Grill Friends

As we head into the peak summer grilling months, let's talk sides. So there's potato salad, of course.   Cole slaw...natch.  Baked beans, for sure.  And then, maybe corn-on-the-cob or a green-salad-that's-sure-to-be-ignored.

Sure there's all, or some of the above, and you could go all traditional and do the corn-on-the-cob thing, but that's because you don't yet know about corn pudding.  Yes, pudding.  Now, I never met a pudding I didn't like...sweet, savory...to paraphrase Cookie Monster, me LOVE pudding!

I became obsessed with corn pudding in particular after having it at regularly at our favorite rib joint, Redbones, in Somerville, Massachusetts.  I had never known of corn pudding, or, savory puddings in general, I guess, and their corn pudding was a revelation.   Beautifully souffle-like, yet wonderfully cheesy, with a kick of jalapeño.  Corn pudding perfection.  So, I searched high and low for a way to replicate it, as a Thanksgiving side dish actually, but the recipes I tried never made the cut.  Then, last summer, my beloved Food52 delivered the goods, with a pudding that is pitch perfect.  Airy and light, and packed with flavor, it's a winner.

So, with the Fourth coming up and summer corn at its peak...I'm thinking it's the perfect time to bust some new moves on the same old bbq sides.  Corn pudding.  Who knew? Now, you do.

My only adjustment to Lizthechef's recipe is the addition of minced jalapeño, or a couple shakes of Tabasco...call it an homage to the good old Redbones version I adored.


Spicy Corn Pudding
adapted from Lizthechef via Food52  
(serves 4)

2 tablespoons butter
2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob
4 scallions, white and light green parts, chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar + 2 tablespoons for topping
couple fat pinches of salt and freshly ground pepper
4 large fresh basil leaves

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the corn, scallions, and jalapeño and sauté for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

3.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly; add flour, honey, milk, salt and pepper.

4.  Add corn-scallion-jalapeno mixture to the bowl + 1/3 cup of the grated cheese.  Mix well.

5.  Roll basil leaves into a cigar shape and slice into thin chiffonade.  Add to the corn mixture and stir.

6.  Pour mixture into a buttered glass or ceramic pie plate or a square baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of cheddar.

7.  Bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and golden.  Pudding must rest for 15 minutes after coming out of the oven.

 

A Taste of Spring

Enough already.  
That's the steady refrain from all my friends and relations who live on the East Coast or in the Midwest and can't stand the thought of any more snow.  Everyone is very done with winter.

And I've heard more than one person tell me they just can't make any more soup.

There's a desperation in the air, so I will refrain from commenting on the genius of choosing to live in California and simply pass along this little taste of spring.  An asparagus recipe that's a harbinger of springtime, yet still hearty enough to eat on those remaining chilly days as winter takes its own sweet time heading out.

Apologies for the sad state of and lack of photographs.  We have a furry, little distraction that's arrived on the scene.

On to the asparagus.  This comes from the Food52 cookbook and it is called Absurdly Addictive Asparagus.  I can't quite say whether it is truly Absurdly Addictive, but I will say it's damned good.

I love asparagus, but prefer it roasted, grilled or in this case sautéed.   Pancetta and leeks give you that heartiness and the addition of toasted pine nuts is genius--just the right amount of crunch.  The fresh zing of lemon and orange zest will make you think of daffodils and sunshine.   It's the perfect thing for dinner, maybe even topped with a poached egg, whether your spring is a lion, or a lamb.

Absurdly Addictive Asparagus
Adapted from The Food52 Cookbook (by kaykay)

4 oz. pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice (I stacked some pre-sliced La Quercia pancetta)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound asparagus, woody ends trimmed, sliced into 2-inch pieces on the bias
1 1/4 cups thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only)
2 garlic cloves, minced
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
sprinkling of chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

1.  In a large nonstick pan, saute the pancetta over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fat renders and pancetta is crisp and lightly golden.

2.  Add the butter to the pan, followed by the asparagus and leeks and saute utnil the asparagus is tender-crisp, about 4 minutes.

3.  Add the garlic, lemon and orange zests, pine nuts and parsley and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.   Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serves 4, but it halved nicely for two of us.

You Too Can Love Broccoli

Broccoli was not treated well when I was growing up.  My mother tended to cook it...and cook it...and cook it some more, just to be certain she had eliminated any visible signs of green.  Back then everyone knew green vegetables were really meant to be gray.  For a long time my father's running joke was that broccoli gave him the only thing he could agree on with George Bush...they both hated it.

Despite being surrounded by anti-broccoli bias, I've always had a soft spot for it.   It's the perfect counterpoint to the beef in that takeout Chinese staple, Beef with Broccoli.  It can enliven a baked potato eaten solo in front of the tv.  You always know you're doing something good for yourself when you have a bite of broccoli.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an absolutely wonderful recipe that made me crave broccoli like never before.  It's relatively simple -- a room temp salad that mixes steamed or blanched broccoli with crumbled feta, fried almonds (a revelation by the way!), and (the key to the whole thing, I suspect) a divinely garlicky vinaigrette that gets some zing from a pinch of red pepper flakes.   I can't get enough of this salad, people!  It's perfect alone as a meal and also does well paired with a nice soup on a chilly night.  I've made it weekly since discovering it.  (That happens sometimes when I feel like I've made a real find.  Just can't help myself.)  There is something about the combination of flavors that makes it a welcome respite from all the rich, holiday foods that we're surrounded by this time of year.

I suppose the next step would be to try it on some true broccoli haters to see if it can convert them.  I'll report back on that, but in the mean time if you are partial to this lovely green vegetable know that this treatment gives broccoli the love it deserves.

NOTES:  the recipes call for blanching the broccoli for 3 minutes in boiling water, and then shocking the broccoli in ice bath for several minutes.  Make sure you drain and dry the broccoli well.  The first time I did not, and the residual water on the broccoli really diluted the dressing.


Broccoli Feta Salad
adapted from www.kalynskitchen.com and Fine Cooking
4 servings

2-3 stalks of broccoli, florets and stems chopped into even-sized pieces
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup whole almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil -- for frying the almonds

For the vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch of salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil


1.  Start the vinaigrette:  mix the vinegar, minced garlic, salt and hot pepper flakes together and let sit for 10 minutes.

2.  Steam broccoli for 2-3 minutes (or, bring large pot of salted water to boil and add broccoli -- cook for 3 minutes -- drain).

3.  Prepare ice bath in large bowl.  When broccoli is done steaming or boiling -- drain and plunge into the ice water for 2-3 minutes.  Remove and drain well on a clean kitchen towel.top the broccoli from

4.  Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a small saute pan over medium high heat and add almonds.  Fry for several minutes -- until almonds have browned slightly and are starting to pop/crack.  Remove almonds from oil and drain on a paper towel.

5.  Combine cooked broccoli and crumbled feta.

6.  Finish vinaigrette by whisking 4 tablespoons olive oil, one at a time, into the vinegar, salt, garlic, pepper flake mixture.

7.  Pour vinaigrette over broccoli and feta -- toss to coat.  Sprinkle with fried almonds and serve.

Weeknight Cooking

 I read an article today about cooking at home by my latest hero, Michael Ruhlman.  He makes the case for taking an hour at the end of the day to cook something and sit down to eat it, together.  His point is that "fast and easy" an idea pushed by popular food magazines, tv shows and the 'big food' industry is not really what the goal should be.  And I agree, to a point...

We all have those days.  I had one this week.  You know the ones where you're just simply tapped out by the end of the day?  Drained of energy, the thought of creating a meal is the furthest thing from your mind.  It's exhausting in and of itself.  Just the thinking part.  Familiar, right?  That's when "fast and easy" comes into play.  The way I try to get around the exhaustion is by picturing what I'd love to have someone (umm, that person will most likely be me...) put on a plate in front of me.  What am I hungry for?  What do I crave?  Just the act of picturing what I'd like to eat is usually enough to get me thinking...and then calculating what we have in the refrigerator or pantry...and then whether I should swing by the store for supplemental ingredients on the way home.  And before you know it, I've successfully avoided the dreaded Trader-Joe's-Frozen-Pizza trap.  No shame in that.  We've all been there.  But we can do better.

So, here's some 'fast-and-easy' and I'm not embarrassed to tell you about it, because I've had it in restaurants.  For those of you who live and die by the microwave.  Listen up.
You WILL NOT be needing Mr. Wave tonight.  Walk right past and put a small saucepan of water on the stove over medium heat and keep reading.

Lately, we seem to always have asparagus in the refrigerator.  (A sure sign that it's spring.)
You can too, if you store it the way I do.   I think I remember seeing this on an episode of  Julia Child years ago.  (I searched for it, but couldn't find it, so here's one that is just plain fun to watch.)  Depending on how large your bunch of asparagus is, use a small mixing bowl, or glass measuring cup and fill with an inch of water.  Prop up your asparagus in the water, like a bouquet of flowers and cover loosely with the plastic veggie bag you brought them home in.  They will keep like this, in your refrigerator, for at least a week.

This next part perhaps says more about us than I'm comfortable with, but what the heck.  We almost always have some prosciutto in the fridge...or, even better in my opinion, Serrano ham.  I can't explain the direct correlation between being a happy person and having prosciutto at the ready, but that's the eternal mystery of the joy of cured pork products.  They just bring Happy into the house.

So, now we have asparagus, some kind of ham deliciousness and the third component is even easier.  Eggs.  The ultimate super food.  I LOVE eggs.  Or, as Woody Allen says to Diane Keaton at some point in Annie Hall..."I luuuuurve you".   I mean 'them'.  Eggs.  You know what I mean...

These are your three main ingredients.  What you will do is roast the asparagus in a super hot oven (after tossing them with a teaspoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper) for a mere seven to eight minutes.  (If you'd like to get fancy, you may toss a small handful of chopped shallot over the asparagus in the remaining minute or two of roasting--I've talked about this before...the fragrance of roasted shallot is heavenly and totally worth keeping a couple shallots on hand at all times.)

In the meantime you will poach, or soft-boil an egg.  (My favorite methods are below.)

Open your package of ham or prosciutto and then plate things up in this order:
Asparagus.  Top with egg.  Drape the ham.  Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and then a sprinkle of balsamic or sherry or champagne vinegar.  (Don't mock me -- I am a vinegar freak and keep almost every variety of the stuff known to mankind on hand.)  Add a sprinkle salt and pepper, to taste.  Sometimes I even add a little dab of Dijon mustard, which then mixes into a little dressing almost when you break into the egg for that first bite.  Very tasty.

A nice crusty bread is delicious with this.  Or, if you're like me, you toast up the two-day old french loaf sitting on the counter and slather with butter.

Ta- dahhh.  YOU are now eating something delicious that did indeed only take but a few minutes to prepare, but is NOT a frozen pizza.  Just looking at this plate is enough to lift your spirits and those of your loved ones.

So, a definite yes to cooking at home... and if it's 'fast-and-easy' on occasion, that's okay by me.

Soft-Boiled Eggs 
adapted from David Tanis' A Platter of Figs
Heat a small pot of water over medium heat and when the water approaches a gentle simmer, slip the eggs carefully into the water.  Keep at just a bare simmer for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, fill a medium mixing bowl with some ice cubes and cold water.  Remove the eggs and place into the bowl ice water.  Cool for a minute.  Take the eggs out and crack on all sides -- do not peel just yet -- before returning to the water for another couple minutes.  (This way the peel practically slides off.)  Quarter and place over your asparagus.

Poached Egg
(don't worry, it's not as tricky as you think)
Half fill a wide pan with about 4 inches of unsalted water.  Add a couple tablespoons of white vinegar, and bring to a boil.  Break an egg into a ramekin or small bowl and tip it gently into the pan at the point where the water is bubbling.  Repeat with your other eggs (but don't poach more than four at a time).  Poach for about 2 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon or small skimmer, lift out the first egg and press the outside edge lightly to check if it's cooked enough.

Poached eggs get those little extra swirls or strands of white on the outer edges so I usually put them on a plate and just trim the edges with some kitchen shears or a knife.  Voila.  The egg is ready to top your asparagus.

 
Bon Appetit Everyone!

Ready. Set. Roast!

As I mentioned in my year end post, I've been roasting.

There really is not much I have not tried to roast...

Artichokes.  Check.  (With Meyer lemons...a tasty addition if I do say so...)

A giant bag full of garlic and four types of shallots, given to us by a college friend, who's become quite the gardener and has the good fortune to live in Oregon.  Check.

(Sprinkle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Roast.  Pile the resulting, heavenly 'marmalade' on bread or roast chicken.)

Cauliflower.  Check.  (Thought you didn't like cauliflower?  Have I got news for you!)

Ok, these sound good, but really...not that radical, right?

So try this....
how about Clam Sauce?!

TWIST!

Yes, folks...in the past month, I've come across two new roasting recipes that have me giddy...so I thought I'd share.

First.  Yes, you heard me.  Pasta with Clam Sauce.  ROASTED!
Ridiculously easy and oh so delicious, that it had me asking, where-oh-where has this recipe been all my life?  The magical thing that happens here is with the tomatoes...fresh, cherry tomatoes love being in the oven.  (Live clams?  Hmmm, maybe not so much, but hey.... that's the food chain for you.)  For a Clam Sauce lover like me, this was nothing short of nirvana.

You start an oven-safe pan on the stove with some pancetta and then, while your spaghetti is cooking in another pot, toss the remaining ingredients into your skillet before popping the whole thing into the oven.  Presto!  The result is perfect broth-y goodness.  The clams release their natural juices into the sauce, an intoxicating blend of pancetta balanced with the brightness of tomatoes and white wine.  A shower of torn fresh basil leaves and chopped parsley as garnish at the end.  Lean over, close your eyes and take a sniff....you are in Italy.   The recipe is from a Tyler Florence book, and I have to say...yes, it is indeed The Ultimate Spaghetti with Clams.

But maybe you're like my brother, and you live in that arctic tundra known as Minneapolis...and you're thinking, "yeah, well, that's all great, but umm, where are we supposed to get fresh clams?!', or maybe you don't even like clams or clam sauce.

Then I say to you, Roast Pears!

And I mean, underripe pears.  (We can ALL find those, right?!)  This roasted pear recipe (from Sally Schneider on The Atlantic's food channel) is so wonderful, I urge you to get pears as soon as is humanly possible--do not pass GO--get your hands on a real vanilla bean (the true hero in Roasted Pears) and pre-'pear' to be amazed.  (sorry, just couldn't help myself there...)

Here, the most humble ingredients (pears, water, sugar, butter, lemon juice and the vanilla bean) are completely transformed in a hot oven.  What you get are meltingly wonderful, carmelized pears...perfect spooned over ice cream, OR, drizzled with chocolate sauce and topped with toasted slivered almonds, OR drizzled over oatmeal, or pancakes...there is no stopping these pears and their magical powers to make people swoon.  The vanilla-flecked pear juices which become like a caramel sauce in the oven...they alone are worth the effort.  Trust me on this.

Now go on...get out there and start roasting...and don't look back!

Note:
About vanilla beans...skip the shriveled, dried up specimens packaged in expensive little bottles you find at the supermarket.  You want plump, moist vanilla beans so consider either your fancy grocery store where you'll find them sold individually in glass tubes, or I've been using mail order (I used to buy vanilla beans at Trader Joe's, but mine has stopped carrying them -- they were a total steal and pretty good quality, but alas, no more.) and the quality has been impeccable.  It really does make a difference.
My favorite source is Spice House and they have several locations in Illinois and Wisconsin, if you live out that way.

Essential Roasted Pears
adapted from Sally Schneider


Serves 4

    • 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar
    • 1/2 vanilla bean (optional)
    • 1 1/2 pounds slightly-under-ripe, fragrant, medium pears, peeled if desired and halved though the stem
    • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoons water
    • 2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the sugar in a small bowl. With a thin, sharp knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise in half and scrape out the seeds. Stir the seeds into the sugar.

Arrange the pears in a large baking dish, cut-side up. Drizzle the lemon juice evenly over the fruit, then sprinkle with the sugar. Nestle the vanilla pod among the fruit. Pour the water into the dish. Dot each pear with some butter.

Roast the pears 30 minutes brushing them occasionally with the pan juices. Turn the pears over and continue roasting, basting once or twice, until tender and caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes longer (if the pears are small, test for doneness after 35 or 40 minutes of cooking; a paring knife poked into the thickest part of one should meet with no resistance). Serve warm.

The Year in Cooking

Some things about cooking...eating...and food in general that I'm only now getting around to mentioning...

Roasting
 I was on a bit of a roasting kick this year.  And there's a laughably easy formula I've discovered:
"your choice of vegetable" + splash of olive oil + salt/pepper to taste + hot oven = fantastically delicious.
One can roast just about anything this way.  I've roasted carrots, parsnips, artichokes, sweet potatoes, squash, Brussels sprouts (with the added bonus of a bit of chopped up pancetta) and, my favorite -- broccoli, finished with a sprinkle of Parmesan and a squeeze of lemon.  That one's a total winner.  I saw it on an episode of Tyler's Ultimate, tried it once and have never looked back.  You too, need never steam broccoli again!

So, I say...Roast...and be happy.

Cardamom
This is one of those vaguely mysterious spices I never paid much attention to.  I have some pretty green cardamom pods in a spice jar, that probably date back to the early nineties, but I have no memory of why I bought them, or what I may have used them for.  Then, early this year I stumbled across a recipe for a Vanilla Cardamom Pound Cake which sounded simultaneously homey and exotic.  Now, I've never met a pound cake I didn't like, and this one called for vanilla bean (yet another of my relatively recent obsessions) so before you could actually say cardamom, I was pulling the mixer out and digging in the spice rack for a tin of ground cardamom that had been knocking around for at least a couple years.

The result?  Heavenly.  Baked in a Bundt pan, the cake was moist, golden and perfumed with that amazing combination of vanilla and cardamom.  A perfect match if you ask me.  I've made it several times since and it never fails to impress or turn your home into a fragrant paradise. 




The Chicken and Egg Thing
It seems like owning chickens is The Thing these days.  Friends have chickens.  Relatives of friends have chickens.  Susan Orlean has chickens and wrote about it for The New Yorker.  A colleague told me he got his chickens from MyPetChicken.com.  Seriously.  And then...one day, he brought me some eggs.

They were beautiful.  Steve and I poached them the next morning and I swear to you that there was nothing more delicious than those perfectly poached, incredibly fresh eggs.   Unforgettably wonderful.

Pancetta
So this was the year I stopped using bacon in recipes that called for pancetta.  Ohmy, what was I thinking?!    The subtle, beautiful porky goodness of pancetta is something almost entirely different.  Silly me.  In certain recipes the lack of smokiness that is bacon's hallmark is a good thing.  It is not there to overwhelm or obscure the other flavors in your dish.  Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE bacon.  But, when the recipe SAYS pancetta...trust me.  They're telling you something important.  I've figured out that pancetta can keep in the fridge, wrapped in wax paper and placed in a plastic container or bag, for at least a week.  I also found a couple excellent local makers of pancetta.  So, now it makes sense to me why I never thought Pasta alla Amatriciana was a big deal.  Ha!  Try using pancetta!!  Magnifico!

Building a Better Meatball
I didn't think it was possible...I had a meatball recipe that was pretty good.  A version of a Cook's Illustrated recipe that I thought was incomparable.  That is...until Rao's.   A legendary Italian restaurant in New York,  Rao's has a cookbook that reveals many of their secrets.  My friend, K., gave me the book for my birthday this year, inspiring us to create a Red Sauce Sunday dinner with recipes from the book.  I kid you not when I say the meatballs were a revelation.  Light, with an almost fluffy texture they were a huge hit.  Okay.  I'll say it...mama mia!!

The Pot
So I finally succumbed and spent what seems like a small fortune on...a pot.  Not just any pot.  An enameled cast iron beauty of a Dutch oven made by Le Creuset.

For years, I hemmed and hawed.  I used to stop in at Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma every so often simply to ogle it.  It really was ridiculous in a way.  I mean, all this agonizing...over a pot!  And then one day this past spring, I just thought, "I am going to buy that pot."  So I did.  And, I must tell you, it is a regular work horse.  I have it on the stove at least once or twice a week and I absolutely love it.  (Ohh, the beauty of a pot that gives you the tiniest of simmers in a Bolognese sauce!) 

Which brings me to some things I am planning to try and some books I'll be cooking from in the New Year...

• The now-famous No-Knead Bread recipe that first showed up several years ago in a New York Times article -- and yes, I will be using my Le Creuset!
• Foccacia.  I feel like this is one of those things I would like to try to make at home, especially a version of Pizza Bianca I found at Smitten Kitchen.  I love the idea, and taste of a simple dough, rosemary, olive oil and salt. 
• Anything and everything from David Tannis' book A Platter of Figs.  He is one of the chefs who shares the head job at Chez Panisse and his book is stunning.  It is laid out in seasonal menus for eight and I'm planning to start with the Lobster Risotto, for New Year's Eve.
• The Banana Cream Pie, the shortbread and ohh, a few other things from the Tartine cookbook.
• hmmm, and maybe some Asian food...I've always wanted to make my own spring rolls, with exactly the combination of shrimp, pork and greens I like... but also, I've been meaning to try Chez Pim's Pad Thai recipe since I first saw it...

Much cooking to do...so, I'll keep you, umm, 'posted'.

Happy New Year!

*           *          *          *

Rao's calls for frying the meatballs in 1 cup of olive oil (!) but I use much less.  Depending on the size of your fry pan, you want there to be about a quarter inch of oil in the pan.  I've also had good results with broiling the meatballs.  Place the meatballs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet or jelly roll pan.  Brush each meatball with olive oil and broil on each side, turning as they become brown.

The other important element is to use your own, fresh breadcrumbs.  It makes all the difference in the world.

Anna and Frankie's Meatballs  (Polpettini)

adapted from Rao's Cookbook by Frank Pellegrino

(makes 28)

1 pound ground lean beef

1/2 pound ground veal

1/2 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian parslety

1/2 small garlic clove, peeled and minced, optional

2 cups Bread Crumbs

2 cups lukewarm water

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup olive oil (approximately)

For the bread crumbs:

Use the finest quality Italian bread you can find and allow it to dry for at least two days.  Then grate/chop in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Store tightly covered and refrigerated for no more than a week.  (I've been freezing the leftover bread crumbs in a plastic container and they are good for at least a month.)

For the meatballs:

1.  Combine beef, veal, and pork in a large bowl.  Add eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.  Using your hands, blend ingredients together.  Blend Bread Crumbs into meat mixture.  Slowly add water (personally I think this is the part that makes these great), 1 cup at a time, until the mixture is quite moist

2.  Shape meat mixture into balls (about 2-inches).

3.  Heat oil in a large saute pan (or place meatballs on a baking sheet and proceed with broiling option).  When oil is very hot but not smoking, fry meatballs in batches.  Yes, you will make a big mess of your stovetop, but oh, it's so worth it.  When meatball is very brown and slightly crisp turn and cook top half.  Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.

Put some Frank Sinatra on the stereo and sing along..."...that's Amore....!"

4.  Lower cooked meatballs into simmering Marinara Sauce and cook for 15 minutes.  Serve over pasta of your choice.

What?  You say you'd like a recipe for Marinara as well?

Ok, here you go...and promise you'll never buy jarred sauce again.  There really is no need, and they put corn syrup in that stuff.

For Marinara sauce:

2 28-ounce cans imported Italian plum tomatoes with basil (try to find tomatoes labeled San Marzano)

1/4 cup fine-quality olive oil

3 tablespoons minced onion

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

Salt to taste

6 leaves of fresh basil, torn

Pinch dried oregano (or Italian Seasoning)

Pepper to taste

1.  Remove tomatoes from the can, reserving the juice in which they are packed.  Using your hands, crush the tomatoes, gently remove and discard the hard core from the stem end, and remove and discard any skin and tough membrane.  Set aside.  (When you're in a hurry, Crushed Tomatoes in the can work well too.)

2.  Put oil in a large, nonreactive saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add onion and saute for 3 minutes or until translucent and just beginning to brown.  Stir in garlic and saute for 30 seconds or until just softened.  Stir in tomatoes, reserved juice and salt.  Raise heat and bring to a boil.  Immediately reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook for about 1 hour or until flavors have combined and sauce is slightly thickened.  (Cook another 15 minutes if you like a thicker sauce.)

3.  Stir in basil, oregano and pepper and cook for an additional miutes.  Remove from heat and serve.

Sauce stores well tightly covered and refrigerated for a couple days or in the freezer up to 3 months.

A Farewell Dinner

Last month Conde Nast announced the closing of several of their publications, one of which was Gourmet, and the news left me genuinely stunned and somehow...bereft.  Sure, I didn't quite know what to make of the magazine over the past several years and I had even let my subscription lapse for a year around the time Ruth Reichl was named editor.  But, don't laugh, I've been reading Gourmet since I was a geeky teenager.

My collection spans decades and was probably the main reason the weight the moving company calculated for our belongings was in tons.  I have issues I nabbed from my mother when I was in college.  I have the years from the late 60s to early 70s which belonged to my husband's grandmother.  Gourmet introduced me to one of my favorite food writers of all time, Laurie Colwin, for which I will be eternally grateful.  It's difficult to put into words the genuine shaping influence it had over the way I think about cooking, eating, travel, entertaining...and about life really.  

How could a publication that had been such an enormous part of my life education simply go away?  It felt wrong.  I needed to mourn.  The answer was to cook...(but of course!) and to cook with people who might somehow understand.    So, the big cartoon light bulb over my head turned on...it was time to "walk the walk".

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In recent years, Gourmet had, uh, let's say "evolved".  Into what, I'm not really sure.  Where there used to be highly styled photos of food on tables laden with lavish dishes, silver and flowers in empty dining rooms, or on deserted terraces, there were now attractive models with great clothes enjoying the food and cavorting (does that make me sound Victorian?) in festive, Elle Decor-like settings.  The colors seemed extra-saturated and the photos not too brightly lit.  For the most part, issue after issue, there was rarely anything that I actually wanted to cook.

There were a couple exceptions...one of which was the November 2008 issue.  Last year, having just completed the big move from Chicago, we gave up our usual Thanksgiving hosting duties and instead drove down the coast to Santa Monica to spend the holiday with Steve's brothers.  And, wouldn't you know it?  I bring along my November issue on the trip, and there, in the main menu...the "centerfold" meal, as I like to call it, was something I wanted to cook.  It was a menu featuring twelve dishes that integrated "bold Latino flavors" into a traditional Thanksgiving feast.  Chipotle Meatballs and Mango Pomegranate Guacamole with Plantain Chips kicked things off.  There was a Clementine Jicama Salad... turkey marinated in a chile and spice paste...Corn Bread and Chorizo Stuffing...and the clincher:  a potato gratin layered with roasted poblano peppers.   Mouth watering and mind racing, I was consumed with an almost greedy need...to cook all of it and to taste all of it.  But how?  Ha!  Why not host a Thanksgiving dinner in the off-season, so to speak?  When no one is expecting roast turkey and the trimmings?  I marked the pages and thought "I'll just do Thanksgiving...next July!"  (It's freezing in San Francisco in the summer, so it would have been perfectly fitting.)

July came and went.  August and September too.  Work was busy.  Who had time to figure out how to cook twelve, count 'em, TWELVE, dishes?!  And then.  The News.  As, I said...it was time to "walk the walk."

Luckily, I had shared my wacky idea back in the summer with three very dear friends.  It may even have been on the evening we all went to see Julie & Julia together, and then came back to our place for Seafood Quiche straight from the pages of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  My friends--all supremely talented cooks--were intrigued.  They thought it would be fun.   And, here's the most wonderful part...they wanted to help cook.

The announcement of Gourmet's demise provided a perfect opportunity.  A date was quickly agreed upon, I dug out my post-it covered issue and sent photocopies to the group.

So, a few Saturday's ago, we all convened in my kitchen and put together a feast of epic proportions, that looked just like the pictures!!   It was a magical, delightful way to spend an evening together and I say that as a genuine skeptic when it comes to gourmet clubs and pot-luck dinners.  We created a meal both gorgeous and delicious.  T., who normally creates recipes, brilliant cook and trained chef that she is, followed recipes in this case, with stupendous results.  F.  who insists she is not a dessert-baking type created pies that were phenomenal and picture-perfect.  And, J. whipped up magazine-worthy perfection, effortlessly.  We all cooked in ways and with ingredients we'd never tried before.  In some way, this all made me even more sad that the magazine is no longer around.

But wait a second...
there is that lovely springtime Menu for a Pool Party from April 1972...

Thank you, Gourmet.

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Here's the full menu (yes--all twelve dishes!) with links to the recipes on Gourmet's web site, which is still up, as well as some cook's notes on each. 

Gourmet Entertains from the November 2008 issue

Chipotle Meatballs

These were incredible.  Zesty and delicious...but then again, I've never met a meatball I didn't like.

Mango Pomegranate Guacamole

Absolutely perfect.  The smoothness of the avocado gets a nice zing from the tartness of the pomegranate.

Plantain Chips

A crowd favorite.  Perfect flavor to balance the guacamole.  Addictive.  And, yes...T. had never bought or cooked with a plantain...ever.

Clementine Jicama Salad

One of the best salads in recent memory.  I will be making this again...and again.  It's a keeper.

Adobo Turkey with Red-Chile Gravy

 I can't believe I made an adobo sauce, from scratch.   I can't believe Steve found both dried guajillo and ancho chiles for me.  The smell of this marinade is transporting and it gave the turkey a gorgeous color.

Corn Bread and Chorizo Stuffing

This was the one dish I somehow wished was better.  The ingredients sounded great to me, but in the end, I think I realized, I'm just not a cornbread stuffing gal.  Maybe it's the texture.

Cranberry Pineapple Salsa

J.'s mega-hit crowd-pleaser.  There was not a speck of it left at the end of the evening.  'Nuf said.

Roasted Chayotes with Garlic

Chayote?  You say...what's a Chayote? Ah haa! Well, here you go... it's kind of like a squash-gourd thing-y.  Relatively simple preparation, but boy oh boy, follow their suggestion and wear gloves when peeling.  F. lost a layer of skin on her hands because she didn't.

Sweet-Potato Coconut Puree

Yet another huge hit from J.  Everyone was crazy about this, and I think I may add it to my Thanksgiving menu in a few weeks.

Poblano Potato Gratin

This was super delicious.  The smokiness of the charred poblanos, the creaminess of the potatoes...heaven.

Lattice Apple Pie with Mexican Brown Sugar

F. insists she's never made a lattice, so clearly she's gifted.  This pie was spectacular.  

Rum Ice Cream

I gave Steve an ice cream maker for his birthday and this was one of his first few tries.  Good times ahead, for sure.

Chocolate Cinnamon Cream Pie

Nothing to say but, yuuuuuuuummmmmmm.

Grills Just Wanna Have Fun

There is something about cooking outdoors...over open flames. For me, just about year 'round, there's a kind of primeval yearning to sear food over hot coals.
I'm filled with envy when I watch Jamie Oliver throw things into his outdoor wood-burning oven and I can recall years of bitterness over not having access to a grill when we lived in a pre-war apartment building in Chicago with no outdoor space.
That meant summer holidays at our place were celebrated with 'urban' barbecue-- burgers under the broiler, or on a ridged, cast iron pan... and a kitchen hallway smoke detector perpetually disconnected.

The move to San Francisco changed all that. The apartment we moved into came with a gas grill on the deck and a small brick terrace...perfect for a charcoal grill. Now, I'm not going to get into a big debate between gas and charcoal, but just know that we never let go of our chimney starter -- a relic of the years in Boston where we had outdoor space for a charcoal grill. The chimney starter accompanied us from apartment to apartment, and even cross-country, with the hope that some day we would find a place to have a grill.

A couple weeks ago, Steve found a neighborhood garage sale and, wouldn't you know it... a barely used Weber kettle grill. $25 later we were lugging it into the back patio, giggling like two teenagers and plotting our first meal. (Shrimp kabobs.)

So, when my friend, K., said it was time to get together for one of our Sunday evening cook-a-thons you know it was going to be All About The Grill.

We quickly decided the centerpiece of the meal was going to be some kind of beef.

Why?

Because we were both craving chimichurri! The incredibly delicious and meant-for-grilled-meats condiment hailing from Argentina.

Two giant t-bones (grass-fed, of course...this is San Francisco!) were our choice, and we decided to go with The Zuni Cafe Cookbook's version of chimichurri. Then, the discussion turned to what else we could throw on the grill.

Asparagus! Corn on the cob! Large, green chile peppers!

Then K. suggested peaches. We agreed to recreate a salad she had tried at some restaurant in the Marina. These recreations of something K. has had in a restaurant seem to serve us well.

The ingredients for the salad:

Peaches, grilled, of course, and then stuffed with goat cheese or gorgonzola (my suggestion)

Spring onions, grilled, natch

Bresaola, (Note: Bresaola is beef and has a very delicate flavor--almost too delicate for this salad, I think. We both agreed -- next time, go with Serrano for that extra kick of salty, porky deliciousness.)

All, draped over a bed of greens tossed with a vinaigrette.

Wine was poured. Ingredients prepped. The chimichurri prepared.

We stood in the dwindling end-of-day light, tending the various fruits and vegetables arrayed on the grill. Smoke swirled around us and and the smell of grilling peaches was heavenly.

We raised our glasses. A toast... To Grilling!

A note about chimichurri.

I used to follow a recipe found on Epicurious, which was mainly parsley, very green and, in retrospect, a bit boring.

The recipe we used was apparently shared with Judy Rodgers by two chefs from Argentina who spent some time cooking in the Zuni kitchen in the late 90's. It is fantastic and there's no going back.

This chimichurri uses a mix of chopped fresh herbs and the key is warming the olive oil so that when the fresh herbs are added they create a very satisfying sizzle as they hit the oil. The addition of a jalapeno, charred over an open flame is so much better, to me, than the typical red pepper flakes. The other important ingredient is paprika -- it gives the sauce a sultry, smoky finish that is addictive.

Make this sauce and you will be finding any excuse you can to throw some meat on the grill.

It is, in a word...amazing.

Connie & Maryanna's Chimichurri

adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers

makes about 1 1/4 cups -- keeps well for weeks, refrigerated and improves with time

1 jalapeno, preferably red (we used green)

2 teaspoons tightly packed fresh oregano leaves

2 teaspoons tightly packed fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon tightly packed fresh rosemary leaves

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon tightly packed, coarsely shopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 or 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

2 bay leaves, crumbled

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar--the good stuff

About 1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Char the jalapeno, either directly over a gas burner, or charcoal fire, or under a broiler

until the pepper is freckled with black and smells good

When the pepper has cooled slightly, halve, seed and mince it. Don't rub off the tasty black blisters -- include them in the chimichurri.

Place the oregano, thyme and rosemary in a mortar and pound lightly. (K. and I decided to pound, AND do a little mincing, to vary up the texture. It just looked a little too 'leafy' after just pounding.)

Warm the oil in a small saucepan until it is hot to the touch. Pull from the heat and stir in the herbs, plus all the remaining ingredients, including the jalapeno -- don't forget the paprika!

(If making the chimichurri more than a few hours in advance, wait to add the parsley until you are about to use it.) Taste. Leave to infuse for at least 1 hour at room temperature before serving.