sweet, salty, and crunchy all at once which was exactly what I was hoping for.

As good as sweet or savory tartines can be, they are rarely filling enough in and of themselves, needing a partner in crime to complete a meal. I have been on a big sustainability kick in the kitchen for the past few months and a have a freezer full of stock to show for it. There is a bag in my fridge devoted to food scraps and roughly once a week, give or take if I hosted a dinner party or two, everything is sacrificed to the stockpot. I used a couple of jars of said stock to make a big bowl of zucchini soup and round out my Gallic meal. The soup could not have been simpler and had very few ingredients. I sautéed some diced onions and garlic before adding the zucchini, a fennel bulb, and a potato for thickness then added the stock. It simmered away for fifteen minutes before I ran the whole thing through a food processor. That’s it and boy was it good. It sounds like a cliché at this point but all it takes to make a delicious meal at home is a little time, patience, and some quality ingredients. If you cook them minimally with care the ingredients you use will usually speak for themselves and make you look good in the process. The homemade vegetable stock made the dish, bringing an earthy richness and deep flavor to the otherwise minimal, and lets face it, boring soup. All and all it was an excellent night at home with a savory tartine and a bowl of zucchini soup to wash it down with, a winning French combo I highly recommend. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Dinner And A Strange Movie

2009-06-22T23:23:00.015-04:00

The mood to cook struck me mightily this morning brought on by an inspiring meal. To celebrate my spark of inspiration I invited my friend Jessica over for dinner; a big time foodie that knows her shit in the kitchen. Last night I had dinner at Gennaro, a local cash only Italian joint that serves up incredible food with a lengthy list of evening specials that rotate constantly. By the time you have fallen in love with a seasonal dish it is off the menu and replaced by something equally intriguing. The meal was, and always is, truly memorable and I thought it would be fun to replicate some of the highlights for Jessica before we sat down to a movie. The first course we had at Gennaro was a watermelon and creamy goat cheese salad; a little treat to wet the palate served with crusty bread and peppery olive oil. I basically followed the same general idea for our first course this evening, crumbling Coach Farms goat over watermelon cubes drizzled with quality olive oil, Hawaiian pink sea salt, and thyme. This is a really tasty summer salad that is a snap to prepare and even easier to eat an entire plate of.

The second dish of the three that really blew me away at dinner last night was the grilled shrimp salad, a tasty dish that blurred the lines between hot and cold appetizer. The salad had corn, bell peppers, avocado, and plump charred shrimp all tossed in a perfectly acidic vinaigrette. It really was a triumph for a relatively minimal dish and I could not wait to try it at home. I made a simple vegetable ragout by sautéing sweet corn kernels with roasted red peppers, shallots, and olive oil. Instead of grilling my shrimp they were tossed with olive oil and sea salt then flashed in a skillet. The prize ingredient in my shrimp salad was the salad itself, the micro greens harvested upstate at my mother’s own Red Hen Farm. The prized mix was baby mesclun with chive blossoms, cilantro, and curly parsley all grown organically and driven down to the city with care by my loving mother. The sweet corn, hot shrimp, and spicy salad with herbal hints throughout really made the dish spectacular, almost but not quite as good as last night. I should have added avocado, everybody loves avocado.

The third dish I used to inspire my movie night meal with Jessica was something that I have never ordered personally but always looks and sounds amazing; baby lamb chops with broccoli rabe and roasted potatoes. The side dishes I could do without but baby lamb chops are a thing of beauty. It really is the best part of the lamb although a good leg of lamb or shoulder is hard to beat. I had wanted to grill lamb chops but the price was exorbitant to say the least and quickly swayed me in favor of a boneless leg of lamb. The piece was thick enough to sear and then roast in a hot oven with a nice layer of fat surrounding it. That is exactly how I cooked it after a quick marinade in olive oil, thyme, garlic, and salt. The meat was more tender in some places than others therefore a few thin slices layered on a plate was the ideal way to serve it. Instead of broccoli rabe and potatoes, I piled the sliced lamb on a bed of wilted chard and topped the dish with a dollop of curry-mint yogurt sauce. My dinner was very good and Jessica was happy but I don’t think I hold a shade to the fine food of Gennaro. The film we watched after we stuffed our bellies was Scottish and very weird about a teenage boy that is a voracious peeping Tom and hardcore mama’s boy. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Grilled Shrimp With Sweet Potatoes And Chorizo

2009-06-18T21:25:00.010-04:00

I have tried versions of this dish, or duo of principal ingredients actually a few times before. It sounds odd but shrimp and sweet potatoes have an affinity for one another and pair on the plate excellently. Shrimp’s texture and inherent marine flavor juxtaposes strikingly with the sweet, almost candy-like goodness of sweet potatoes. The last time I cooked the two together was for a dinner party with some college buddies late last December so it was high time to revisit the combo. I prepared a handsome rainy night dinner for myself this evening without exerting too much energy; everything I cooked had about four ingredients and required very little prep work or execution. First I mashed some roasted sweet potatoes with butter, maple syrup, and black pepper. I tasted the mash and thought for some silly reason that it needed minced cilantro which I had planned to garnish with. It made the whole thing taste of cilantro and its potent Latin-American aroma dominated the smell emanating from the plate. Heartbroken, I rendered some diced chorizo in a hot pan to draw the fat and crisp up the rust colored chunks. After draining the excess fat, I mixed the crispy chorizo pieces into the sweet potato mash for a texture contrast. The shrimp were even less work, tossed with olive oil, chili powder, and paprika then cooked on a cast-iron grill pan. They were spicy and nicely charred with firm yet tender pink flesh which complimented the sweet, albeit cilantro fueled sweet potatoes and salty crunch of the chorizo. Overall the match-up of incredibly disparate tastes thrown together on the same plate was not a total misadventure; I think it would be quite good in smaller portions as a hot appetizer or fish course in a lengthy multi-course menu. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Fusilli, Mushrooms, And Radishes

2009-06-17T21:53:00.018-04:00

The last meal I posted, inspired by the field of food anthropology and the works of Claude Levi-Strauss, lacked a pasta element with the main course. The eggplant parmesan I threw together on the fly was delicious indeed but it is traditionally eaten with some sort of carb whether crusty bread or pasta. Since I omitted a pasta sidekick in my last meal I decided to include one in this post. I got home early this evening as the whether was beginning to turn gray and dismal. It has not been much of a summer thus far with weekly thundershowers becoming routine. I wanted some good comfort food to chill and relax with, opting for some fusilli tossed with tomato sauce and mushrooms. I had some leftover tomato sauce in the fridge along with a half a ball of fresh mozzarella. The pasta was a snap needing a quick shake of the pan to sauté the sliced mushrooms and the patience to wait for the water to boil. The basil chiffonade from my very own plant outside was the highlight of the dish by far. The sauce was good and all but the fresh summery flavor of the basil, which goes excellently with anything tomato, brought a huge boost to the pasta.

The second dish was a little more experimental. I saw a menu recently, for the life of me I cannot remember where, featuring a roasted radish side dish meant to accompany grilled lamb chops. I was intrigued by the idea of cooking radishes at all, let alone roasting them, and was not entirely convinced. Radishes are a summer staple but they can get a bit boring if the only way you eat them is with butter, salt, and bread. I decided to braise the little red pebbles with shallots and lots of vinegar to both add acidity and eventually sweeten the radishes. Overall the dish was interesting to say the least, a bit strong and a bit weird. I think it would be better suited as a side dish to a substantial protein like roasted chicken or certain fish which would balance out their powerful flavor. The proposition of cooking radishes warrants further investigation and I am not ruling it out. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Le Cru Et Le Cuit

2009-06-15T23:16:00.012-04:00

The spontaneous and imaginative aspect of cooking when the knife blade, spoon, or pot becomes an extension of your mind and hand simultaneously is what I love most about cooking. There is also an element of reverence for both the ingredients sacrificed and overall spiritual quality of cooking itself. Levi-Strauss, the mythic French cultural anthropologist, viewed the moment of transformation from raw to cooked as the symbolic act that made us human. “…The categories of the raw and the cooked, the fresh and the decayed, the moistened and the burned – can nonetheless be used as conceptual tools with which to elaborate abstract ideas…” Responsibility, nurturance, and survival are aspects of being human intertwined in the simple yet monumental act of cooking where culture takes over and allows our species to supersede the animal realm. Levi-Strauss’s canonical work was one of the pioneering pieces that got me into the anthropology of food, the academic sub-discipline I have and will continue to work under. Other motivating forces for choosing this particular trajectory, or humoring myself with a blog, is my love of food and passion for cooking. The other day I had a craving to harness one of the most fundamental cultural traits distinguishing me from my animal cousins and cook myself an epic meal.

For some reason I was feeling eggplant parmesan and set about making it using baby eggplants, fresh mozzarella, and a quick tomato sauce. It was out of this world good especially because I had grilled and then baked the eggplant rounds, not frying them breaded, which lightened the whole thing up considerably. In honor of Levi-Strauss and his contributions to the development of food anthropology I made a French bistro standard, poireaux
vinaigrette. The translation is leeks with vinaigrette; a Gallic favorite though any fibrous vegetable can be substituted like asparagus or haricots verts. Just steam the vegetable, which I find makes them moist but not overly soggy without jeopardizing their vibrant color, and top with your favorite mustard-based vinaigrette. This meal could not have been simpler and it was mighty delicious if I do say so myself. Here’s to loving food and for letting your passions guide you. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Tomato Mozzarella

2009-06-15T20:44:00.011-04:00

Tomato mozzarella is a combination as legendary as peanut butter and jelly or macaroni and cheese, a perfect match of two relatively basic ingredients that compliment each other wonderfully. I am a big fan of insalata caprese, the textbook Italian appetizer of tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil. It is truly one of my favorite dishes that I have been eating for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents love tomato mozzarella and make it often whether entertaining company or cooking alone. Late July and August is the ideal time for eating this tasty combo though any tomato that tastes vaguely like a tomato can be substituted for the jewel-like heirlooms of summer. I wanted to contribute a dish to lunch yesterday in addition to a second batch of my Asian slaw so I threw together a slightly unorthodox tomato mozzarella using parsley instead of basil. There was already a platter of caprese at the other end of the table so the parsley variation served to mix things up and bring another flavor to the party. Tomato mozzarella rocks and if there is anybody out there that hasn’t already, I highly recommend running out and rocking this mouthwatering mélange. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Family Feast In Connecticut

2009-06-15T19:34:00.020-04:00

I spent this past weekend in Connecticut visiting with my older siblings and the individuals that make up my close posse of extended family. Connecticut has long been a home away from home of sorts coming third after Los Angeles and Paris where I spent the majority of my childhood. Roxbury and its neighboring towns and counties are brimming with early American architecture and lush natural landscape. My brother and sister remain tapped into the local community so it is always a privilege to come to town with them and enjoy the company of their old friends. It was a busy weekend indeed rife with tasty food and lots of drink as we dashed around meeting up with their amazing friends. Saturday night I was in charge of dinner and I welcomed the opportunity to show off my talents in the kitchen. The meal was mainly prepared on the grill as we sat enjoying cold beer and wine in the back garden of the gorgeous property. The first course was a continued experiment in bruschetta, which I have been toying with a lot recently with the abundance of spring and summer produce. This particular incarnation was composed of olive bread, herbed goat cheese, and a blend of caramelized leeks and asparagus. The dish was both inventive and delicious, setting the bar high for the rest of the meal.

The main course was grilled double cut pork chops cooked over an open flame on the charcoal grill which is an indicator of summer fun if there ever was one. I rarely get the chance to grill outside because I live in Manhattan and I really enjoy it when I do. I marinated the chops in a mixture of orange juice, Dijon, olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and black pepper for about three hours in the fridge, turning once to give the flavorful marinade a chance to permeate the meat. My brother and I grilled them after the coals had settled for about 4 minutes a side which ended up being a hair too long as the meat charred up heavily and turned rather dry. After they settled for a few minutes I glazed the chops with a vinaigrette of orange juice, Dijon, and olive oil to carry the flavors of the marinade through.

I served two side dishes along with the grilled pork chops; grilled vegetables and Asian coleslaw. Virtually every time I grill or attend a barbecue function I bring a platter of seasonal vegetables sliced thinly. Grilled vegetables are a usual suspect of Italian antipasti platters accompanied with olive oil and fresh herbs which is exactly how I prepared mine. Long strips of zucchini and yellow squash were tossed in olive oil and sea salt before being grilled for less than a minute per side, just enough time to soften the vegetables and leave grill marks. I covered the finished plate with sea salt and chopped mint to bring a level of freshness to the dish. The second side dish was a variation on coleslaw which is mayonnaise free and packed with flavor. I got the recipe from Alice Waters at Chez Panisse and it is a staple in my barbecue arsenal. Everyone enjoyed the meal tremendously, complimenting the chef repeatedly and gobbling up whatever lay before them with a joyful smile on their faces which was both lovely and endearing. I look forward to many more meals with the super cool people that make up my family network and group of close friends in Connecticut and hope to cook for them again soon. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Asian Slaw
Serves 6

2 C. Savoy Cabbage
2 C. Purple Cabbage
1 C. Carrots, grated
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/2 C. Cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 Lime
1/4 C. Sesame Oil
3 Tbs. Soy Sauce
Black/Sichuan Pepper

1. Chop the cabbages into long thin strips with a sharp knife or mandolin and toss them in a large bowl. Add the grated carrots, minced jalapeno, and mix well until all the ingredients are combined.
2. Whisk together the lime juice, sesame oil, soy sauce, and pepper in a small bowl until emulsified. Taste for seasoning and make sure none of the ingredients are overpowering. Add sesame oil above all if the soy sauce is overbearing.
3. Pour the sauce over the slaw and toss well. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 25-30 minutes, tossing occasionally, until it has wilted slightly and released some liquid. Serve and enjoy.

Spring Rant & Crab Cakes

2009-06-10T20:29:00.011-04:00

Late spring is a fantastic time for foodies who love to cook by the seasons. The summer harvest is a few short weeks away and the markets are beginning to overflow with magnificent seasonal produce. May was garden month which marks planting season though many delicious things are hitting markets now like radishes, rhubarb, spinach, and strawberries. Late spring is great for other goodies like the ubiquitous spring lamb and one of my personal favorites, soft-shell crabs. These tasty little crustaceans are a difficult food to get you used to if you are a finicky or easily spooked eater, eaten whole after molting their hard shell. The blue crab is the soft-shell species primarily eaten in the United States and the Chesapeake Bay shared by Maryland and Virginia boasts the best. I have been eating a lot of the little beauties recently though never at home for some reason. In fact I have never cooked with crab which is as much of a shame as it is alarming. My mother was in town for one night on her way to the airport last Sunday, the perfect opportunity to try my shot at a dish that I crave all to frequently; crab cakes.

Three ingredients form the core of any good crab cake and serve as a springboard to your imagination; crab meat, egg, and breadcrumbs. I totally improvised these particular crab cakes using jumbo lump from Maryland and a combination of fresh breadcrumbs and panko. I threw in some fresh herbs, shallots, mayonnaise, Dijon, and hot sauce to jazz things up a bit and tossed the ingredients together carefully to keep the pieces of crab intact. I browned them under the broiler until golden and crisp, warming their rich centers while melting all the yumminess within. I then drizzled each one with some classic French remoulade; a mayonnaise based dressing that I packed with fresh tarragon. My homemade crab cakes came out well; crisp and delicate with a strong crab flavor and crunchy texture. I served them alongside some blanched asparagus dressed simply with melted butter and lemon juice to round out the meal. My mom was impressed that I had the derring-do to make crab cakes in the first place and commended me on my work, even reaching for seconds which is always a positive sign. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

You Say Risotto, I Say Risotto

2009-06-03T20:02:00.017-04:00

Yesterday evening I was feeling mighty peckish and racked my mind and stomach to figure out what I wanted to eat. I try to make risotto a couple times a month because it is easy and affordable as well as delicious. Another plus is that risotto is incredibly versatile; you can literally throw anything you want in there with almost any liquids. Let’s face it, nowadays anyone with a suitable pot and some Italian rice can whip up a tasty risotto. It really is an uncomplicated technique to learn and master. All it takes is constant supervision coupled with a strong arm for the continuous stirring and ladling required. Aside from risotto I was similarly craving cauliflower, the oft-neglected redheaded stepchild of the vegetal realm. I happen to love its slightly bitter, milky, and nutty flavor and will gladly have it raw or cooked. After much internal negotiation in the produce aisle of the gourmet grocer I opted to cook a bacon and cauliflower risotto. The tastes of all three elementary components were superbly represented; the creamy rice just barely cooked through, the content in this case cauliflower florets, and the rich homemade vegetable stock and dry Pinot Grigio that were my liquids. The dish was exquisite, to shed my usual modesty and humble nature, full of contrasting textures and flavors that made every forkful interesting. A bite of smoky bacon here, a smooth hit of cauliflower there, with omnipresent creamy rice running the show. The spiced breadcrumb topping was the icing on the cake which provided a nice crunch and complex spice all their own. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Bacon And Cauliflower Risotto
Serves 4

4 Strips of Bacon
2 Tsp. Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Bay Leaf
1 Large Cauliflower, stalk removed and florets separated
1 C. Carnaroli Rice
1/2 C. White Wine
2 1/2 C. Stock
2 Pieces of Stale Bread
1/4 Tsp. Paprika
1/8 Tsp. Red Chili Flakes
1/4 C. Grated Parmesan
1 Tbs. Ricotta
1 Tbs. Fresh Parsley
Salt & Pepper

1. Render the bacon over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven until browned. Set aside. Add a teaspoon of oil and sauté the onions until translucent. Add the minced garlic, bay leaf, and cauliflower florets. Cook for 3-4 minutes then add the rice. Cook the rice, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or so until the kernels brown slightly, shell their outer hull, and crackle in the pot. Bring the stock to a simmer in a separate pot.

2. Add the wine to deglaze and stir it into the rice. Wait for the wine to cook off and be completely absorbed. Ladle in half a cup of stock or so to the rice and wait for it to be absorbed. Add more stock and repeat the process, stirring frequently, until the rice has become tender though slightly firm or al dente.

3. While the risotto is cooking chop the bread into small pieces and pulse it several times in a food processor. Toss the breadcrumbs with a teaspoon of olive oil, paprika, and red chili flakes. Toast them for 4-5 minutes in a skillet over medium heat until they have browned but not burned. Set aside.

4. Crumble the bacon into small bits and add it to the risotto 2 minutes before it as finished cooking along with the parmesan, ricotta, and parsley. Stir in all the ingredients and adjust seasoning. Top with the spiced breadcrumb mixture and serve immediately.

A Is For Dining Alone

2009-05-31T23:12:00.010-04:00

Eating alone is a trying thing for some people, writing cooking and eating off as products of a banal bodily necessity. I love to eat and cook alone, using the kitchen as an improvisational laboratory to experiment with recipe ideas, flavor combinations, and cooking techniques. MFK Fisher, a witty food writer with a fluid, deeply expressive writing style bursting with gastronomic knowledge, shared my passion. She was one of the best food writers out there, blurring the lines between the genres of food anthropology, ecology, travel literature, and cooking. Simply put, she made being a foodie cool long before it was fashionable. Her great strength as a writer is her ability to drag you into her prose to taste, smell, and feel your way through her experiences in and around the kitchen. Mary Frances was not afraid to dine alone, in fact she loved it, and one short and sweet chapter of her An Alphabet For Gourmets sums up her point of view. “It took me several years of such periods of being alone to learn how to care for myself, at least at table. I came to believe that since nobody else dared feed me as I wished to be fed. I must do it myself, and with as much aplomb as I could muster.” In regards to eating alone, I have taken a page from her book, and as a result treat myself to lavish meals regularly. I was in the mood to wine and dine myself tonight and decided to make a big bowl of curried mussels. This is a fantastic way to make mussels, which steam to perfection in five minutes accompanied by their cooking liquid enriched with coconut milk. The East meets West vibe is an interesting selling point of the dish, with the use of Schneider Weisse (an amber-mahogany hefeweizen) and exotic spices like turmeric and curry powder. I beseech you to shed the irrational fear of dining alone and treat yourself to a fancy meal from time to time. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Curried Mussels
Serves 4

5 Lbs. Mussels
1 Tbs. Unsalted Butter
1 Large Shallot, minced
1 Tsp. Lemongrass, minced
1 Tsp. Fresh Ginger, grated
1 Garlic Clove, pressed
1 Jalapeno, rib removed and minced
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 C. Beer
1/2 C. Cilantro, chopped
1/2 C. Parsley, chopped
1 C. Coconut Milk
1/4 Tsp. Turmeric
1/4 Tsp. Curry Powder
1/4 C. Scallions
Salt & Pepper

1. Heat the butter over medium heat in a large stockpot. Cook the shallot, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, jalapeno, and bay leaf until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add mussels, beer, cilantro, parsley, and salt & pepper to the pot, cover, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes shaking occasionally.

2. Remove mussels and set aside, discarding all unopened ones. Filter the cooking liquid and return it to the pot over low heat. Add the coconut milk, turmeric, curry powder, and scallions to the sauce and whisk until combined. Bring to a low simmer.

3. Shell the mussels, reserving 10-12 intact for presentation, and add them to the sauce before serving. Serve with crusty bread and a sprig of both parsley and cilantro.

Graduate Vegetarian (Mostly) Feast

2009-05-28T20:23:00.020-04:00

Last weekend was a very fun one indeed. My friend Risher was to be conferred a Bachelor’s degree at Bard College so Matt, the soon-to-be grad, and I piled into a rental and dashed upstate. Graduations are not your everyday party and they happen rarely so when they come around, you have to take advantage. We spent the whole weekend partying our faces off engaging in all sorts of commencement shenanigans like tent parties, diner breakfasts, and fireworks. When our ragtag crew arrived safely back home with splitting headaches and hungry bellies, I hit the gourmet grocer and set to work preparing a mostly vegetarian meal. The three of us did not really feel like eating meat for the third or fourth night straight and given our tender stomachs and overall sluggish nature I thought a light meal would snap us out of our hangovers. The first course was a corn bruschetta with herbed ricotta, bell pepper, and scallions. The dish was both sweet and savory with the corn bringing a nice crunch to the party. I really loved this dish, which was a total experiment, and will certainly be making it again as sweet corn season hits this summer.

After collectively swearing off alcohol that morning over breakfast, the three of us rethought our rash severance with drink and treated ourselves to a little hair of the dog, in this case a sixer of Stella to drink with the food. The second course was a bean dish that I make often with whatever fresh bean or pea I have on hand. Lima beans with red onion, mint, and sea salt is as easy to make as one would imagine given it only has four principal ingredients. I usually blanch shelled beans in salted water for three minutes before throwing then in a pan with butter, minced red onion, and finely chopped fresh mint which brings a bright herbal flare to the beans. A healthy pinch of flaky sea salt like Maldon’s or fleur de sel completes the dish. I highly recommend this easy and powerfully good side; all it takes is a knife and about fifteen minutes. It is also very versatile with any number of fresh or canned beans possible; I have even used edamame though fava are my go to bean in this scenario.

The third course was one of my personal favorites; prosciutto wrapped asparagus. These tender little bundles blanketed in crisp ham are so damn good and addictive that it is hard to share a platter of them. It was definitely the hit of the night which I gleaned from the quickness they were devoured. Just blanch the asparagus for a couple of minutes and then wrap them individually in a thin sheet of prosciutto. Bake them in a layered baking dish at 350 for fifteen minutes, sprinkle them with grated parmesan and balsamic vinegar, then return them to the oven to melt the cheese. It was great to spend the weekend with two good friends, especially to celebrate such a momentous occasion. This mostly vegetarian meal was the perfect way to cap a debaucherous though sentimental weekend. After six years, a super super senior, my man Risher got handed the diploma and the keys to the next chapter in his life. Way to go buddy. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Knock The Rust Off Dinner Party

2009-05-25T13:11:00.022-04:00

I am jokingly titling this post “knock the rust off dinner” because it seems like ages since I last cooked for a decent sized group. I have stretches were I host people a couple times a week if I get into a serious cooking rhythm rife with inspiration. Even when a few weeks elapse without entertaining I try to not go more than a week without cooking; it is simply too much fun and I find that I often eat better at home without running the risk of spending too much money in this gastronomic metropolis. A few friends of mine from Los Angeles and I gathered last weekend to watch a Lakers game and I invited them over for dinner afterwards. The first course was a recreation of a pasta dish my Uncle prepared a few days prior and I really wanted to see what I could do to jazz it up. I had a small bag of the ramps we had foraged outside a cemetery and used them in the sauce. I sautéed sliced baby leeks, ramps, and garlic in a pan and then added a couple spoonfuls of fresh ricotta, parmesan, and residual pasta water. I tossed cooked cavatelli in the pan with the sauce to make a creamy, oniony pasta served in small bowls. I think my Uncle Hitch’s pasta was still better but at least my guests liked it.

The second course was a chickpea dish that I make quite often because it is simple enough to make and requires very little prep. I have the recipe listed in my cookbook archive at right though I dressed this particular incarnation up with a few extra ingredients. I tossed some chickpeas and Italian tuna in olive oil, well drained of their liquid, in a large bowl with minced roasted red peppers, Meyer lemon, capers, and green olives. To continue with the Mediterranean vibe I dressed the colorful salad with a little lemon juice and Greek olive oil to give it a peppery bite and some richness. I served the chickpea salad with a side of micro greens dressed with olive oil and sea salt to mellow out the flavor packed beans. So far I was batting two for two and decided to end the savory part of the meal with a cheese course.

There is no better way to close a meal than a slab, slice, spoonful, or wedge of good fromage. Whenever my father comes to visit from France he brings me a package from my favorite cheese shop in Paris, Marie-Anne Cantain. His recent trip was no exception and my fridge has been packed with stinky gems ever since which I very graciously shared with my friends. The first cheese, the orange one at the top, is Mimolette, a relative of cheddar that is soaked in dark beer and aged for several months. The second one, moving clockwise, was aged Comté which is similar to Gruyere. It has a strong grass or hay flavor with a high salt content, pale yellow pâte, and nutty aroma. It is one of my standby cheeses that I try to always have on hand because it is versatile and absolutely delicious. The third cheese, the flat and round blue, is Fourme D’Ambert, a lesser-known French cheese typically served alongside fresh or dry fruit. It has a zesty flavor and very pungent aroma though it is deceptively mild for a creamy blue with tons of moldy patches. I think my friends enjoyed this one the most, even those who typically shy away from blues particularly the stinky ones. The final cheese is select Roquefort produced solely for the Cantain boutique in Paris. Everyone at this point is familiar with Roquefort and there are even Vermont cheese makers that have begun experimenting with it in the States so I will spare you a description of this supremely tasty cheese.

I rarely make desserts because I have no talent or patience for them but when I do they are usually thrown together on a whim and a prayer. It is fun to buy already made ingredients and then dress them up individually for guests, bringing a touch of elegance to otherwise banal desserts like pie and ice cream. I made each diner a little spread of multiple sweet treats including coffee-beer float. Sounds weird but it was actually pretty darn good. I tossed a scoop of coffee ice cream into each cup and topped it with a dark beer called Rare Vos from the Ommegang brewery in Cooperstown. The other three elements on the plate were purchased from the farmer’s market and bakery. The first was a slice of sweet potato pie, the second of key lime, and the third was a black and white cookie from my local cafe. The dessert course was mediocre at best though thankfully people were preoccupied by a raging religious debate sparked at the end of the cheese course. Someone launched an attack against Mormonism and the rest felt the need to respond being intelligent college graduates or doctoral candidates. At least we had a little drama and heated conversation to conclude the meal, getting everyone involved and making for a pretty raucous debate which carried into the midnight hours. The dinner party was a hit overall and the food was pretty good, allowing me to shed some rust and get back into the swing of entertaining and feeding others. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Unexpected Breakfast

2009-05-25T12:14:00.008-04:00

The morning after our fabulous dinner prepared by my Uncle Hitch I awoke to the smell and sight of an alluring breakfast spread. Hitch is a great host and loves to entertain friends and family at his Greek revival farmhouse, always putting the needs and wants of his guests above his own. The dinner he made was super good and needless to say it was accompanied by an array of wines. We drank a few New Zealand whites from the Marlborough region and then moved to a heady bottle of Pauillac, a commune in the Gironde department of southwestern France. This is one of my favorite wine regions, smack in the middle of two heavy hitting producing areas; Saint-Julien and Saint-Estèphe. Hitch had anticipated a groggy morning and made a simple breakfast from scratch to facilitate the recovery. When I descended the staircase from the bedrooms there were two small jugs of drip coffee and milk sitting on a platter alongside a dish of muffins. The breakfast was entirely unexpected since we had to drive back into New York City that morning and thought we had little time to eat before our departure.

Hitch had gotten up a few hours earlier and for the sheer reason of delighting his guests set to work making muffins from scratch. He used a combination of corn meal and wheat flour and then added dried currants and pine nuts to the dough before baking. They were sort of dense with tons of flavor and crunch due to the nuts, perfect for dunking into black coffee. As I mentioned in the previous post, Hitch is a phenomenal baker and these muffins attested to his skill in the pastry department. I thoroughly enjoyed the whopping four muffins I ate spread with sweet butter and Bonne Maman strawberry jam. Thanks to Hitch’s unexpected breakfast we got to have a little snack before jumping on the highway. Much to my delight we sat for a few minutes in the beautiful morning light enjoying our coffee and pastries. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Pranzo Allo Zio

2009-05-22T11:19:00.021-04:00

This past weekend I went up to the Ithaca area to look at houses with my buddy Nick Roth. It was and exhausting weekend to say the least as we packed our schedule with listings, seeing about six a day in pursuit of the perfect house. My uncle Hitch also lives in the Ithaca area so Valerie and I usually stay with him when we travel upstate. He is a wonderful cook and a fine gourmet with a taste for Italian cuisine and French wine, two passions we hold in common. In addition to his culinary talents Hitch is also a renowned gardener and landscape designer; his garden upstate is not to be believed with over a dozen species of lilacs. This past Saturday Hitch cooked a lovely dinner for us to celebrate our arrival to the area and wish us well on our house hunt. The first course, in Italian fashion, was pasta with ramps and ricotta. These were not just any ramps; the three of us harvested them in the local woods. After I mentioned how much I loved ramp season, Hitch promptly grabbed a shovel and threw Valerie and I into the back of his station wagon. We pulled up outside the local cemetery, sounds weird I will admit, and began trekking into the swampy woods. After about fifteen minutes we stumbled upon a few green shoots and dug up their tasty roots bursting with onion and garlic flavor. We took our wild leeks home and sautéed them in a pan with olive oil, fresh ricotta, parmesan, and nutmeg which we then tossed with penne. It was a scrumptious pasta made special by the fact we had foraged the principal ingredient ourselves.

The second course consisted of pan roasted lamb chops and semi-wild salad. The lamb chops were rubbed with rosemary, thyme, sea salt, and coarse black pepper and sat at room temperature for about a half hour. Hitch cooked them in two cast iron pans over high heat to give them a toothsome crust without jeopardizing the tender pink meat inside. They were cooked medium-rare and served with an intriguing salad. Hitch took me out in the late afternoon sunshine to forage for wild herbs, shoots, and greens. We walked around his property with a large bowl kneeling down to identify and pluck a number of wild plants like bishops weed, primrose, dandelion, and a little pink flower that tastes of fresh peas to name a few. There were literally ten wild varietals to which we added bagged mache to constitute the “semi” part of the salad. I tossed the greens with a little olive oil and coarse sea salt to highlight each and every leaf’s unique flavor. The dish went excellently with the meat, serving simultaneously as a fibrous vegetable side and green salad.

The final dish, a rhubarb tart, looks a little weird but it was really tasty. Hitch is an accomplished baker in the pie and tart department so I always look forward to dessert when I am invited to his dinners. He painstakingly prepared a demi-feuilletée or half puff pastry with layer upon layer of butter interspersed in the dough, an integral element of French pastry making. The dough makes for a thin and crisp crust or tart shell that can then be used in a host of applications. Hitch went with a custard of rhubarb, sugar, eggs, and cream which he poured into the blind-baked crust and cooked for an additional fifteen minutes until golden brown. It did look a little weird but the tart flavor of the rhubarb and eggy sweet custard matched perfectly with the airy crust of the demi-feuilletée. This was an exceptional meal and I am thrilled by the proposition of moving upstate and eating Hitch’s food at least once a week. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Spring Snacky

2009-05-18T13:03:00.007-04:00

Spring is a wonderful time of year to be a foodie. The farmer’s markets start to overflow with fresh produce, spring cheeses, and other tasty treats as the season shifts from cold to rainy and sunny. And let us not forget the gorgeous pencil thin asparagus and oniony ramps that dominate the market place every late April into early May. Spring also brings the dormant bulbs to bloom around the city parks and gardens in a floral spectacle brightening the urban landscape. Aside from the delicious ingredients on offer in springtime, the season also connotes a sense of renewal. Spring cleaning is of course what I am referring to which extends to the mind, body, and soul, not simply the attic or living room. Whether it is the guilt of being cooped up all winter or the pounds gained throughout, spring is a great time to be active and take advantage of the beautiful weather. It is also a great time to explore the fresh produce abounding the farmer’s markets and gourmet grocers, facilitating an increased intake of fruits and vegetables. In honor of spring cleaning I have started running again and have been playing tennis as well as eating much better overall. This sandwich however is not an example of my recent dietary regime. I was going for a run and needed something to put a little bounce in my step both calorie and taste-wise. I love making sandwiches and am in pursuit of the ultimate sandwich which is a tall task given the number and variations out there. This one was made with arugula, ricotta salata, Tuscan salami, and roasted red peppers on a sourdough roll dressed with Dijon mustard and olive oil. The sandwich was salty, peppery, meaty, and sweet all at once making a tasty pre-run snacky. Go out there and enjoy the bounty of spring! As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Mother's Day Dinner

2009-05-18T12:55:00.005-04:00

Mother’s day is of course a Hallmark holiday but unlike some of the more commercially driven celebratory occasions it has good intentions driving it and I don’t feel as bad buying into it as I do for Valentine’s day. There is really only one good restaurant near the hamlet of Andes, where my mom’s farm is located, so Emma and I thought it would be nice to treat her. We ended up staying in and cooking which was totally cool with me since I always welcome an excuse to cook and eat at home. As I have mentioned in numerous past posts she is a wonderful cook and I relish the opportunity to eat her food let alone watch her whiz around the kitchen. The main dish for mother’s day dinner was a stunning glazed ham, one of my mother’s signature dishes which is her go-to for any number of special occasions. It was studded with cloves, roasted, and then glazed with a mix of brown sugar, dry mustard, whiskey, and orange juice. The spicy tang imparted by the cloves and orange juice paired nicely with the caramelized crust achieved by the sugar and alcohol. I have been eating this ever since childhood and am willing to bet that it is the best glazed ham out there.

Aside from the massively large ham that we carved off in thin slices, my mother prepared a couple of side dishes to complete the meal. The first was steamed new potatoes with sweet butter and fresh herbs, a dish commonly made in France to accompany fish or poultry. Her garden has started to come up and there are tons of delicate herbs just waiting to perfume dishes like tarragon, chives, and curly parsley. The dish was simple yet elegant with tons of bright flavor, a perfect accompaniment to the salty ham. The second side was my mother’s famous coleslaw, the same recipe that she has been making for years which she inherited from my grandmother Violet. The recipe is sort of a secret but I will say that it contains purple cabbage, carrots, and onion. That is all I can share but that should by no means stop you from making your own variation of coleslaw which you and yours can keep secret. The three of us sat down to a huge supper in honor of our mother and by the end we were all stuffed and a little drunk which is exactly where you want to be after a home cooked meal at the farm. Emma and I did not regret staying in for dinner one bit after enjoying a fabulous meal with our mum in the comfort of her charming farmhouse. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Saturday Lunch At The Farm

2009-05-11T17:08:00.010-04:00

My sister Emma and I drove upstate this past weekend to celebrate our mother at Red Hen Farm, her property in the Catskills. The farm was exceptionally beautiful in the pristine spring weather with lettuces and flowers beginning to pop from the rust red earth of the gardens and the hilly surrounding ablaze with wild dandelions. It is the best place to enjoy the tranquility of the countryside with the added bonus of good food and even better company. Upon arrival, Emma and I were greeted by our old English setter Annie and a fabulous lunch of ribs and pasta. She roasted pork ribs in the oven until they browned nicely and coated them with a combination of barbecue sauce and Chinese duck sauce. The glaze was smoky, sweet, and exotic all at once, caramelizing well under the broiler.

The second dish was a simple roasted cherry tomato pasta. Roasting tomatoes is an awesome way to draw out their natural sweetness while condensing their flavor. My mother layered a baking dish with tons of fresh basil and then added whole cherry tomatoes, minced garlic, fennel seeds, and good olive oil. The tomatoes were cooked at 350 for 10 or 15 minutes until they collapsed a bit. I have been using this technique for years thanks to her and it always turns out wonderfully. Just toss the saucy tomatoes with your favorite noodle and you have a tasty meal ready to roll in under a half hour. The lunch was a nice treat after being on the road for a few hours and marked the start of a mighty weekend of eating. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Pregame Dinner With Sis

2009-05-06T21:16:00.009-04:00

I happen to follow NBA basketball and have a deep affinity for the Los Angeles Lakers, my hometown team. Baseball never really did it for me and neither did hockey. Football is fun during the playoffs (Super Bowl) and I find soccer amusing if it’s French national team action. There is great enjoyment in plunking down with friends to watch a basketball game, especially if the Lakers are involved. I have suffered from a glaring handicap throughout the season however, no cable box or suitable television. My sister Emma has been kind enough to allow me access to her living room a few nights a week to watch my beloved franchise. Quite frankly her television is ginormous and her sofa miry which make it the ideal place for viewing. To thank her for the use of a sizeable portion of her apartment for long hours at a time I thought it would be nice to cook her a meal. I do not cook nearly enough for Emma and it means a lot to her when I do which made it a nice reciprocation of her kindness. For the pregame dinner we had a couple of rustic Italian dishes loaded with all things delicious. We had an arugula salad of tender baby leaves tossed with grated Parmesan, lemon, and olive oil; why mess with a classic when it tastes so good each and every time.

This saucy red mess with the little fluffy white plop in the middle is a gnocchi dish that got ahead of me as I was bringing the meal together. I oversauced the pasta severely after getting caught up in how delicious it was going to be and effectively hid the potato pillows completely. The dish I was going for was gnocchi with marinara and fresh ricotta known as “the priest stranglers” at Supper, a pizza/pasta joint on the Lower East Side. They make theirs with squiggly noodles and house “Sunday” marinara, a combo that is nearly impossible to recreate at home. No matter how much I try, I am just not from Naples. The mild creamy ricotta mellows the acidity of the tomatoes nicely making an absolutely stunning sauce. I cheated and used Scarpetta marinara sauce which is actually pretty tasty. I prefer to make my own of course but hey, sometimes laziness beats la gourmandaise. The dish had good intentions but was completely overpowered by the sauce however delicious it might have been. I think Emma was happy with it and was buttered up enough for me to watch some wicked ball at her apartment. Just kidding. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Amuse-Bouches Experimentation

2009-05-04T16:51:00.008-04:00

I read an article a few days ago about amuse-bouches, the small introductory tastes offered by the chef before a fine meal, and ever since I have had my mind on them. They are a great way for a chef to express him or herself with a fun little one or two-bite treat. Good amuse-bouches are as much a visual feast as they are an edible one, setting forth the culinary philosophy of the chef while marking the start of the meal. I have never thought to serve an amuse to guests at dinner parties so I decided to experiment. People obsessed with food and eating as a whole whether you call them gourmets, foodies, slow food advocates, what have you, do excessive things in the kitchen from time to time. I admit to baking entire pies, cooking massive meals, and eating far too many snacks in a day when left to my own devices. I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen and occasionally it goes so overboard that I cannot help but laugh at my behavior. For instance today after eating a fantastic Saba filled breakfast my mind wandered to amuse-bouches as a thought popped in my head; risotto cakes. After rummaging through the fridge I had a small pile of ingredients to work with and set about bringing my risotto cake with tomato jam and sun dried tomato vinaigrette amuse to fruition. I rolled little balls of leftover risotto from the night before and fried them in olive oil. After they were crispy with a dark brown crust on both sides I plated them individually with a dollop of tomato jam, something I bought at the farmer’s market, and vinaigrette. For said vinaigrette I pureed sun dried tomatoes with smoked paprika, olive oil, and sherry vinegar. The bright red sauce had a smoky tomato flavor that contrasted with the sweet taste of the jam and the cheesy risotto cake. I know it sounds a little weird to hang out prepping amuse-bouches at home on a Monday afternoon but believe me I got a kick out of it. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Saba And Scramble

2009-05-04T15:22:00.008-04:00

It seems I have grown overly attached to poached eggs, shunning other egg incarnations in favor of their delicate texture and perfectly runny yolks. Don’t get me wrong, poached eggs are fantastic and versatile whether on their own or as a garnish to salads, soups, and warm appetizers. Despite my high opinion of poaching it is time move on and reincorporate other methods of cooking eggs into my arsenal. Omelets used to be my go to but they are hard to make for a group of hungry hung-over diners on Sunday morning, making you feel like a short order chef. I then moved on to scrambles, the most basic of techniques, using several ingredients loosely with lots of improvisation to see what flavor combinations would work. My favorite is chorizo, smoked Gouda, and scallion scramble accompanied by wheat toast generously buttered with Kerry Gold Irish butter. Scrumptious. The last of my egg periods prior to my poaching bout was devoted to frittatas or tortillas as they call them in Spain; the thick fluffy egg dishes that look almost like quiches or cakes. They typically serve them in tapas joints with bell peppers, onions, and potatoes involving a combination of sautéing and then broiling to evenly cook the eggs. I made one for Easter lunch as a matter of fact with bacon, bell pepper, and scallions mirroring the Spanish paragon. I closed my poached egg chapter this morning with a scramble, returning to my most trusted method of cooking eggs. I tossed three of my mother’s Red Hen Farm eggs with Greek feta, a minced shallot, and salt & pepper. After the eggs had cooked, just firm and in large curds, I topped them with fines herbs namely tarragon, cilantro, and parsley. The eggs were perfectly cooked and packed with Mediterranean flavor that I gobbled up in two seconds flat with a little toast and a unique preserve.

My good friend Jessica’s mother, a wine maker and distributor extraordinaire, owns and operates Topanga Vineyards in California. Sandy is extremely knowledgeable and boasts a formidable array of wines. She also happens to be a very nice person and a true foodie. Jessica recently gave me a small jar of Saba, a wine byproduct made by Sandy herself. It is a thin jam or conserve with a deep purple color and intense grape flavor. It is not overbearingly sweet and has a light tannin taste with a fruity background of both fresh and dried grapes. It is absolutely delicious on anything from toast and pancakes to roasted pork or cheese boards. Saba is definitely worth checking out though I have no idea about its availability since I was lucky enough to be gifted a jar that I have been eating with shocking speed. Here’s to a tasty breakfast of Saba and scramble. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Rainy Risotto

2009-05-03T20:56:00.001-04:00

There is nothing worse than a dreary day being locked indoors waiting out a rainstorm. So instead of chilling in the sunshine at central park or on the tennis court I spent the day lazily in front of the television and computer, rearranging the blog while watching a few ball games. The rain does have one perk; the bad weather motivates me to stay in and cook. This drizzly morning I was craving poached eggs and set right to work on some eggy goodness. After my tasty breakfast of two eggs on English muffins with smoked paprika, I already had my mind on dinner. My mother came into town this afternoon to spend a few days in the city so I wanted to cook something nice for her that we could sit together and eat. The two of us enjoyed a truffle and parsley risotto, green salad, and cheese course. Risottos are super easy to make and are absolutely delicious when cooked right. I began the dish by sautéing some chopped onions and garlic briefly in a pot before adding the rice to toast for a few minutes. I then deglazed the pan with a little dry vermouth, the only alcohol I had on hand, though it did impart a sweet top note. I used homemade vegetable stock flavored with tons of fresh herbs, ramps, and carrots, gradually ladled in as it became absorbed. I finished the risotto with a few healthy squirts of Italian white truffle paste, truffle salt, and a handful of chopped parsley for color and vibrancy.

I have been on a Bibb lettuce kick recently and tonight was no exception. Beets are another one of my current favorites and I eat them regularly whether roasted, boiled, or pickled. Roasted beets have a lovely earthiness that adds character to any dish and I love their color particularly when set against green lettuce leaves. I tossed the leaves and quartered beets with some leftover feta vinaigrette that I made a few nights ago. The salad looked beautiful plated and the cheesy dressing added richness to the crisp greens and roasted beets. It was great to sit and chat with my mother after not seeing her for a few weeks, especially over a couple tasty dishes and cold beers. I guess rainy days can be enjoyable after all. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

The Anthropologist Dines

2009-05-02T14:12:00.001-04:00

Last night Valerie and I stayed in for a quiet meal at home. We had a few episodes of Big Love left to catch up on so I made us a little supper before we tucked into the couch. The menu consisted of Boston lettuce salad with feta vinaigrette and carrot soup with cilantro. This delicious soup and salad combo was mighty fine eats if I may say and the creamy dressing of pureed Greek feta, sherry vinegar, and olive oil was out of this world. Besides cooking and feeding others I am fascinated by anything related to agriculture and food provisioning. One of my favorite things to do is peruse the farmer’s market and talk to local participants. In my foyers into food anthropology, my academic passion, the organic movement and farmer’s markets have taken center stage in my research. In the spring of 2007 while living in Santa Cruz, I conducted a short-term ethnographic project among a small group of local farmers at the local Saturday market. Over a twelve-week period I hung out and interviewed farmers in hopes of understanding the multiple meanings of and motivations behind organics. I participated as consumer, casually walking through the market; vendor, packaging produce and talking with customers; and researcher, taking photographs and conducting interviews. During my time I witnessed firsthand the fusion of farming, rebellion, and identity driving organic farmers. At the heart of my research was the dynamic between farmer and consumer coupling food safety with cultural identity established, celebrated, and propagated in the interactive space of the market. Anyway without running the risk of sounding too jargony, it is safe to say that I am a big proponent of organics, sustainability, and high quality fresh food.

In the spirit of sustainability I have recently gotten way into using every bit of foods whether scraps, trimmings, or leftovers. I have been keeping my cooking fats, reusing sauces or unused raw ingredients, and bits of otherwise wasted materials like vegetable stems or peels. There is a bag in my crisper where I toss all my reject pieces of organic matter and produce byproducts from the preparation of meals to make stock with. The bag reached full capacity recently; a mix of carrot peels and tops, herb bottoms of nearly six different types, and tons of ramp greens. I threw everything into a pot with a couple of onions, garlic cloves, and bay leaves, covered it with cold water, and simmered the whole thing for about two hours. I strained the aromatic amber broth and used it in the carrot soup that imparted a lovely onion and herb flavor to the dish; a superbly flavorful substitute to canned stock or water. I recommend making this light and simple yet intensely flavored soup at home for your friends on a cold rainy day or as a starter for a dinner party. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Carrot Soup With Cilantro
Serves 4

1 Small Yellow Onion, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
8 Large Carrots, cut into 1/2” rounds
2 Cups Vegetable Stock
1 Cup Cilantro
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk, plus more for garnish
1 Tsp. Curry Powder
Salt & Pepper

1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high and sauté the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and cook about a minute until fragrant. Add the carrots and cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a steady simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until the carrots are tender.
2. While the soup is simmering, throw the cilantro and 1/2 cup of olive oil into a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend until completely emulsified and strain through a fine chinois or cheesecloth. Set the cilantro oil aside.
3. After the soup is done cooking, puree it in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into a saucepan over low heat. Add a 1/2 of a cup of coconut milk along with the curry powder, salt, and pepper. Heat through, stirring often.
4. Serve in individual bowls with a swirl of cilantro oil, coconut milk, and a cilantro leaf for garnish. Enjoy.

Friday Sandwich: Tuna Melt

2009-05-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

I have been feeling a little under the weather recently. I don’t mean in the sick sense of the word though I have been coughing a bit which leads me irrationally to believe I have contracted swine flu. I mean generally run down due to a lack of sleep and my stubborn allergies. Ever since I frolicked around out of doors as a toddler I have suffered from seasonal allergies; mainly spring when flowers go crazy and pollen runs rampant. Sniffling, sneezing, and itchy eyes are the principal symptoms of this springtime malady which rears its ugly head at the first sign of warm weather. This morning I awoke after a fantastic night’s sleep, hitting the pillow early and rising late. I was feeling a sandwich given I had missed the breakfast window and rummaged around the refrigerator to see what I could throw together. I have been on a sandwich kick since I revisited my early Pomander posts, the first one in particular featuring a warm chicken salad sandwich on wheat. I found a can of tuna in olive oil in the pantry along with a few slices of honey oat bread. Thankfully there are always a ton of fresh herbs in my crisper, one of the guiding flavor components in my cooking. I whisked together some mayonnaise, dill, cilantro, parsley, chopped caper berries, and salt & pepper to make an herbed mayo. I added the flaked tuna, drained well of excess olive oil, to the mayo and spread it on a piece of toasted bread. I broiled the second piece of bread topped with a few slices of aged Comté, the same cheese I used on my chicken sandwich. The resulting dish was both tasty and filling with a generous mound of herbed tuna salad and nutty, salty cheese to compliment the fish. What can I say except sandwiches are great. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Throwback: First Ever Pomander Saveur Post

2009-04-27T19:41:00.000-04:00

It has been almost a year since I hatched the crazy idea to write about food in a fun way intended for the enjoyment of my friends and family. Blogging has in recent years exploded on the scene and now virtually everyone can voice his or her opinion via blog. I had been reading a number of food blogs, mainly by famous chefs and amateur home cooks, and decided to give it a shot. Pomander Saveur is the second incarnation of my efforts to share my home cooked meals and experiences in the kitchen. The first was email-based with the working title “Gustemest Food Blog”. I would cook a meal and then email everyone on my contact list the photos with a few lines of text describing each dish. I have since moved to a more formalized format though the content and arrangement of the site maintain the flow of my initial endeavors in Internet food writing. People to this day ask me about the very first email, Gustemest Vol. 1, featuring a tarragon chicken sandwich and a carrot slaw. The sandwich was made with leftover roasted chicken that I had made for friends the night before. I pulled the chicken apart and tossed it with mayo, Dijon, chopped tarragon, golden raisins, and salt & pepper before throwing it between two pieces of wheat bread with melted Comté. This was one of the best sandwiches I have ever made, and I have enjoyed it many times since. I recommend the combination of raisins, fresh herbs, and cold chicken; you will be pleasantly surprised how easily they come together.

In addition to the robust chicken sandwich I had a side salad of carrot slaw. I love to grate carrots and toss them with any number of vinaigrettes or sauces to make a fresh spring/summer salad to accompany barbecue or sandwiches, picnics or potlucks. For this particular carrot slaw I grated a few carrots on the medium-hole side of a cheese grater then tossed the vibrant ribbons with lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, sesame seeds, and salt & pepper. Carrots can be eaten raw as often as cooked, leaving the crisp texture and nutrient content of the carrot unmanipulated. The warm sandwich and cold citrusy salad contrasted beautifully and I was thrilled to have my first entry ready for the presses. This is a nostalgic reminiscence in honor of that notable lunch repast that started it all. The Gustemest, or precursor to Pomander Saveur, will be celebrating its one year anniversary soon and I am thrilled remember my very first foyer into food writing. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Dinner With Lucullus

2009-04-26T23:55:00.000-04:00

M.F.K. Fisher, the simultaneously subtle and brilliant food writer, devoted a chapter in her opus Serve It Forth to the importance of dining alone. She loved to cook and entertain guests which is beautifully rendered in her writing but she never forgot to make time for herself. Even when dining alone Fisher would treat her meal with the same delicate touch and refined style that she lavished on her guests. I totally agree with her notion that eating alone does not have to be a chore, bore, or quick fix of crappy food. She attributes this philosophy of eating well, even when alone, to a Roman noble named Lucullus. Lucullus was a grand gourmet notorious for the wealth he squandered on his food budget and opulent feasts. One day he verbally abused his team of chefs when they served him leftovers, stale bread, and overly watered wine on an off day from his busy social schedule. When his staff stood apologetically before him they pleaded that since he was eating alone they assumed a lavish feast was not a necessity. He rebuked them by saying that when Lucullus dines with Lucullus the food should be at its very best, going above and beyond what they served his guests. Lucullus ate the finest foods and drank his most potent vintages when dining alone, because he was worth it. I agree wholeheartedly that it is warranted to treat yourself now and again to a special meal made especially for you.

Tonight I decided to dine alone and model Lucullus’s gastronomic philosophy. I had a lot of tasty things leftover from my last trip to the farmer’s market so I threw some stuff together that worked out really well. I had a second pork tenderloin that had been marinating in the fridge for two days, leftover from the dinner party I threw for Nick’s birthday. After sitting in the flavorful marinade (refer to last post) for several hours it had taken on a tremendous amount of flavor. I roasted it in the oven and finished it under the broiler to give it a nice crust. I plated the pork next to a mixed green salad with crumbled blue cheese and cubed bosc pear. The spring mix of mesclun and fresh herbs paired well with the zing of the blue and the sweetness of the pear. My vegetable side dish was stir-fried baby bok choy purchased at the Korean stand at the Union Square farmer’s market. I threw them in the wok with vegetable oil, garlic, and minced ginger and briefly sautéed them. Right at the end of the cooking time I added sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and chili paste to give it some Asian flare. You could say my dinner had an east meets west vibe to it with the bok choy standing as the antithesis of the more Mediterranean pork and salad combo. Dining alone does not have to be banal; one can eat like a Roman noble even when breaking bread solo. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Birthday Dinner Part Deux

2009-04-26T23:32:00.000-04:00

There are way too many people that have birthdays in April; it is just too hard to keep track of them all. A number of friends and family members of mine have been celebrating recently including my mother, cousin, and best friend Nick. After making a delicious meal for my mother’s birthday last week I decided to do the same for Nick. This was going to be a tricky task given that Nick is such a skilled cook and gourmand but I was up for the challenge. I drafted a menu, did the shopping on Friday morning, and hit the kitchen that afternoon. There were going to be six of us total including a number of good friends that live in the city as well as Nick’s girlfriend and best friend visiting from Los Angeles. I pulled all the stops and cooked a beast of a four course meal, plated a l’assiette individually for each diner. The first course was a shaved Brussels sprout and radicchio salad with Dijon vinaigrette and crumbled spring Parmesan. The Parmesan was purchased at Dipalo’s, a little Italy purveyor of all things Italian, and was the highlight of the salad. Their Parmesans are seasonal and the flavors totally change depending on the time of year. The crunchy raw Brussels sprouts contrasted excellently with the nuttiness of the cheese and peppery bite of the radicchio making for a lovely first course.

When I cook a multi course meal plated individually I like to follow the Mediterranean progression of dishes. Italian and French cuisine de haute consists of a marked hierarchal succession of vegetables, pastas, seafood, meats, fruits, and finally sweets. I adhered to this formulaic arrangement of courses by electing to serve pasta as the second course. During my visit to Dipalo I also bought an oozing hunk of Gorgonzola dolce, an aromatic and creamy blue cheese. I melted the cheese with heavy cream, black pepper, and nutmeg into a thick creamy sauce to accompany potato gnocchi. I drizzled a large spoonful of the sauce over five or six gnocchi since they were so rich and topped them with sautéed pears and a sprig of tarragon for presentation. The pasta was certainly rich though the small portion made it bearable with a great interplay of textures and tastes. The salty Gorgonzola sauce contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the pears making for a balanced dish with tons of flavor.

The third course was an inventive one to say the least; grilled adobo shrimp with carrot puree. I have never tried to make this dish and the idea was hatched as Nick and I perused the produce stands at the Union Square farmer’s market. There were a number of fresh spring vegetables just beginning to be harvested like carrots, fava beans, green garlic, mesclun, and ramps. I love shrimp and I know Nick does too so I went up to Joon my fishmonger and bought some beautiful gold and gray wild shrimp. I seasoned the shrimp after snipping their legs and deveining them with ground adobo and kosher salt before grilling. They came out spicy and charred, marrying perfectly with the silky smooth puree of gorgeous pale orange carrots, olive oil, and a splash of cream. The ingredients of this delectable seafood course were minimal but the flavors were deep and complex.

The fourth and final course of Nick’s epic birthday meal was pork tenderloin with ramps and a fava bean and edamame ragout. I marinated the pork in a blend of vegetable oil, soy sauce, Sichuan pepper, Dijon mustard, and tarragon for about four hours, to enhance its inherent pork flavor and promote caramelization. I seared it for a few minutes per side and finished it in a 400-degree oven until it was cooked through but moist. I served thick slices of the pork alongside a ragout of edameme, fava beans, red onion, and mint. Ramps are a very special spring thing that I absolutely love to cook with. Ramps are wild leeks that taste like a cross between green garlic and scallions. I pickled a handful of ramps with cider vinegar, juniper berries, bay leaves, kosher salt, and tellicherry peppercorns. The small bulbs quickly took on the aromatic brine and turned a lovely whitish pink color. The second batch of ramps were sautéed briefly in olive oil until they were just tender. The two ramps were fabulous, serving as a kind of sauce or condiment to the roasted pork tenderloin. I wanted to really wow Nick and our friends with this meal and from the praise my satiated dinners lavished on me when it was over, I think that I succeed. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Dorothy's Birthday Bash

2009-04-26T23:14:00.000-04:00

There is no greater honor than hosting a birthday party for a parent. Last weekend was my mother’s birthday and I tried to make it as special as possible. I invited a few of her close friends over for an evening of dinner and drinks with yours truly serving as chef. My father was also present which gave the whole evening a nostalgic familial air as we pleasantly sat together and ate a wonderful meal. I started us out with a platter of bruschetta which I love serving to larger groups because you can just plop it down and let people serve themselves. These bruschetta were made of Pugliese loaf and wheat miche topped with three bean puree and grilled radicchio. I like to start my dinners off with a bang and this tasty app was a big hit; they were eaten up so quickly that I almost did not get to enjoy one myself. Just puree any assortment of canned beans, drained and well rinsed, with a few cloves of garlic and a liberal drizzle of quality olive oil. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper and it is ready to eat. I smeared a generous helping of the puree onto some toasted breads and then grilled individual radicchio leaves on a grill pan until they wilted. It is that easy and that delicious.

The second course I served to my mother and her friends in honor of her birthday was my take on pasta primavera, the classic Italian spring dish. Pasta primavera basically refers to any type of noodle dressed with spring vegetables, olive oil, and garlic. This pasta dish consisted of the finest looking vegetables that my local gourmet grocer had on offer last Monday, mainly tight asparagus spears, chard, and an assortment of fresh herbs. I boiled some cavelli, a festive curly noodle, and tossed it with sautéed vegetables in a bacon-cream sauce. I topped the smoky and rich concoction with minced tarragon, parsley, thyme, and dill to give it a radiant burst of freshness. Overall the dish was very well received and our dinner guests were thrilled by the luscious pasta primavera set before them. My mother was happy too, especially the bacon and asparagus aspect which are two of her favorite ingredients.

My favorite desserts are all fruit based and I rarely eat chocolate or baked goods after meals, content to sip on a bitter espresso or digestif. My mother bought a couple baskets of beautiful California strawberries and a slightly unripe mango which we threw together with orange juice and a little sugar. Fresh fruit, seasonal of course, is a great way to end a meal and provide a sweet sensation without excessive preparation or calories. This ambrosial fruit salad was both refreshing and tasty, the perfect way to end a decadent meal lovingly prepared by a son for his mother. Here’s to many more. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Friday Farmer's Market Dinner

2009-04-19T19:19:00.001-04:00

My father and I have had some mighty fine meals this week. We have been mostly eating out, taking advantage of the vast restaurant culture that the city has to offer. So far the highlights of my father’s visit have been Momoya and Dovetail, two relatively new restaurants on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with ballooning reputations. I lovingly refer to Momoya as the poor man’s Nobu with excellent Japanese cuisine. The food is excellent and the prices are reasonable with tons of daily sashimi specials and inventive rolls. My favorites are the rock shrimp tempura and the Momoya spicy tuna composed of seared yellow tail and spicy tuna topped with a raspberry reduction and slivered almonds. Dovetail has only been open a year and has quickly blossomed into one of the best seafood restaurants in town. The seven course tasting menu was just insane with dish after dish of intricate preparation and imagination. The salt-baked sea scallop with urchin and kumquat, horseradish panna cotta with house-cured salmon, and halibut confit with morels and nutmeg were all out of this world. Alas one cannot eat out every night of the week, so a couple of days ago my father decided it would be nice to stay in and cook. We had a tasty lunch at the oyster bar at grand central and then hit the union square farmer’s market to plan a menu. I had my eye on some fresh beets and a massive well-marbled pork shoulder from the Queens county farm museum. I ended up doing the bulk of the cooking and threw together a couple of pretty good dishes. The first consisted of balsamic-pickled beets, honeyed goat cheese, and an herb salad. The herb salad contained tarragon, cilantro, parsley, dill, and mint, an absolutely stunning blast of flavor that contrasted nicely with the acidic earthiness of the beets and creamy sweetness of the chevre.

The second course of my Friday night farmer’s market meal was beer braised pork shoulder with Anaheim and adobo chilies. I was looking for a farm raised protein to serve as the main course and the first thing I saw at the busy market was the anatomical chart of a pig. I approached the Queens county farm museum stand and was told that they had recently slaughtered a pig and had an array of fresh cuts available. The young lady in charge recommended the pork shoulder and suggested that I braise it low and slow. I took her counsel to heart and started thinking about what and how to braise the pork with. My father suggested a classic braising liquid of wine, stock, onions, garlic, and herbs. I decided to go with beer in order to deepen the pork flavor with a bitter component and also create a lightly caramelized sauce. After searing the pork shoulder over low heat in a Dutch oven I threw in some sliced onions and whole garlic cloves. I then returned the meat to the pan with a pint of stout and two cups of stock, bringing everything to a simmer. I had some dried Anaheim and adobo chilies that my friend Hope in California sent me so I threw then in with a bay leaf and bouquet garnis of thyme and parsley. The whole thing cooked at 200 degrees for about 3 hours though it could have gone about 5 in order to really fall off the bone. Overall the flavor was there but the meat had to be sliced and then served in the sauce; not the tender almost stew-like texture that I had expected after an extended cooking time. The chilies reconstituted nicely in the richly flavored spicy sauce but the tenderness of the meat was an issue. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Paternal Visit From Paris

2009-04-17T17:47:00.000-04:00

My father is visiting this week from Paris and I am thrilled to be able to continue with my recent familial vibe. I spent last weekend upstate at my mother’s farm for the Easter holiday and it is nice to be able to spend another week with my kin. My father periodically comes to the States, either to Los Angeles for business or to New York to wine and dine around town. It is always good eating when he comes to town at some of the best places and I relish the opportunity to try them. As I have mentioned in numerous previous posts, my father is a huge gastronomic influence in my life. He represents the French side of my dual nationality and has been teaching me about French cooking and eating for years. He is an amazing cook and I love to join him in the kitchen with a nice bottle of red churning out delicious meal after delicious meal. For his first night in New York I decided to serve cold barbecued lamb that I brought back from upstate with a few chutneys and mustards. I also prepared a couple of vegetable side dishes to make for a more substantial meal.

The first of the side dishes I whipped up for the dinner in honor of my father’s arrival was stewed lentils. I love lentils of all shapes, sizes, and points of origin and my preferred cooking method is to stew them with onions and fresh herbs. Sometimes I finish the lentils with a mustard-based vinaigrette served warm as a lunch salad or even vegetable main but in this case I served them plain. Lentils are super easy to make and are full of the proteins, fats, and vitamins that legumes have in spades. I sautéed cubed white onion and garlic in olive oil before adding the lentils and some warm beef stock. After about a half hour they were ready to be drained and dressed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. The cold lamb and hot lentils needed a crunchy vegetable to soften their flavors and round out the meal so I thought radish salad.

I prepared a roasted lamb dish a few weeks back paired with black radish slaw and thought that I would give this flavor combination another shot. I sliced a bunch of red radishes with my mandolin to a transparent thinness and tossed them with minced chives, olive oil, and cider vinegar to add acidity and bring out their mustardy flavor. The salad was a hit and went excellently with the cold lamb which to my delight was entirely eaten up. I think my father enjoyed staying in for the first night of his visit exhausted as he was from the long flight from France and welcomed the opportunity to taste some of my recent experiments in the kitchen. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Easter Supper At Red Hen Farm

2009-04-13T18:46:00.000-04:00

It has truly been a lovely and above all relaxing couple of days at my mother’s farm spent dyeing Ukrainian eggs and reading. My mother has certainly enjoyed the company and Valerie and I have had a blast playing with the horses, doing odd chores around the property, and of course cooking and eating. Easter dinner is probably my most beloved holiday meal because it heavily features spring ingredients and there is not a de facto formula for what is to be served. Easter supper is not a set in stone thing like Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas goose; one can cook a lamb or ham and serve any number of side dishes and desserts. I love Easter for its flexibility and gustatory possibilities welcoming innovation in the kitchen. This year was an Easter meal that I have never experienced before using classic elements prepared in new and interesting ways to create a really unique holiday meal. The menu consisted of a barbecued leg of lamb, spinach pancakes, frisée and mache salad, fennel gratin, and an array of desserts.

The principal dish of the meal was leg of lamb; an Easter and spring staple that is easily one of my favorite proteins to cook for its gamey flavor and incredible tenderness. My uncle Hitch brought the lamb down from a small farm in Ithaca, butchered off the bone to leave a thick hunk of meat with a deep violet color. I have had lamb at Hitch’s place a few times and the meat is always perfectly cooked through with a rose pink center and beautifully charred crust. For our Easter lamb he simply marinated the meat in olive oil and rosemary for about an hour while we heated the coals under the grill on the porch. I have never barbecued lamb, except patties for lamb burgers, and Hitch had not either so we were both winging it. My mother had collected a bunch of apple wood that had been trimmed from her trees and dried in the garage so we added it to the hot coals. We salted the meat just before cooking and slapped it on the grill for about 35 minutes, turning it a few times. The outside was charred with great woodsy aroma and the meat was rare with just a hint of rosemary flavor running throughout. It was absolutely stunning and I am embarrassed by how much I put down, especially alongside the two wonderful side dishes.

Spinach pancakes are something that I would never have thought to make or even order at a restaurant. As we began to organize the meal, my mother pulled out an old newspaper clipping about the Korean spinach pancakes that we were to have for supper. Vegetable pancakes, or hash browns when made with winter root vegetables or starches, are good eats indeed. I love summer corn fritters piping hot in the sunshine with a little melted butter and honey so who was to say that spinach pancakes would not instill the same culinary pleasure. Dorothy simply sautéed the spinach in olive oil and garlic and then drained off all the excess water. She then prepared a simple batter with buttermilk, flour, egg, baking powder, and spinach to cook on a hot griddle pan. Despite my initial shock and pessimism I thought they were really quite tasty. The spinach pancakes brought an interesting texture to the party that served as an ideal counterpoint to the lamb.

Hitch was the fennel man at Easter, making an Italian raw fennel salad for lunch and then a tasty baked fennel dish to accompany the grilled lamb leg for dinner. He boiled thick slices of fennel until fork tender and then baked them in a buttered earthenware dish topped with cream, a little flour for thickener, and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. The dish was absolutely scrumptious; both nutty and creamy with hints of licorice fennel flavor. All in all it was a very successful Easter supper on Red Hen Farm with plenty of tender grilled lamb, toothsome side dishes, and perfectly drinkable wines to go around. Everyone in attendance had a lovely time and I know it certainly felt great to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family. I look forward to next year and the continued warm weather as spring finally rears its aromatic floral head. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Ukrainian Eggs

2009-04-13T17:21:00.000-04:00

For as long as I can remember Ukrainian eggs, or pysanky, have heralded the Easter holiday. My mother and her brother Hitch have been making these decorative dyed eggs since their childhood in Minnesota. The story goes that one day my grandmother brought home a Ukrainian egg starter kit and it rapidly became a family tradition that my mother has passed to her children. My brother is a terrific egg maker and I have been trying to best him in the symbolic art of pysanka to no avail. This was the first time Valerie has made Ukrainian Easter eggs and I think she really enjoyed it. In fact after her first egg, which she unfortunately dropped, she was looking like a pro. Pysanky are whole raw eggs that have been decorated with a wax-resist batik method where one draws those portions of the design that you want to remain in that color. The necessary equipment is the kistka, a small hollow funnel attached to a stick used to paint with, a piece of beeswax, a candle, and of course the colored dyes. Beeswax is scooped into the kistka and heated in a candle flame to be applied to the white egg; any bit of shell covered with wax would be sealed and remain white. Then the eggs are dyed any color, moving progressively from light to dark as more wax is applied. After the egg is completed and dipped it into its final color, the wax is removed by holding the egg next to a candle to gently melt and wipe it away.

Although I was taught exclusively about the history and traditional patterns of Ukrainian Easter eggs, many other eastern European ethnic groups including the Belorussians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Czechs, Lithuanians, Poles and Romanians decorate eggs in a similar manner. We have a couple of books on pysanky and my friend Nick, who is a really talented egg maker, used to read passages aloud as we sat around the table decorating by candlelight. Each province, village, and almost every family in the Ukraine has its unique cultural symbols and meanings that they applied to the dyeing of eggs. These customs were preserved faithfully and passed down from mother to daughter through generations, as was the case with my family. My mother has eggs dating back to her childhood, shellacked and preserved through time as the inner yolk desiccates, leaving the decorative shell intact. These are a really cool way to spend time with family making gorgeous festive eggs that are more akin to folk art than the hard boiled and cheaply dyed eggs characteristic of Easter. Check it out online and get yourself a pysanky starter kit next April, I guarantee that you will have a blast. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Frittata And Fennel Salad

2009-04-13T16:21:00.000-04:00

My Uncle Hitch and very good friend Nick arrived from Ithaca yesterday to celebrate Easter with us on the farm. I have not seen the two of them since my last trip up there and it was great to see them, especially for a food driven holiday bonanza. My mother and Valerie went to church in the morning so I was left to prepare lunch and welcome our guests. I rarely cook on my own in my mom’s spacious kitchen, serving as more of a sous chef or bystander. I thought I would make something simple and relatively light for an early lunch and after perusing the refrigerator I found a ton of fresh eggs collected that morning from the chicken coop and some bacon. There were also a bunch of good-looking vegetables including bell pepper, scallions, and potatoes. I decided to make a frittata or Spanish tortilla; a thick fluffy omelet sliced in wedges almost like a quiche commonly served in tapas joints. Tortillas can be made with any combination of vegetables, meats, or cheeses and I went with what I had on hand. I simply sautéed the veggies in a large cast-iron, tossed in crumbled bacon and about eight eggs, and finished it under the broiler with some parmesan. The frittata ended up being quite tasty and paired excellently with the crisp chardonnay we were drinking.

The second dish of our lunch was a fennel salad inspired by Hitch’s recent trip to Rome. He was describing some of the fantastic meals he had out there, showcasing the use of incredibly fresh ingredients prepared simply, the essence of Italian cuisine. Hitch prepared the salad by tossing thinly sliced fennel with lemon juice, olive oil, and kosher salt, letting the ingredients speak for themselves without excessive ornamentation. The light licorice flavor of the raw fennel married well with the citrus and good Italian olive oil making a refreshing salad. I love raw vegetable salads, which are both good to eat and good for you and this was a real delight, a dish I will be making again as spring gets into full bloom. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

BLT Sandwich

2009-04-12T10:51:00.001-04:00

Being upstate with my mother always sends my mind (and stomach) wandering down memory lane, remembering the tastes, textures, and times of my childhood in Los Angeles. My parents are both wonderful chefs in their own right but my father was the one that predominantly held court over the kitchen. Whenever she cooked Dorothy would delight my brother, sister, and me with classic American fare derived from the notebooks and index cards left by our grandmother. She also whips up an incredible Indian spread that takes three full days to prepare, a real treat when it happens. Of the many dishes that evoke home and my mom’s cooking, BLT and grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup are high on the list. I remember tons of lazy weekend lunches composed of a half sandwich and a small bowl of hot soup enjoyed on a rainy Sunday for example. Even though BLTs are incredibly simple to prepare, my mother’s were always the best, loaded with crisp bacon, fresh romaine, sliced tomato, and mayo. What could be better? I woke up yesterday craving bacon and decided to have an early lunch of BLTs and limeade. I recently discovered limeade and man is it good but that’s another story. I used fresh rye and caraway bread that my mom made to give my BLT a gourmet element and tons of bacon cooked well-done. Before I knew it I was enjoying a fantastic sandwich while remembering the meals of my youth. It is important to have foods that remind you of home, family, and friends and this simple sandwich is one of those nostalgic dishes. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Sliders & Cupcakes Upstate

2009-04-11T15:20:00.000-04:00

Easter is a holiday best spent in the company of family and friends; an excuse to get together and just laze about whether decorating eggs, eating and drinking, or going to church. Valerie and I decided to drive up to my mother’s charming place in the Catskills dubbed Red Hen Farm for a long Easter weekend. It is wonderful to spend time up here, getting out of the urban bustle of the city in favor of the tranquility of the picturesque countryside. This is truly the perfect place to celebrate Easter, profit from the beauty of early spring, and of course enjoy delicious meals. Last night was our first of the long weekend and I was a little shocked though excited about the menu she had planned; sliders with onion rings and red velvet cupcakes. My mother made little patties out of ground chuck for a dinner party recently and had a few leftover in the fridge that she thawed and pan seared. She then laid out an array of sliced vegetables, condiments, and cheeses so that each person could prepare his or her own slider. The first slider I had, photographed on the left, was topped with Jasper Hill blue cheese, romaine lettuce, ketchup, and stone-ground mustard. The zestiness of the blue cheese reminiscent of French Roquefort paired well with the beef and mustard, a really tasty burger if I may say. My second slider had curried mayonnaise, (a dip my mother has been making for decades which is one of the best things ever), sliced tomato, farmhouse cheddar, and red onion.

Onion rings are another bar or diner classic that I love though I have never attempted to make them at home so I was excited about watching my mother fry them up. These onion rings and fried cauliflower were light and crisp with an airy batter which browned up nicely in vegetable oil. The batter was almost like a tempura batter with few ingredients and a lot of air to evenly coat the sliced onion and cauliflower florets. The problem I have with crappy onion rings is that the onion inside overly dense batter gets soggy, losing the characteristic bite and texture of fresh onion. These onion rings were delicately crisp on the outside and just cooked through inside, addictively good dipped in a little ketchup or curried mayonnaise. Now I know that delicious onion rings can be pulled off at home with a little know how and the bravado to do so.

The dessert, as if we needed one after all that fried food, was red velvet cupcakes. My mother whipped these tasty dark red confections from scratch, following Paula Dean’s recipe from the Lady and Sons cookbook. Her frosting was a classic cream cheese and melted marshmallow blend spread thickly over the crown of each cupcake then topped with toasted coconut and a white jellybean. The little Easter cupcakes resembled a bed of straw with a freshly laid chicken egg, both festive and delicious which my mother accomplishes in spades. More to come from Red Hen Farm over the next few days and as always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Stormy Monday Breakfast

2009-04-06T16:44:00.000-04:00

Poached eggs are a delectable treat indeed though they seem somehow beyond the reach of an amateur cook or home kitchen. This was in fact my view of the light, beautifully cooked, delicate clouds that are poached eggs. I recently made a French bistro classic with frisee, crispy lardons, and a poached egg which prompted me to discover how to poach at home. Like any self-respecting twenty something raised in the technological era, I began to madly Google away. I quickly compiled twelve separate links to detailed how-to-poach sites and experimented with a few different methods. I had it nailed after three eggs after trying to achieve the right runniness for my frisee salad last week. I woke up this past Monday to a stormy early spring haze of rain and dense humidity spliced with the occasional thunderclap. I knew it was going to be a breakfast of whatever I had in the fridge and thankfully there was ample bread and my mother’s farm fresh eggs. I am not saying that I am already a pro, but let’s just say that I had two large eggs poached to airy bliss in a matter of minutes. Here is what I suggest if you want to perfectly poach an egg at home: Set a deep skillet or wide mouthed pan filled with 3 inches of water to a boil, covered. When the water boils, remove lid and add white vinegar and salt. Crack the eggs into individual teacups then submerge the lip of each individual cup into the water, letting each delicately flow out. Cover immediately, turn off the heat, and let stand for 3 minutes.

To complete my stormy Monday breakfast, I placed two perfectly poached eggs over two large pieces of French country bread and cracked my most recent Internet find for a taste. I was surfing online culinary magazines and daily email sites two weeks ago and stumbled across a gastronomic oddity that people were raving about; bacon jam. Jam. Made from bacon. I was impressed and definitely had to try it. I ordered myself a little tin of bacon jam, which they claim is delicious on pancakes, and could not wait to try it. My Monday breakfast was the ripe moment to taste the delicious yet bizarre pork condiment full of bacony flavor, nice smoke, and a mellow spiced sweetness. It was especially good spread liberally on the toast supporting one of the eggs; a nest built for a queen in my opinion. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

A Moroccan Style Meal

2009-04-04T16:03:00.000-04:00

Last night I invited a few college friends that live in the city over for dinner and drinks. The past two weeks have been very nostalgic due to a sudden wave of college buddies passing through New York. Last night was very much in this vein, an especially wistful evening because my friends Shawna and Jessica had not seen each other since graduation. I was so pleased to provide the forum for their reunion and thrilled for the opportunity to finally cook for Shawna. I thought it would be interesting to present and serve dinner Moroccan style with dishes shared mutually mirroring the food I encountered during my travels around North Africa. When I was fourteen I went on a ten-day tour of Morocco with my two best friends and our mothers. It is hard to imagine three women touring an Arabic country with three young boys without a male escort but we did just that and had a great time doing it. We ate wonderful dishes like tagine and couscous, pastilla, and whole-roasted goat perfumed with all sorts of spices and native ingredients. The first of the trio of appetizers I prepared inspired by my time there was herbed ricotta with olive oil, oregano, parsley, and chives. Creamy fresh ricotta has a mild flavor that pairs excellently with flavorings, condiments, and seasonings like fresh herbs. The second appetizer was Italian hummus or white bean puree. Cannelloni beans are absolutely amazing blended with olive oil and garlic into a smooth puree with a luscious texture. The third was a blend of French and Tunisian olives symbolic of the culinary links between North Africa and France, one of the many lasting effects of colonialism. I served the three small dishes with tons of crispy crostini; a baguette thinly sliced and baked in the oven.

The main course was also inspired by the pungent and exotic flavors characteristic of Moroccan cuisine. I roasted a boneless leg of lamb stuffed with garlic and seasoned liberally with salt, pepper, and a touch of turmeric. To add another dimension of Moroccan flavor I made a yogurt dressing with ground cumin and chopped mint drizzled over the sliced meat; a refreshing sauce that dimmed down the gamey flavor of the lamb. The first side dish was a black radish slaw tossed with Dijon and cider vinaigrette boasting a powerful kick reminiscent of horseradish and hot mustard. The second side dish was French lentils simmered with shallots and beef stock intended to deepen their woody flavor. Overall the meal was quite a success though the white bean puree was the clear favorite. The plan was to reconnect with old friends and the Moroccan style presentation reinforced that commensal vibe. When you have people that you have not seen in a while a central plate is exactly what you want; good food shared communally with good friends. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Bistro Classics

2009-04-01T22:25:00.000-04:00

I have no idea why but I have recently been reminiscing a ton about France. This may be because I have not visited Paris in a few months or the fact that the price of Roquefort will be skyrocketing soon. There are a lot of things to miss about France, though I think the food and the magic that is Gallic commensality top my list. I sheepishly admit the all-to-frequent cravings for a gritty bistro steak au poivre, as cliché as it sounds, with an over dressed salad and stale baguette. Ah yes, the timeless bistro grub found across the octagon from the smallest village to the capital herself. A tall glass of vin du jour usually makes the meal go down a little easier and you simply cannot recreate the café life of Paris though many restaurants strive to. Steak au poivre can be ordered, eaten, and enjoyed in any self-respecting French restaurant and other classics can be pulled off with relative ease in the hands of a capable cook. At times when I feel nostalgic it is fun to cook up some truly froggy dishes that transport me to the smoke filled (this is a dated vision of the city of lights) café or bistro. While riding the train back up to my apartment earlier this evening I was struck by a sudden vision of a crisp frisee salad packed with lardons, topped with a poached egg. I set about realizing my epiphanous dinner at once, using bacon instead of the French lardons which are a bit harder to get a hold of. Lardons are small pieces of pork fat that taste like glorified bacon. They add a distinctly rich, salty flavor to food and are also used to lard meat in a roast to help keep it moist throughout cooking. I would say that I hit the mark with my frisee salad, effectively voyaging across the Atlantic for a fleeting culinary moment through this bistro favorite. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Frisee, Lardons, And Poached Egg Salad
Serves 4

1 Large head of Frisee (about 4 C.), separated, washed, and drained
1/2 C. Lardons or 6 strips of thick cut Bacon
1 Tbs. White Vinegar
4 Eggs
1 Tbs. Whole grain Mustard
1 Tsp. Sherry or Cider Vinegar
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

1. Place frisee in a large bowl. Set a deep skillet or wide mouthed pan filled with 3 inches of water to a boil, covered, over high heat.
2. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and render lardons or bacon until crispy. Remove from heat, drain well, and set aside.
3. Whisk together cider and mustard until emulsified then drizzle in olive oil while stirring vigorously. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper and set aside.
4. When the water boils, remove lid and add white vinegar and salt. Crack eggs into four individual bowls, teacups, or ramekins. Submerge the lip of each individual egg dish into boiling water, letting each egg delicately set in the water. Cover immediately, turn off the heat, and let stand for 2.5 to 3 minutes.
5. While the eggs are poaching, quickly toss frisee and bacon with vinaigrette and arrange on individual plates. Top each salad with a poached egg and serve immediately.

Windy Monday Lunch

2009-03-30T13:55:00.000-04:00

It has been a crazy week with my friend George visiting from out of town. I woke up relatively early this morning and the apartment was completely silent for what seems like the first time in months. An empty apartment can be a comforting one especially if you want to relax and gather your chi with some solo time. I was also craving a delicious lunch when I woke up this morning; a meal only myself would enjoy after entertaining and serving as tour guide for the majority of the past week. The first dish of my incredibly filling and scrumptious lunch was an inversion of a classic. BLT’s, or bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches for those of you who have tragically missed out, are delicious indeed. I initially thought to make BLT’s but wanted an alternative that would grant me the opportunity to use the leftover salad greens that have been accumulating in my fridge. BLT salad sounded like a great idea and so I threw all the familiar faces into a bowl tossed with cider vinaigrette. Believe me it took all I had not to rush out and buy a wedge of Roquefort or Cambozola to crumble on top. Frisee, iceberg, and mixed greens made up the lettuce while bacon and burst tomatoes completed the acronym. I also added some homemade paprika croutons made from a loaf of Pugliese bread tossed with olive oil and smoked paprika. The salad was absolutely delectable with sweet tangy dressing, smoky bacon, and crunchy lettuce.

The second dish I made for my lazy afternoon lunch at home was a tuna and chickpea salad with gremolata. Gremolada is a traditional Italian herb accompaniment to braised meats and seafood dishes made of garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. My father used to make this dish frequently at our country house in France, inspired by a luscious Tuscan salad found in trattorias all over Italy. Tuna partners smashingly with lemon and fresh herbs, which is where I drew my inspiration for the gremolata in this dish. I tried to use ingredients that commonly accompany fish or seafood in Italian, French, and other Mediterranean cuisines. The gremolata in this dish is made with parsley, oregano, mint, capers, roasted red pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, and kosher salt. All of these compliment fish and lend their aroma to seafood dishes perfectly. This is a filling salad chalk full of protein with a bright herbal flavor heralding the arrival of spring. I often cook with fresh herbs, a distinctive feature of my cuisine. Herbs, seasonings, and sauces are what I work with most, paying careful attention to the dynamic between flavors and presentation. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Tuna, Chickpea, And Gremolata Salad
Serves 2

1 19 oz. Can of Chickpeas
1 5 oz. Can of Light Tuna in Olive Oil
1/2 C. Italian Parsley
1/4 C. Oregano
1/4 C. Mint
2 Roasted Red Peppers, fresh or jarred, drained
6-8 Large Caper Berries
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tsp. Kosher Salt

1. Drain and rinse chickpeas and transfer to a large bowl. Drain tuna well of excess oil and crumble in chunks over chickpeas.
2. Combine remain ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until coarsely diced and well combined, resembling pesto.
3. Toss tuna and chickpeas with gremolata mixture, stir well, and serve immediately.

Wednesday Night Supper

2009-03-29T17:04:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post my college buddy George is in town visiting from Los Angeles. We have been on a culinary tear, running wild in a frenzy of gastronomic tourism. Some of the highlights were the Fatty Crab, a magnificent Malaysian place downtown, and Tempo in Park Slope. Brooklyn is a borough that I am discovering slowly but surely, gradually checking out the neighborhoods, restaurants, and bars the city has to offer. George and our other college friend Shawna went to Tempo after a mutual friend suggested it. The restaurant boasted an Italian menu with New American hints, super casual and quaint with a staff insanely attentive to detail. The three of us had a lovely meal and I would definitely go back. The night before our evening out in Park Slope I cooked the second of the dinner parties thrown in George’s honor. The first course was a frisee salad with cara cara orange, powdered hazelnuts, and citrus vinaigrette. Cara cara are a new strain of oranges that are sweeping produce aisles with a floral sweetness and beautiful golden cast.

The second course was a large platter of zucchini with olive oil and mint. I have had variations of this dish many times in Italy and Mediterranean restaurants. Grilled zucchini is a principal component of Italian antipasto plates and Greek cuisine features dishes like fried zucchini with yogurt sauce. I cut very thin slices with my trusty mandoline and then arranged them on a baking dish with a little olive oil. At first I thought to grill them but that would have taken up too much stove space so I broiled them until they were nicely browned. I finished the zucchini with a drizzle of Spanish olive oil, pink Hawaiian sea salt for color and flare, and a sprinkle of fresh mint. The flavors were light and flavorful, with little manipulation of the inherent flavor of the zucchini.

The main course was boneless Rib-eye steak with my version of Chimichurri sauce. Chimichurri is a sauce and marinade for grilled meat originating from Argentina. The sauce is commonly served at Brazilian and other South American restaurants along with huge slices of steak cut by waiters laden with pounds and pounds of beef. The Chimichurri of Argentina is traditionally made from parsley, garlic, vegetable oil, white or red vinegar, and chili flakes with additional spices depending on the chef’s personal or regional tastes. My version consisted of parsley, oregano, tarragon, capers, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and kosher salt mixed in the Cuisinart. My sauce was a bit thicker than the traditional Argentinean one and had more of a Mediterranean kick though the herbal flavor and acidity were there. I pan roasted the steak to medium rare, pink and toothsome, and topped thick slices with Chimichurri sauce. We passed around an additional bowl of the heady sauce to munch with the tender steak. I served some beautifully browned roasted shallots alongside the meat. These roasted shallots are incredibly simple and wonderfully palatable. Just toss whole peeled shallots with a little olive oil and kosher salt and roast in an earthenware dish for about a half hour until crisp and tender.

As those of you following Pomander Saveur know by now, I hardly ever make desserts. The idea of baking or working with sweets slightly terrifies me. I feel that patisserie is best left to the professionals; way too much of an exact science and high margin of error. I rarely eat desserts, which is another reason why I am not inclined to make them. This was a rare exception. I macerated some raspberries and blueberries in aged balsamic and honey to draw out the juices and create a luscious syrup. The yogurt was mixed with maple syrup and a touch of both cinnamon and nutmeg to sweeten and intensify the dessert. I would say this is the first spring dinner of the year; hopefully the weather will agree and let loose the sunshine. The casual supper was a big hit and all the flavors, textures, and tastes were right on par with what I hoped. I think George was impressed and would gladly come back to town to get another meal at my pad. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

College Reunion Dinner

2009-03-29T16:37:00.000-04:00

My friend George, who was a principal partner in crime throughout college, was in town visiting this week. This was his first time in New York so needless to say he could not wait to go out and explore the city. I tried to show him the sites that were off the beaten tourist path, granting him an insider view of my favorite parts of the city. I of course privileged food for the week he was visiting. As it turns out his trip revolved largely around the delicious restaurants and bars we wanted to hit. We took a couple huge walks through Central Park and the Financial District and caught a few too many happy hours around town. Between eating and drinking our faces off out and about I decided to cook dinner a couple of nights. George has been eating my food for a long time dating back to our Santa Cruz days so I looked forward to showing him some new tricks I have picked up in the kitchen. George and I were joined by our other college friend Mike, marking a reunion of sorts with plenty of good food and wine. I started us off with a classic French salad of endive, Roquefort, and sherry vinaigrette. This is one of my all-time favorite salads, super simple to prepare and mighty good.

I have been on a pork kick recently so I went with a main course of ancho chile crusted pork tenderloin. Ancho chilies are dried poblanos, a very mild chile pepper originating in the State of Puebla, Mexico. This national pepper is the most popular and features heavily in Mexican cuisine. After being peeled and roasted or dried poblanos become ancho chiles. The ancho I used is very special indeed. It comes courtesy of my very good friend Hope in California. About a month ago I received a gift basket from her full of tasty treats from her farm in Northern California. In addition to the Meyer Lemon relish I have referenced in past posts, I scored a large bag of ancho chilies organically grown and dried at Riverhill Farm. The hand-written translucent bag was tide with a little ribbon and the contents were listed with a cooking tip: “Great ground up in sauces and meat rubs.” I took Hope’s suggestion to heart and prepared a succulent pork dish. I ground three anchos to a fine powder and liberally seasoned a pork tenderloin with kosher salt rubbed well into the meat. I recommend seasoning the meat and letting it sit at room temperature, or in the refrigerator if you must, for about a half hour before cooking. I simply seared the loin on a smoking hot cast iron for about 3 minutes a side and then threw it in a 375-degree oven for 15-20 minutes. The meat was moist and brilliantly spiced; all it needed was a couple of side dishes.

The first of which was inspired by Valerie’s recent trip to Chicago where she ate at a few delectable restaurants including Graham Elliot. I recently picked up the menu she brought back and skimmed through it. Some things sounded better than others but there were a few dishes and flavor combinations that blew me away. One was a striped bass or some other mild fish with creamed watercress. That sounded fantastic and I set to work formulating a recipe to pull it off at home. I sautéed a pound of watercress over medium heat with some garlic and chili flakes then tossed in a splash of heavy cream, a pad of sweet butter, and a handful of Asiago cheese. All in all it worked out pretty well, a creamy dish reminiscent of braising greens like kale or chard with a pepperycrunch. The second side dish was a simple one; steamed Russian banana potatoes with sweet butter and herbs. I used Kerry Gold Irish butter, my preferred butter at the moment, melted with chopped tarragon, parsley, and chives. This tasty potato dish is perfect to welcome spring and goes excellently with lamb, pork, or beef. My dinner with George and Mike was a total success and George could understand why I throw so many dinner parties. This meal was truly delicious and I was proud to have served it. I also welcomed the company and the opportunity to sit and eat with some good friends. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Sweet Paprika And Goulash

2009-03-18T19:17:00.000-04:00

I have always wanted to tour around Eastern Europe checking out the countries that made up the former Soviet Union. This past summer I visited one such country, Hungary. I spent a week in Budapest at the end of august with a couple of my French friends. I had already spent three months studying in Paris and welcomed the opportunity to travel outside of France. Budapest is a wonderfully novel city with ornate though stern Russian architecture, a tragic national history, unique cuisine, and jolly populace. We fell in love with unicum the national liquor and potent spirit composed of over a hundred herbs and spices. I ordered one at almost every bar we went to served ice cold and taken in shot form with a powerful medicinal kick. At 200 forints it was good prize for a stiff drink. I have actually heard that unicum is sold at a famous bar near Wall Street at a whopping $50 per shot. My friends and I ate virtually all of our meals outside of the hotel and had a challenge to see which one of us could eat the most authentic Hungarian dishes. I pride myself that I won our little competition because I genuinely tried to experience both Buda and Pest, the respective sides of the river, like a local. I ate all the weird cakes and pies with smoked fish of all kinds, stews and spaetzle dishes, and stuffed cabbage. As we went around Budapest we remarked early on that nearly every storefront had paprika on offer and every restaurant whether Italian or Austrian, French or Chinese served goulash.

Goulash is a Hungarian staple; a stew or soup of beef, onions, and peppers that is both filling and delicious. Needless to say that I ate my fill of goulash on my trip through Budapest and interestingly each restaurant served its own variation though each was chalk full of paprika. Paprika is a traditional Eastern European spice. Some were thinner than others with small bits of beef shredded into the broth, others had a lot of vegetables peppered throughout, and some used lamb or veal. The single commonality in the various goulashes we tried was the use of paprika; ground dried red or green bell peppers. The spice is commonly associated with Hungarian cuisine and comes sweet, spicy, or smoked to add vibrant color and flavor to dishes. Paprika is a popular ingredient in a range of national cuisines principally to season and color rice, stews, and soups, like goulash. Ever since our trip together, my friends and I have been meaning to have a Hungarian evening replicating the dishes and drinks we had there. The other night I was craving goulash and after a bit of research through my cookbooks and magazines I found three recipes that looked authentic enough. I opted for the cook’s illustrated recipe from the February issue; a hearty stew of chuck eye roast, sliced onions, tomatoes, carrots, and tons of fresh paprika.

The key to goulash, and other Hungarian dishes for that matter is fresh sweet paprika, not a dated batch that has been lingering in the pantry for years. The smokiness and deep red color imparted by the paprika gives goulash its authentic taste. I find that a good goulash tastes a bit like a meaty bowl of chili with tons of onion and pepper flavors which spices up the otherwise bland cut of meat. Normally Hungarians serve goulash in a large bowl accompanied by bread, potatoes, cabbage, egg noodles, or spaetzle. I served mine with orchietta, which is what I had in my pantry, and the ear shaped noodles were reminiscent of Eastern European spaetzle. Now that I have researched and tested some goulash recipes, it is time to invite my friends over and recreate the magical meals we shared in Budapest. All in all it was a wonderful trip and we ate very well despite claims that Hungarian food is lousy. I just think their cuisine gets a bad rap and that tourists are generally under appreciative or perhaps hesitant to indulge in unique local cuisine. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

AB's Pancakes

2009-03-15T15:11:00.000-04:00

There is really nothing better than a crisp golden pancake in the morning after a long night of boozing. I woke up yesterday morning with a wicked craving for pancakes and even recall dreaming about them as I slipped into a deep slumber after bar hopping with friends. I have experimented in the past with packaged pancake mixes of various styles and flavors though nothing compares to a homemade buttermilk pancake. The recipe I use comes courtesy of Alton Brown, the Food Network personality famous for the “Good Eats” series. I owe my fascination with all things gastronomic largely to the Food Network, one of the few channels I watched religiously growing up. While other kids were watching cartoons and local sports, I was at home in the TV room watching cooking shows. I remember the old days before the Food Network established itself as a predominant channel where the low budget programming could only fill a six-hour slot that ran on a continuous loop throughout the day. Early Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and Alton Brown were my favorites and I never missed an episode of their shows. His “instant pancakes” recipe leads to the best pancakes I have ever eaten, churning out consistent results each and every time. I prepared a batch to eat in front of the window and enjoy a bit of quiet time to nurse my hangover. The recipe is available online and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves a stack of airy pancakes with melted butter and good maple syrup for breakfast. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Orso: Memories Of A Trattoria

2009-03-14T20:02:00.001-04:00

I would say the single greatest influence over my love of food and cooking is my duel citizenship and multicultural upbringing. Growing up between Los Angeles and Paris gave me the opportunity to experience two very different food cultures and I have done my fair share of eating in some of the finest restaurants both cities have to offer. My family and I had a few spots around Los Angeles that we ate at frequently in the eighteen plus years I spent in the city. Our standards included Café Angeli on Melrose, Mandarette and Itacho on Beverly, and Orso on Third St. We ate at Orso at least twice a month because the food was delicious and my mother had long been close with the Manager/Maître d’. Orso Los Angeles and their sister restaurant in New York City boast rustic, great tasting Italian food with a rotating list of seasonal specials that are out of this world. The service is tratorria style; uncomplicated and relatively informal with an exclusively Italian wine list. As I have mentioned before I am obsessed with Italian food, a covert passion since my French roots mean that I have to privilege the Francophonic culinary canon. One day recently I found myself daydreaming about Orso, particularly my favorite dish that I always ordered growing up. I typically started with a Caesar or radicchio salad and then moved on to my top favorite, the orchietta with sausage and broccoli raab. When I got home later that evening after seeing Coraline, an adorable though incredibly strange film, I decided to cook an ode to Orso. The first dish was a “red salad” of radicchio, roasted beets, and crumbled Gorgonzola with a Dijon mustard and Balsamic vinaigrette. A tasty though bitter salad that I rarely make because it seems so few people fancy radicchio but I happen to love it and welcome the opportunity to eat it.

The main course was a recreation of my favorite orchietta dish consisting of sweet Italian pork sausage and the ear-shaped pasta that I rarely cook with. This recipe is incredibly simple and really quite tasty with a side salad and glass of Chianti. For my home variation I substituted mustard greens instead of broccoli raab, choosing to go for greens with a bit more peppery bite to complement the sweet sausage. Good olive oil, a bit of grated Asiago cheese, and some red chili flakes round out this delicious pasta dish which I have eaten more times than I like to admit. Overall my ode to Orso, the Los Angeles tratorria of my youth, turned out very well and I satisfied my craving for the time being though I think this calls for a trip out to Los Angles. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Vegetarianism, Stout Floats, and Shooters

2009-03-14T19:00:00.000-04:00

The title pretty much sums up a recent night I passed with Valerie and Jessica at my apartment. I cooked us up a vegetarian meal driven mainly by fresh vegetables purchased from The West Side market and Branzini’s, two organic specialty grocers on the Upper West Side. We drank a number of interesting drinks throughout the night, which needless to say ended in a deep food and alcohol induced coma. Whenever Jessica and I hang out we experiment with drinks, especially if good food is involved. Whether creating strange drinks, discovering cocktail and food pairings, or comparing small batch bourbons, Jessica and I have a way with the sauce. I felt that a meal consisting of well cooked vegetables dressed with flavorful sauces would supplement the damage we were doing to our livers. The first course was a beet carpaccio, a chance to test my new fancy mandoline (see “Jamming On My Mandoline.”) I sliced roasted red beets super thin and arranged them on a huge circular platter with yogurt-balsamic dressing and dill. It was an earthy and creamy dish that went amazingly with the white wine we were drinking courtesy of Jessica.

The second dish was a French classic that I have probably eaten a thousand times in my life, boiled new potatoes with sweet butter and chopped herbs. In this case I steamed the potatoes and added a generous pad of sweet butter, chopped tarragon, and a liberal sprinkle of salt and black pepper. These potatoes are the ideal counterpart to virtually any main course whether meat, poultry, seafood, or wild game. Try it and I guarantee you will be making them again and again.

The third vegetarian dish of the night was an endive, radicchio, and mixed green salad with blue cheese. I love to combine different types of greens and fresh herbs in my salads and this was no exception. I tossed the greens with some crumbled Gorgonzola and a Dijon mustard, jerez sherry vinegar, and olive oil vinaigrette. Endive and blue cheese is a match made in heaven and the bitterness of the radicchio cut through the creaminess nicely. After the three dishes were eaten and we relaxed for a few minutes finishing our wine, we passed onto dessert or after dinner cocktail.

Valerie and I have seen stout floats on a couple of menus around the city and have wanted to try one though we never seem to have the courage. Valerie suggested that we try to whip them up at home and I was thrilled by the idea. She bought bottled Guinness and vanilla ice cream and set to work with an ice cream scoop and three chilled pint glasses. The stout float is really as simple as it sounds; pour stout beer over two scoops of ice cream and enjoy. The digestif or nightcap if you will was tequila shots with lemon and salt. This Mexican delight, of Cuervo gold unfortunately, turned into three or four and the rest is history. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

The Chicken Test

2009-03-08T18:11:00.001-04:00

People that love to cook and eat scrumptious food know that inspiration can pop out of nowhere at completely random times. Whether a sudden craving or recipe idea, I use this gastronomic insight as a stepping stone for future meals. The other day I was finishing up at work and suddenly thought of chicken; a tender braised bird flavored with tons of lemon and garlic. After I envisioned the dish and could practically taste it already the gustatory plan for the night had been sealed. I have never braised a chicken, it just seemed like a good idea and I set to work trying to figure out how it could be done. I often preach experimentation in the kitchen and my braised chicken should attest to this cavalier approach to food and cooking. One must be adventurous in the kitchen like all great chefs who periodically sit down in their ornate kitchens to brainstorm, laboriously crafting delicious dishes from start to finish. All good food starts from an inventive concept brought to life through the skill, creativity, and determination of the cook. From my past experiences it was clear to me that lemons, garlic, and tarragon pair excellently with chicken and instead of roasting in traditional fashion I decided to braise it. I hoped this technique would retain all the flavor of the chicken, render it delicately tender, and make it powerfully tasty all at once. I feel this dish highlights the crux of my culinary philosophy that food is all about enjoying yourself. To me the kitchen is an extension of that belief, a sort of improvisational laboratory where culinary dreams, wacky ideas, and yearnings are carried out. I urge you home cooks and burgeoning chefs to cook through your mind, heart, and soul to just get in there and make whatever you think sounds or tastes good. My braised chicken was a resounding success that I attribute to the good homemade vegetable stock and Meyer lemons I used. All it took was a little imagination, some basic kitchen know how, and the confidence to try something I had never tried before. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Lemony Braised Chicken
Serves 5

1 Whole Chicken (1 1/2 – 2 lbs.)
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 Large Yellow Onion, thinly sliced
1 Large Lemon, thinly sliced
8 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 C. Tarragon Leaves, roughly chopped
3 C. Quality Stock (Chicken or Vegetable)
1 Tbs. Salted Butter
Salt & Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove gizzards from chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

2. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Sauté onions for 5-8 minutes until translucent, add garlic and heat until fragrant.

3. Make an even layer of the onion mixture and rest chicken on top. Gently pour stock into the pot about half way up the chicken. Arrange lemon slices and tarragon leaves around and on top of the bird.

4. Bring the pot to a boil and cover with aluminum foil if necessary to ensure a tight fitting lid. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on the size of the chicken.

5. Remove the pot from the oven and set to broil. Uncover and baste chicken evenly with butter. Transfer chicken to the oven and broil for about 15-20 minutes until a crisp brown crust has formed.

6. Transfer chicken as carefully as possible to a deep platter and strain solids from the pot. Arrange cooked onions, lemon, and tarragon around the chicken and tent with aluminum foil. Set cooking liquid over high heat and reduce for about 10 minutes. Pour over chicken and serve immediately.

Iron Chef Monday: Greenmarket!

2009-03-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

Some of the many perks of having my mother Dorothy live upstate are the access to beautiful farmland, amazing local ingredients, and far cheaper groceries. My mother’s picturesque town in the Catskills is peppered with farms and livestock. The local farmer’s market is charmingly tiny with tons of tasty things grown or produced by members of the community. Although the farmer’s market and local farming operations essentially die down for most of the winter, the price of food is nevertheless cheaper upstate. Urban inflation is clearly a factor when living in big cities and New York City is certainly no exception. I am always amazed by how much cheaper produce, dairy goods, and meat are at the Price Chopper, my mother’s preferred supermarket. She teaches two days a week down in the city during the spring term and has thankfully established a routine of shopping upstate and driving down her purchases. These culinary runs usually include fresh produce, an animal protein of some sort, home baked cookies or pastries, and a dozen eggs hatched by her chickens. This past Sunday Dorothy arrived at the apartment with a package of amazing bacon and tons of fresh vegetables that I promptly set to work preparing into a series of gustatory delights. The first dish was steamed asparagus with sauce gribiche: a French emulsified sauce made with cooked egg yolks and tons of fresh herbs traditionally served to accompany veal head. This is one of my mom’s signature sauces that goes excellently with steamed or boiled vegetables and Alice Waters often serves it alongside charcuterie and cold appetizers at Chez Panisse.

The second dish was creamed leeks. I am obsessed with leeks and have yet to find a recipe or manner of cooking them that I don’t like. They have such a delicate sweet oniony flavor that lends itself well to soups and stocks though they can also be served solo. I sautéed some minced onions and garlic in a hot pan for a couple of minutes before adding the sliced leeks, well washed and drained beforehand. After the leeks had cooked through I added a splash of heavy cream, a generous handful of grated pecorino, and some black pepper until the sauce thickened. This is a truly tasty dish that I recommend serving with a crusty loaf to soak up the cheesy sauce.

The third dish prepared from fresh produce driven down from upstate was bacon braised kale and broccoli rapini. I know it this point it seems like I eat way too much kale, but I see it as a positive character trait. Kale and other bitter greens are really good to eat and super good for you, two important things when choosing ingredients to cook with or incorporate into our diets. Bitter greens are fast becoming my go-to vegetable side, something I just love to cook with, especially during the winter season when little else is available at local organic grocers or farmer’s markets. For these bacon braised greens, render four strips of smoked bacon chopped into thin strips in a Dutch oven until slightly crispy and then add minced onion and garlic. After a couple of minutes add your greens of choice and wilt down. Add a 1/2 cup of stock (chicken or vegetable works best) and quickly cover the pot. Cook for about 15 minutes then remove the lid and cook another 5-8 minutes until all of the cooking liquid has been evaporated. This is a wonderful side dish that is full of bacon flavor, a great way to make bitter greens. After driving down from the country with shopping bags in tow I of course rewarded my mother with a glass of wine and a delicious vegetable meal. It really is a great deal to receive cheaper groceries once a week which grants me the opportunity to cook on Sunday nights when she gets into town. It is kind of a fun challenge as well because I never know what is going to come out of those shopping bags, sort of my weekly iron chef challenge. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Snow Day Sandwich

2009-03-02T16:29:00.001-05:00

Overall snowstorms get mixed reviews; they are either welcomed or bitterly chastised. There are certainly cons to big snowstorms what with public transportation complications and difficulty walking down the icy streets. Another major downside to the snow is that it heralds low temperatures and generally nasty conditions. Coming from California, this is often enough an unwelcome aspect of living on the East coast. However, there are numerous pros to blustery winter conditions as well like sledding, time off from school, and an excuse to hang around indoors. To the sentimentalists and novices for whom the snow is still a novelty, there is also the beauty of a descending palette of whites and grays marring the urban landscape. I think snowstorms are ideal for taking a long walk, well bundled of course, through Central Park. There are usually tons of families sledding every little bunny hill and black diamond to be found among the park’s natural avenues. Snowstorms also grant the opportunity, or excuse depending on how you look at it, to lounge around indoors. What a perfect time to read a book, watch a movie, file your taxes, and just chill. It is also a good time to have a warm bowl of soup or a sandwich to laze around and eat.

BLTs, grilled cheese, and tomato soup are my usual go to rainy or snowy day classics but this afternoon I decided to mix it up a little and get fancy. I threw together a Bresaola (air-dried salted beef aged about 2-3 months), arugula, and cave-aged Gruyere sandwich. I had a wheat dinner roll leftover from the night before which I cut in half, toasted, and smeared with mustard and Jerez vinaigrette. I piled on four paper-thin slices of Bresaola, some arugula leaves, and a few slices of Gruyere to make a gorgeous looking sandwich. The nuttiness of the cheese, peppery bite of the salad, and sweet musty taste of the meat mingled excellently on the warm roll. I ate the sandwich with a side salad of arugula tossed with the leftover vinaigrette and a tall glass of orange juice. Now its time to kick it by the window with the cat and a good pulp mystery novel, I’m thinking Chandler. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Pasta Con Cavolo E Funghi

2009-03-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

Is there anything better than a big bowl of pasta with a crusty loaf of bread, a green salad, and a glass of red wine? There are few pleasures in life so easily assembled yet so exquisite. After all how often does one throw together a pot of boiling water and crack a jar of prepared sauce for a quick meal with the aforementioned accoutrements. I eat pasta at least five times a month, sometimes more if I am trying to stretch the dollar or have been mostly eating solo. Last night I had a craving for one such meal and made a tasty pasta dish for Mike, my mother, and our friend Andrea. My credo is that it is best to cook seasonally and improvise with ingredients that call out from the farmer’s market or grocery aisles. Last night’s dinner adhered to this criteria; featuring kale and cremini mushrooms, two ingredients that reflect the winter season. I rarely make cream sauces except when I cook classic French bistro fare but for some reason last night I was feeling an Alfredo variant. If you like kale you are going to love this dish and will want to make it again and again. I find it is best to prepare the two vegetables separately then make the sauce, assembling everything at the end. I choose Gemelli noodles for this particular dish but any other small tubular or curly pasta will do. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Pasta Con Cavolo E Funghi
Gemelli With Kale And Cremini Mushrooms
Serves 5

For Kale:
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 Yellow Onion, diced small
2 Garlic Cloves, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp. Red Chili Flakes
1 lb. Kale, fibrous ribs removed and roughly chopped
1 Cup Water
1/4 tsp. Salt

For Mushrooms:
1 tsp. Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 lb. Cremini Mushrooms, stems removed and diced into 1/4 pieces
1/4 tsp. Salt

For Pasta & Sauce:
1 lb. Gemelli Pasta
1 tsp. Olive Oil
1/8 tsp. All Purpose Flour
1/2 Yellow Onion, minced
1 Garlic Clove, pressed
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan
Salt & Black Pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook until translucent, 4-5 mins. Add garlic and chili flakes and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Toss in half of the kale and cook down until volume has reduced. Incorporate the second bunch of kale along with water and salt. Cover immediately and reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 20 mins stirring occasionally. Remove lid and cook until all remaining water has evaporated, 10-12 mins. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or frying pan over medium high heat until shimmering, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and salt and cook until all water has been leached out and evaporated, 10-12 mins. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Bring 4-6 quarts of salted water to a boil over high heat. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add flour and cook until lightly browned and smooth stirring frequently, 3-5 mins. Incorporate onions and cook another 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Toss in kale, mushrooms, and heavy cream and reduce heat to low. Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, 11-12 mins. Cook and drain pasta, add directly to sauce, stir in parmesan, and cook for 2 mins until all ingredients are well incorporated. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately.

A Leftover Supper

2009-02-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

Last night I was in the mood for leftovers. Not in the traditional sense of the word which connotes reheated bowls of past suppers. I wanted pantry and refrigerator leftovers or the odds and ends that I had lying around just dying to be cooked with. I love improvising on the fly whether in music, writing, or cooking and last night’s dinner with Valerie was no exception. I threw together a couple of dishes that came out well and we ended up eating a mighty fine meal. We started out with some pita bread and leftover raita which I made earlier in the week to accompany my Tandoori chicken. I still cannot get over how well that one turned out. I then made a simple salad of Boston lettuce with grapefruit vinaigrette and chopped hazelnuts. There was some grapefruit mustard left over that I concocted last weekend for a dinner party with my sister Emma. I mixed the mustard with good olive oil and a splash of sherry vinegar to make a fresh and zesty citrus vinaigrette which went smashingly with the greens and crunchy hazelnuts. The main course was vegetable fried rice with lots of broccoli and various odds and ends from the refrigerator. I recommend trying this Chinese classic which is incredibly versatile; just substitute your favorite ingredients and follow the recipe with your protein or vegetables of choice. This one happens to be vegetable but I have also made fried rice with chicken, pork, shrimp, and myriad other things. A well-seasoned wok is preferred for making really tasty fried rice with a crisp texture but I guess you could use a large skillet or two depending on the quantity. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Vegetable Fried Rice
Serves 4

2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp. Freshly Grated Ginger
2 Large Garlic Cloves, finely minced or pressed
4 Scallions, cut into 1/4 in. rounds, separated white from green
1 1/2 Cups Broccoli Florets
1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper, cut into 1/4 in. cubes
2 Eggs, beaten
3 Cups Cold Rice, preferably a day or two old
1 Tsp. Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tsp. Sesame Oil

1. Set a wok over medium-high heat and wait until slightly smoking. Add vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Add ginger, garlic, and the white part of scallions and heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir constantly throughout cooking.
2. Add broccoli and bell pepper, adding oil if necessary along the cooking process, and cook 2-3 minutes. Move the contents of the pan to the sides of the wok, opening up the middle area, and cook the eggs until scrambled.
3. Incorporate the other ingredients in the wok, adding oil if necessary. Add the cold rice and cook stirring constantly for another 2-3 minutes. Add the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil to the wok making sure the rice is well coated. Serve immediately topped with remaining scallions.

Homemade Tandoori Chicken?!

2009-02-27T14:48:00.000-05:00

That’s right, homemade Tandoori chicken. I never thought it possible to recreate the delectable Indian treat at home without the aid of an extremely heavy and costly Tandoor clay oven. These ovens are made to withstand temperatures up to 900 degrees which imbue foods with their characteristic smokiness and charred exterior, two key components of good Tandoori chicken. I have a penchant for Indian food from all regions, or the ones I have had the pleasure to taste for that matter, and have for as long as I can remember. My mother used to wow dinner guests with a spread of countless Indian dishes from samosas and sag paneer to popadums and baingan bharta. Little did our guests realize that she had spent four days solid on the preparation of ingredients, sauces, spices, and condiments. I discovered a method for making Tandoori chicken at home from a recent issue of Cooks Illustrated. My brother and his girlfriend gave me a two-year subscription as a gift this past Christmas and I have just begun to get into it. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I rarely cook directly from recipes and mainly use them to draw inspiration in the development of my own culinary identity. I am a realist however and realized there was no way to throw together a plate of Tandoori chicken without some expert advice. I knew there were spices like cardamom and garam masala involved with some yogurt thrown in at some stage but apart from that I was at a loss. Cooks Illustrated stepped in with a detailed explanation and I was off cooking from there. This was far and away one of the best chickens I have ever made which the shoddy photography simply cannot convey.

The dish is relatively easy to make though it does require a lot of hands on work and some time. Score each piece of skinless bone-in chicken parts with small incisions using a sharp knife then rub each piece with a mixture of toasted chili powder, cumin, and garam masala, fresh garlic, and ginger combined with lime juice and salt. Let the pieces rest for a half hour at room temperature. In the meantime mix a second batch of the above mentioned spice mixture with a cup of plain yogurt. Preheat the oven to 300, toss chicken with the yogurt mixture, and roast scored side down for 20 mins. Remove chicken and set oven to broil. Turn chicken and broil scored side up for about 15 minutes until nicely charred and cooked through. The crispy charred exterior, red color, and exotic spiced flavors are spot on and will effectively remind you of authentic Tandoori chicken. I served the chicken alongside basmati rice tossed with lime zest and golden raisins, homemade raita, Old Major Greys mango chutney, and a basket of warm whole-wheat pita. Raita is a mixture of plain yogurt, cilantro, cayenne, and finely minced garlic served as a condiment to cool the palette when eating overly spiced foods. Most North African, Mediterranean, and Eastern cultures that thrive in hot or dry climates have a yogurt-based condiment of some sort. Whether Indian raita, Greek tsatsiki, or Middle Eastern tahini-yogurt sauce, yogurt is employed for the same purpose cross culturally. They ease the consumption of spicy foods intended to cool the body internally from arid weather. Food anthropologists have argued that the hotter the climate, the hotter the food prepared by the people living there due in part to the fact that capsaicin, the chemical in chilies and other spicy things, help the body feel cooler. Piquant spices also help stimulate appetite and digestion, which flag in hotter climates, and are commonly employed to prevent food spoilage. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Jamming On My Mandoline

2009-02-22T12:47:00.001-05:00

I bought a mandoline yesterday and it has totally blown my mind. I am of course referring to the French kitchen tool not the small stringed instrument. I spared no expense in my purchase, going for the top of the line stainless steel French mandoline, la mandoline professionelle from the de Buyer company. There are certain things that can only be accomplished with the help of a mandoline able to rapidly process fruits and vegetables into myriad cuts from a 2mm slice to a tiny julienne. Vegetable carpaccios, paper-thin salads, and fancy French cuts require the mandolins magic touch. I was overly giddy when I got home and could not wait to get play with the impressive piece of hardware. It is amazing how quickly you can get uniform and precise slices; even the sharpest knives and months of practice cannot compete. I decided to make dinner for my sister Emma and a few other friends testing the mandoline’s abilities. Dinner turned into a sort of cooking demo as I explored the various blades and applications. The first thing I did was slice a few fennel bulbs for a crisp fennel and green apple salad. After a few practice runs I finally got my desired thickness and began churning out paper-thin slices like a pro. Mike jumped on, equally intrigued by the new kitchen tool, and julienned a green apple into uniform batons the size of matchsticks. I tossed the fennel and apple with olive oil, sherry vinegar, and a generous pinch of salt to accompany grilled pork chops. The first course of my mandoline-crazed meal was a mushroom soup, one of my sister’s all time favorite dishes. This woodsy soup is definite comfort food for our family. My father used to make it all the time when he would entertain and it grew into a Malle/Lyman classic. The mix of bread and mushrooms makes this a hearty soup that could just as easily be served as a main with a salad and piece of fruit.

Mushroom Soup

1/4 lb. Cremini Mushrooms
1/4 lb. Button Mushrooms
1 large Yellow Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
5 sprigs of Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
1 Sourdough Loaf
1/4 cup Milk
4 cups Chicken Stock

Chop the onion and cook in olive oil with a little salt in a Dutch oven or stew pot over medium heat. Slice the mushrooms and garlic about an 1/8 inch and add to the pot after the onions have become translucent. Add thyme leaves and a bay leaf and cook for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, soak three thick slices of bread in a large bowl with a cup of stock until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Add the bread and stock to the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth but chunky with noticeable morsels of mushroom remaining. Return to the pot, add milk, and warm through. Serve topped with a sprig of thyme. Serves 4-6.

The main course, which sadly did not involve the mandoline, was grilled pork chops with grapefruit mustard sauce. I love pork products and treat myself to chops or tenderloin routinely. I know Emma has an affinity for pork chops, especially the thick double-cut ones, so I thought she would enjoy them. I seasoned the chops with salt and pepper and grilled them on a very hot cast iron grill pan for about 5 minutes a side, turning them a quarter turn for nice grill marks. I finished the chops in the oven at 400, to crisp the meat and cook it evenly for about 15 minutes depending on your choice of doneness. While the chops were resting I prepared the mustard sauce. This is a delicious sauce that works wonderfully with pork. Mix two tablespoons of whole grain mustard with a splash of grapefruit juice and a little good olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and mix until emulsified. I poured my batch into a plastic squeeze bottle for an elegant presentation. I drizzled two thick lines over each chop and made a little pool on the individual plates. Tasty time.

In addition to the fennel and green apple salad, I fried Yukon gold potatoes in duck fat. The fat was leftover from a dinner party I hosted last weekend featuring duck breast with blueberries, mint, and watercress. Anytime you make duck there is usually quite a bit of fat rendered out of the skin which should be kept at all costs. Any scraps or leftover bits should be reused when cooking; stocks and fat are prime products best made at home. Mike sliced the potatoes on the mandoline in two seconds flat and we fried them up in the tasty duck fat which imparted a fantastic flavor. The fennel salad with its crunch and subtle anise flavor complimented the warm pork chops while the potatoes rounded out the meal. The mustard sauce paired well with all three components and I look forward to using the rest in a salad dressing for lunch. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Martinis And Marshmallows

2009-02-18T20:50:00.001-05:00

The other night I hosted a dinner party for my good friend Matt and his girlfriend Bess who was visiting for the Valentine’s Day weekend. Matt and I grew up together in Los Angeles and seldom get the chance to hang out; sporadically meeting here or there depending on our respective travels and schedules. He recently moved to the city so hopefully we will get the chance to see each other more often. Matt, Bess, and I have a budding tradition of drinking martinis when in each other’s company and last Sunday was no exception. They arrived promptly at 8 o’clock and mixed up a round of ice cold gin martinis with two olives a piece, just the way I like them. I prepared a three course meal which turned into five with the unexpected addition of cheese courtesy of Bess and smore fixings care of Valerie. The first course was a bruschetta con zucca or butternut squash bruschetta. This was inspired by a dish I had on my sister’s birthday at Barbuto, Jonathan Waxman’s lovely restaurant in the west village. Their version is a crusty piece of bread topped with goat cheese, parmesan, and a coarse puree of squash, toasted almonds, and chives. I adapted the recipe by roasting butternut squash cubes in the oven with a little honey, chopped hazelnuts, chili flakes, cider vinegar, and sea salt for about 25 minutes on 400. I toasted thick slices of a crusty country loaf spread liberally with goat cheese and topped with the warm squash mixture. The sweet, spicy, and nutty flavor of the squash paired well with the warm bread and goat cheese, melting elegantly on the plate.

The second course, a seafood dish served in between the appetizer and main course in classic Italian or French fashion, was pan roasted sea scallops with corn and shrimp risotto. Mike and I had shrimp the night before and made a rich stock with the leftover shells along with onions, garlic, carrots, celery, lemon, and a bay leaf. I used the homemade stock as a base for the corn risotto, which was one of the best I have ever made. Homemade ingredients make such a difference and in this case it made the dish infinitely better by imparting a subtle shrimp flavor to the rice. I bought the sea scallops at my local fishmonger whose praises I have sung all to often but this time they let me down. The scallops were just not that good and had a sharp almost metallic after taste which all but ruined the course. I pan roasted the scallops on a cast iron pan and finished them in the oven before topping each one with a basil and shallot pesto. Thankfully the risotto came out well and the pesto added a bright herbal high note that made the dish sufferable. My guests were friendly and a little drunk at this point, sparing me any negative criticisms.

The third dish was my favorite and I feel like it came out the best. I was inspired by a Nigella Lawson recipe from one of her cookbooks, duck with pomegranate and fresh mint. She recommends the usage of fresh herbs to top roasted meats and insists that mint and duck go well together, an idea that freaked me out at first. I seared a Muscovy duck breast skin side down to render some of the fat, turned it, and threw it in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. The duck came out nicely browned with crisp skin and tender pink meat, just the way they cook it in France. I prepared a bed of watercress salad on a large circular platter and arranged the thinly sliced duck breast. I topped the duck with reconstituted blueberries soaked in English Breakfast tea and shredded fresh mint per Nigella’s suggestion. The duck was excellently cooked and the sweetness of the berries, herbal flavor of the mint, and spicy crunch of the watercress worked wonderfully in concert. I think this was the hit of the night and we managed to eat it all up in minutes flat before preparing another round of martinis.

It seems ridiculously dangerous and more than a little reckless in retrospect but after dinner and a few minutes of clean up we gathered around the stove to roast marshmallows. That’s right. After three rounds of martinis and four courses, our bellies full and minds a little hazy, we lit sugary clouds on fire at close proximity to an open flame. I must admit that despite the blatant fire hazard the smores were exceptionally good. The smoky, chocolaty, indescribable flavor reminiscent of naïve youth and playground-skinned knees was fully encapsulated by the smores. It was great to see Matt and Bess, especially over an opulent meal. The five of us got along smashingly and the conversation flowed like the gin over one too many rounds of martinis and roasted marshmallows. I hope to do it again soon and will certainly suggest that we incorporate smores into our burgeoning martini night tradition. Cheers to that. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Halve Your Lemon And Eat It Too

2009-02-18T20:34:00.002-05:00

I love shrimp. I will eat them prepared in any fashion, at any time, and nearly at any place. This personal declaration comes after much deliberation on my part, reminiscing about dishes I have made over the past several months and recent meals ordered in and around the gastronomic mecca that is New York City. I realized that over the past year or so I have garnered an affinity for Penaeus, the genus of prawns encompassing all the shrimp species we know and love. Whether pink, red, brown, grey, or pale white, these tasty crustaceans are most definitely good eats. I particularly love the sweet rock shrimps served in high-end Japanese restaurants and the bite-size grey shrimps found at any portside fish market in Northern France. I had a craving for my preferred shellfish a few days ago and needed to ease my crustaceous jonesing with a home cooked meal. Mike and I skimmed a few cookbooks for potential dishes before we hit an intriguing recipe in Alice Water’s chez Panisse book. The pan roasted scallops with Meyer lemon relish was to good to pass up even though I was craving shrimp and not scallops however delicious they may be. I often use recipes as a starting point just to get my ideas and flavors in order before improvising in the kitchen. I simply substituted grilled shrimp for the roasted scallops and served the relish as an accompanying sauce alongside a watercress salad tossed with olive oil.

Meyer Lemon Relish

1 Shallot, finely diced
1 tbls. Meyer lemon juice
1 Meyer lemon
1/2 cup Quality olive oil
Parsley
Salt & Pepper

Dice the shallot into uniform cubes and marinate in a small bowl with Meyer lemon juice and a pinch of salt for about 15 minutes. Cut the Meyer lemon into manageable wedges, removing seeds and the white pith holding each wedge together. Slice the wedges into long strips and dice, peel and all, into uniform cubes mirroring the shallots. Combine the diced lemon with the shallot mixture and add the olive oil, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well and serve immediately with shellfish, fish, or roast chicken. Makes about a cup.

Whenever I grill shrimp I like to leave them unpeeled in order to crisp the shell on high heat without overly cooking the tender flesh within. This is ideal for infusing the shrimp with a smoky flavor and also allows you to marinate them with a little acid without running the risk of cooking them. I marinated fresh gulf shrimp in olive oil, Meyer lemon juice, thyme, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper for about a half hour. I then grilled them on high heat for about 2 minutes per side; nicely charred on the outside with firm tender interiors. They are fun to pick apart on the plate because after all it is always nice to get messy with your food at the table. The Meyer lemon relish added a citrusy bite to the dish and goes perfectly with other shellfish. Meyer lemons grow all over California and I have a number of friends with trees in their backyards next to swimming pools. They are much sweeter and more flavorful than ordinary lemons and are becoming increasingly available at fancy grocers in the city. Unfortunately this dish cannot be substituted for with regular lemons, the flavor just isn’t there. I also sautéed some fresh greens to nibble on as a side dish. Spicy broccoli rapini is a snap to make, a delicious vegetable side dish that could be tossed with pasta for a quick dinner. Just sauté the greens in a little olive oil on medium heat until wilted, remove from the pan and sauté some sliced garlic and chili flakes. Toss the rapini back in the pan when the garlic has browned slightly and mix together for about a minute before serving. This was truly a wonderful and fairly quick meal, just one of many shrimp inspired posts to come. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Weekend Breakfast

2009-02-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

Breakfast is more of a weekend thing for me since I have to be at work relatively early during the week and do not usually eat a proper meal before lunch. The espresso maker at the office is a dangerous thing and two or three freshly brewed coffees usually serves as my first meal of the day. I relish the times where I get to make and eat breakfast in the late morning either solo or with company. This past weekend was one of those times and I made a delicious meal for Valerie, Mike, and myself. The combo was a classic with the usual suspects present though I did jazz up the eggs and hash browns. The applewood-smoked bacon speaks for itself, as bacon is inclined to do.

I love scrambled eggs and I never run out of crazy ideas to throw at them. Eggs are such a versatile protein and there are hundreds of ways to cook them, one just has to be inventive. For this particular occasion I sautéed the white part of scallions in a little butter before adding six of my mother’s eggs raised on her farm upstate. These eggs have an amazing dark orange color largely due to their free range grazing habits and wealth of beta-carotene. Their flavor simply does not compare to any commercial egg whether organic, free range, cage free, what have you. I added about a half a cup or grated cheddar cheese and a handful of the green part of the scallions before serving alongside the crisp bacon. The third element making up the breakfast was a potato and carrot hash. I cheated a bit by using a Cuisinart to shred the potato and carrots but it can be done on a cheese grater or mandolin with relative ease, just watch your fingers. Drain and dry the vegetables well and then crisp them in a hot nonstick pan with a little olive oil. Try to flip it in one piece and make sure that you really get a nice brown crust on it. Breakfast is truly a glorious meal and I hope next weekend bodes well for a repeat. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Sausage, Peppers, and Onions Oh My!

2009-02-16T14:52:00.000-05:00

Last Friday night my buddy Mike and I decided to stay in and cook instead of going out. We wanted to just eat and chill with a movie or some terrible weekend television. After tossing around dinner ideas I blurted out an epiphanic suggestion of sausage and peppers. I love anything pasta and this dish is relatively easy to make with tons of vegetables, carbohydrates, and protein. Sausage and peppers reminds me of my mother and by extension my sister who periodically make the dish and have been for years. We used to eat it regularly when we all lived together in Los Angeles and to this day I think my mom’s is the best although it is normal to hold mom’s cooking on a pedestal. Fettuccini is the go to pasta for this dish and I like to spice mine up with a little jalapeno, the green things in the skillet alongside sliced onions, garlic, and bell peppers.

Mike and I went to the grocery store for the necessary ingredients and then got down to cooking before eventually relaxing with a couple of beers in front of the tube. I set the water to boil while he sliced the vegetables and sautéed them in a hot skillet with a little olive oil. After the vegetables were fully cooked and slightly browned on the edges I browned hot Italian pork sausages in an enameled stew pot and added a large jar of tomato sauce. I used a commercial sauce this time for sheer convenience though normally I am a huge proponent of homemade tomato sauce which is both easy to make and far better than its store bought counterpart. Add the cooked vegetables to the tomato and sausage and let simmer for about 15 or 20 minutes. Toss the fettuccini into the sauce and stir through on the burner before serving with some freshly grated parmesan. I highly recommend this family favorite which serves a big group easily when coupled with a green salad and bread. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Neighbor Night At The Walk

2009-02-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach. -Woodrow Wilson. I was reminded of these words about a week ago after hosting my neighbor Robin for a night of French comfort food. One of the things I want to do more often is cook for my neighbors. I love to entertain but don’t get me wrong, from time to time I cherish the quiet isolation of my own company. I invite my sister Emma over on occasion although not nearly enough and I have never really hosted our other neighbors which is precisely what I hope to change. A recent dinner of beef stew, winter vegetable puree, and fresh strawberries was part and parcel of that grand ambition because as Mr. Wilson aptly stated, no one can love on an empty stomach.

Beef stew comes a thousand ways yet each and every one is unique in its own right, tasting different even if cooked from the same recipe. I feel with a clear bias given my Gallic heritage that French provincial stews are some of the best out there. I have all to many memories of my father preparing massive meat stews or daube after being charged with the task of feeding twenty five hungry guests at our country house. I often wing it in the kitchen and draw on things I have eaten or seen done in other kitchens and this was no exception. My daube de boeuf provencal was a pretty classic French beef stew that mirrored my father’s in many ways made with minimal ingredients and lengthy slow cooking. I used top rump and a half bottle of heady Burgundy in my stew cooked for about two and a half hours. I find that top rump is a relatively inexpensive cut of meat that holds up nicely in stews and that one should always cook with wine they would otherwise drink. I finished the stew with a persillade of minced garlic and parsley stirred in just before serving to add a fresh note and olfactory stimulus to the dish. Stews go well with a number of side dishes whether potatoes, rice, egg noodles, or crusty bread but in this case I went with a winter vegetable puree both creamy and earthy.

Winter Vegetable Puree

1 Russet Potato
1 Celery Root (Celeriac)
2 Parsnips
1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
2 tbls. Butter
1 Pinch Nutmeg
1 Pinch Allspice
Salt & Pepper

Cut the vegetables into uniform pieces about 1/2 thick and steam until tender. Drain and transfer to a large bowl if hand mashing or a food processor and blend coarsely. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Top with chives or any other leafy herb and serve hot as an accompaniment to stewed or roasted meats or as a starter with warm crusty bread.

After the rich stew and creamy vegetable puree I wanted to serve something light and refreshing preferably fruit based. After a dismal tour of the produce section I saw that strawberries are apparently in season in California. After hulling and halving the berries I mixed some Greek yogurt with lemon zest and lemon curd. This was no ordinary lemon curd I might add; it was prepared a few weeks ago by my friend Hope who boasts an epic garden and citrus grove at her home in Los Angeles. I served the yogurt in bowls topped with the fresh berries tossed with a touch of aged balsamic and black pepper as they do in Italy. The dish was the perfect light and fruity break from the heavy French provincial stew. This was a good start to what I plan to be a Pomander tradition of cooking for my neighbors. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Dinner Party Chez Hitch

2009-02-12T19:41:00.000-05:00

The second day of our weekend trip upstate to Ithaca and Trumansberg was spent idly. The three of us were a bit hung-over from the debaucheries of the night before fueled by the fine wine, grappa, and food. Nick, Valerie, and I welcomed the calm of the countryside with its beautiful landscape and white snowy view on display outside the warm living room at my uncle Hitch’s farmhouse. They had reading to do and I spent the afternoon chatting with Hitch and listening to opera casually in front of the fireplace. He had invited a couple of friends from town to join us for dinner and in the late afternoon sent us for a few last minute things. The three of us drove into town for oysters and wine, a lovely drive in the crystal clear winter dusk. I was enticed by the prosecco on sale at the wine merchant and decided to whip up a couple of cocktails upon return to the house for an impromptu aperatif. I made a classic Italian Belini with mashed white peaches and a little brown sugar plopped in the bottom of a glass topped with a healthy dose of bubbly. The second round of drinks was a blood orange coup of prosecco and freshly squeezed juice that lent a gorgeous color to the glass.

Hitch calmly prepared dinner in the large rustic kitchen the other guests and I sat in front of the fire immediately adjacent the stove, able to converse with him as he chopped, fried, and baked up a storm. The first course was a lush looking pasta dubbed penne a l’aspergi which Hitch picked up on one of his sojourns to Italy. The dish was made of penne, chopped asparagus, olive oil, and a blend of five or six cheese including parmesan, cantal, and pecorino. The nuttiness and gooey texture of the cheese went well with the fresh earthy crunch of the asparagus which had been lightly sautéed. The first course paired excellently with Hitch’s favorite; Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand.

The second course was a recipe that dates back to my great great grandmother. Hitch fondly remembers these delicacies from his youth and prides himself on making them exactly as he witnessed to preserve the family tradition. Fried oysters are a delicious thing indeed but I have problems with cooked oysters period. I don’t mean to offend anybody its just that I like my oysters chilled and freshly shucked with a twist of lemon and some brown bread with butter on the side. Call me old fashioned, conservative, close-minded, or a snob but that’s about the only way I will eat them. I must admit that Hitch’s fried oysters were good and I ate my share happily. He simply dredged shucked Blue Points in finely crushed saltine crackers and then pan-fried them in two cast iron skillets with vegetable oil. The “breading” added a great crunch and saltiness to the creamy oysters that literally popped in your mouth. I highly recommend trying these at home if you are into that sort of thing.

The third and final course was a beautiful citrus tart Hitch seemed to just throw together and serve out of nowhere. The recipe came from a British pastry book, which sounds scary but the tarts and custards photographed on the pages looked really tasty. I don’t know exactly what went into this particular tart essentially a custard with eggs, butter, and sugar mixed with orange and lemon juice. The deep beigeish orange color of the tart leads me to believe there was blood orange involved. The eggy citrus custard was set against a crisp salty crust and was truly an amazing thing to eat. Hitch was batting a hundred, two for two on the meal front and I was so glad that he invited us for back-to-back dinners at his beautiful farmhouse in Trumansberg. It was a wonderful experience that we all shared and Valerie and I definitely look forward to the next one. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Trumansberg Farmstead Supper

2009-02-08T19:59:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I was in Ithaca visiting the Cornell campus and my very good friend Nick. He is a doctoral candidate in the English department and this is the first time I have gone up to visit him despite the relative proximity to New York City by car. As I have mentioned in numerous previous posts Nick is a foodie who is quite skilled in the kitchen. He also happens to be a hip dude that I love spending time with. Valerie and I left the city at a shockingly early hour (6am!) and arrived in Ithaca for a walking tour of the gorgeous campus before sitting down to lunch. My uncle on my mother’s side lives just outside of Ithaca and was another motivation for the weekend road trip. Hitch is a fabulous gardner, wonderful cook, and ebullient personality whom I truly enjoy spending time with. He invited the three of us up to his farmhouse in Trumansberg to have dinner and spend the night which we gratefully accepted knowing that we were in for an uproariously good time. After we had settled in and deposited our baggage Hitch summoned us with a glass of wine and a slice of homemade pork terrine. The pâté was tender and not greasy at all with just the right amount of fat, seasoning, and chopped pistachio paired well with the vegetal aftertaste of the chilled white. Hitch loves to cook and entertain through a modest philosophy that food should highlight natural flavors and not be overly complex. Simplicity through delicious ingredients treated with care and respect is above all showcased in his cooking and our dinner was no exception. Hitch has traveled extensively throughout Europe, particularly Italy and Greece, two food cultures that have heavily influenced his cuisine. The first course was an Italian fennel dish baked with cream and parmesan. He boiled thickly sliced fennel for until just tender and then baked in a buttered earthenware dish topped with heavy cream and coarsely grated parmesan.

When I went back into the kitchen and the open fireplace next to Hitch’s industrial stovetop I was amazed to find a dish of lamb chops. The little meaty jewels had been infused with minced garlic and rosemary pressed into the chops. Hitch then employed a kitchen trick I have often thought about but never tried to employ: he grilled them in the fireplace over hot coals. The fire had died down enough to cook the meat on direct heat without flaring up, burning, or overcooking the tender meat. The whole kitchen erupted in an olfactory blaze of flavor as the meat cooked to a perfect crisp exterior and rosy pink center highly flavored by the smoke and aromatics. There were also little crispy slightly bitter morsels of burnt rosemary that one came across in random bites that added a robust depth of flavor to the grilled lamb. Overall the dish exemplified Hitch’s approach in the kitchen; it was simply prepared and absolutely delicious.

The third course was served after a decent respite during which we cleared our plates and the remaining wine on the table. After we had decided what to drink to accompany them, a plate of boiled new potatoes and a cheeseboard arrived. The potatoes were piping hot and we were invited to dress our spuds with a choice of sweet butter, salt, pepper, or cheese. The four cheeses, clockwise from bottom left, were comté, pecorino, appenzeller, and a local cow’s milk tome. Each cheese had its own thing going on and some were best on their own though the appenzeller and a tiny pad of butter melted over a split potato was a heavenly match. Appenzeller is a hard cow’s milk cheese from Switzerland that has a fruity flavor with slightly herbal tones, one of the three principal cheeses found in classic fondues. We casually sat around the cheeseboard as the potatoes disappeared almost as fast as the wine and relished each other’s company before moving into the kitchen to be nearer to the cozy fire. It was an elegant feast despite its rustic quality where few ingredients were employed to savory ends. We concluded the evening with a thimble of grappa and a dish of thinly sliced oranges, a sort of fruit carpaccio that provided a welcome lightness after a hearty meal. All in all it was a great experience and we all enjoyed the tasty treats and excellent wines to which my uncle treated us. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others.

Creative Writing With Spiced Lamb

2009-02-02T17:32:00.000-05:00

The other night my friend Jessica, a wonderful poet and grand gourmand, came over for a night of eating, drinking, and writing. Whenever she and I hang out we end up writing, especially if there is some delicious red or bourbon handy. We sit and talk while passing a notebook back and forth trading lines of prose, an activity I relish for inspiring me to keep up my endeavors in creative writing. For our gustatory pleasure I prepared a rustic meal of grilled meat and veggies. For a warm vegetable side dish I made a plate of grilled fennel with grapefruit vinaigrette and macerated shallots. I tossed 1/2 inch slices of fennel with olive oil and salt before grilling on a hot grill pan to give them a caramelized texture while maintaining their inherent crunch.

The main course and central protein was a spicy grilled leg of lamb. I know it sounds ridiculous that two people polished off a whole leg of lamb on their own as well it should. I had no idea but the butcher at the gourmet grocer occasionally sells smaller cuts from the leg portion. I marinated the lamb in my patented Angelito sauce, a recipe I cannot give out freely but suffice it to say it includes chipotle peppers, jalapeno, lime, and olive oil; chefs have their secrets. I left the lamb in the spicy, smoky, flavor-packed mixture for about three hours though it could and should have gone overnight to really allow the flavors to permeate. I grilled the lamb over high heat on a grill pan to char the outside until medium rare, which is really the best way to enjoy lamb. Leave the meat wrapped in aluminum foil for 10 or 15 minutes before slicing and savor the spicy crust and tender pink interior. The third dish was a spicy Italian bean ragout which is one of my favorite side dishes.

White Beans with Garlic Chili Oil

1 Can of Beans (cannellini or white kidney beans)
4 Garlic cloves
2 tbls. Olive Oil
1 tsp. Red Chili Flakes
1 Lemon

Drain and rinse the canned beans to remove the metallic flavor and canning liquid. Finely mince the garlic cloves and combine with chili flakes, the zest of one half lemon, and olive oil. Let the ingredients sit for at least a half-hour to infuse the oil. In a hot skillet sauté the beans with a teaspoon of the olive oil mixture and heat through for about 7 minutes. Toss with the remaining oil and cook for another 3 minutes before removing from the heat. Serve immediately with the zest from the second lemon half and a bit of freshly chopped herbs. This is a delicious and hearty vegetable ragout that stands up to aromatic roasted meats. You can of course substitute dried beans though it is considerably more work intensive. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Casual Weekday Dinner

2009-02-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

My mother was in town early last week for the first of her spring semester classes at the New School where she teaches graduate film. She drove down from the Catskills accompanied by my Uncle Hitch and the two arrived hungry in the late afternoon. I had a couple of friends over as well which made for a lovely dinner crew and after a few minutes of deliberation we decided to dine together. Hitch and I thought it would be best to not get overly excited about cooking given the pressing feeling in our bellies. The two of us went to the gourmet grocer and bought a few things that could be assembled simply into a light dinner before hitting the wine shop. We bought a plump rosemary roast chicken from the deli counter and a few other things to throw together. I find when they are done well a grocer’s roast chicken is a worthy substitute for a home cooked bird. I simply carved the chicken and arranged it nicely on a platter served lukewarm in the center of the table for people to pick at according to their fancy.

In addition to the chicken I made a big salad of mache, roasted beets pickled in a bit of balsamic (seriously one of my favorite things ever), chopped hazelnuts, and gorgonzola dolce. Hitch wanted me to make a simple green salad but I love to jazz things up with textures and tastes using vinegar, cheese, and nuts to dress up mild greens. For the cheese course Hitch and I selected two cheeses; St. Marcellin in a pretty ceramic dish and Idiazábal made from unpasteurized sheep’s milk hailing from Basque country. We concluded our casual weekday dinner with some fresh golden raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries tossed with Meyer lemon juice and sugar. Berries are completely out of season so these happened to come from Chile though they were organic and had some semblance of flavor.

I brought a 2003 Chablis from a large chateau whose name escapes me and Hitch brought two bottles of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, a New Zealand wine from the Marlborough region with a strange top note of green bell pepper. The Chablis paired perfectly with the chicken and the Cloudy Bay cut through the fat of the cheese and the sourness of the mixed berries. Overall it was a very enjoyable quick and easy meal that left us wholly satisfied without the burden of a messy kitchen. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Movie Night Date Night

2009-01-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

The other night Valerie and I decided to have some alone time. In other words we laid low and enjoyed each other’s company quietly. We did some reading and then cooked a little meal for the two of us before settling down to watch a film. One of my favorite things is to go the farmer’s market or gourmet grocer and just wing it when creating a menu. I enjoy taking in all the ingredients and thinking what would go together or what I feel like eating.Valerie loves duck and the gourmet grocer near my apartment only carries it once in a blue moon. Duck is one of the wunderkind meats of the volaille or fowl world though I rarely cook it at home. They happened to have it at the butcher so I threw a domestic Muscovy duck breast into the cart with a few fruits and vegetables before hitting the stove.

There are few pleasures in life as unrefined as pinching the hot sides of a potato until the fluffy white flesh volcanoes out into a starchy mess. The steamy potato just begs for fatty indulgence and it is such a joy to lather the tuber in butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon, and scallions. Needless to say this baked potato formula can get a little out of hand. To lighten things up I took a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt and kicked it up with paprika, black pepper, olive oil, sliced scallions, chives, and parsley before filling the cavity of each potato. This is a delicious low cal alternative to the butter, sour cream, and green onion mess people pile on their baked spuds. I also roasted some cippolini onions to serve alongside the duck breast. Just lightly coat the peeled whole onions with olive oil and salt before roasting them in a 350-degree oven until browned and tender throughout (30 min). I seared the duck breast in a very hot cast iron skin side down to render some of the thick fat and roasted it in the oven next to the onions for about 12 minutes until medium rare. People in the US cook the hell out of duck leaving it chewy, bland, and an ugly grayish color. When cooked rare duck remains wonderfully moist and tender with a gamey flavor running throughout coupled with a beautiful rust color. The duck, baked potatoes, and roasted onions came together perfectly; a filling meal for the two of us.

Of course no dinner with Valerie is complete without a fresh baked pie as she continues to perfect her crust and experiment with fillings. This evening’s pie was apricot-blueberry with a slightly salty though delicate crust. She puts very little sugar in her pie fillings and only uses butter, flour, and salt in her crust. The filling consisted of fresh blueberries, unfortunately imported from Chile, and canned organic apricots in pear juice which added a juicy element to the pie thickened with a tablespoon of tapioca. The pie was one of the best yet and we had leftovers for days. Overall it was a perfectly quiet evening at home. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!

Friendly Get Together

2009-01-26T15:38:00.000-05:00

This week I have unfortunately not had very much time to cook. I have been busy with work and also profiting from the winter installment of New York Restaurant Week. During this weeklong gastronomic bonanza over two hundred New York area restaurants feature three course lunches and dinners priced at $28 and $35 respectively. It is a wonderful chance to eat at some of the better restaurants in the City on an average budget. Last week my good friend Nick was in town and as I have mentioned we love to cook together and discuss all things food. After reminiscing about the holidays we decided to cook a mostly vegetarian meal in order to detox from the rich foods we had been eating. We invited our mutual friend Jessica to the party and sat down to a tasty meal driven mainly by fresh vegetables. Nick prepared a savory French mayonnaise-less potato salad that is one of my favorite recipes borrowed from Nick’s mother. The warm potato salad is made with boiled Russian banana potato’s that have been cut in half and soaked in a bit of chicken stock and white wine. Nick added a bit of crispy sautéed pancetta cubes, scallions, and a ton of freshly chopped parsley and tarragon to the hot potatoes. He tossed all the ingredients with a generous amount of vinaigrette made with Dijon, champagne vinegar, and olive oil. This is one of my favorite potato dishes period and is a perfect accompaniment for fish, meat, game, and even sandwiches or cold finger foods.

I prepared one of my favorite dishes that I cook fairly often for myself when I feel like eating something fresh and healthy with little effort. I roughly chopped some fresh kale and sautéed it in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. After the kale had begun to wilt I added a splash of water to create some steam, some red chili flakes, and about a half a cup of reconstituted golden raisins. I plated the mixture and topped it with freshly grated black pepper and pecorino. The spicy fibrous greens pair so well with any nutty cheese and the sweetness of the plump raisins compliments the slight bitterness of the kale nicely. We finished the meal with a large green salad of Boston lettuce and radicchio before I launched into the dessert.

I went on a tear through the refrigerator and pantry before assembling a ragtag group of ingredients that I hoped to throw together into some sort of sweet treat. I found a ball of pie dough that Valerie had left from her pie baking extravaganza, some vanilla ice cream, and a small jar of cranberry sauce leftover from Christmas. I baked a tray of small circular cookies from the dough and topped each with a different condiment to make three types; raspberry, butter-maple, and hazelnut. I placed three cookies on each plate with a scoopful of ice cream and a drizzle of orange-cranberry reduction for dramatic effect. Everyone was impressed that I threw together such a seemingly complex dessert and were delighted to end the meal on a sweet note. Nick and I always throw together delicious meals and this was no exception. As always, I encourage you to enjoy and share delicious food and home cooked meals with yourself and others!