If you're like me spring is the season of renewal. Even though I love root vegetables and cooking stews in winter, there isn't anything more delicious than... berlauch! You know berlauch? No you say? Well then berlauch are ramps, those green leafy white and burgundy tipped stemed plants that grow in the woods up and down the east coast. When I got my first seasons batch I quickly matched them with morels and scallops, then used them for Passover. This latest batch I served with creamed corn and black sea bass. Last weekend my sister in Switzerland called and told me she had eaten at a fine restaurant where they served them in ravioli. In Germany they use them in bread. I wonder what Alex and Aki at ideas in food would do with them?
Last weekend I had my 44th birthday, this week it's my wifes turn, actually hers is tomorrow. Since we will both be working I seem to be the cook on hand to fill the niche for making the munchies! As I had my hands full last weekend I didn't even snap a picture, guests were too nice and well the food was first class if I don't say so myself!
Menu was:
Appetizers
Stuffed quails basted in there pan juices and balsamic on mache salad
Main Grilled wild striped bass from Virginia on upland cress with roasted fingerling potatoes mushroom jus and mustard vinaigrette
Dessert
Yogurt, lemon olive oil cake with whipped cream and berries
then this evening I started snapping away at all my food, but managed to delete most of the files except the main course which was a Roasted curried King Salmon with a cucumber, and citrus salsa on sauted spinach with what else fingerling potatoes and a really nice Txakoli from the Basque country! Oh well, it's hard to keep focus while cooking, eating and clean up, a mans job is never done!
Nothing better than some aged meat! Seems like the whole of NY is on a beef eating trip, there are so many steak houses, old and new opening lately! While doing some weekend shopping for food and my birthday by the by, we went to Fairway market to pick up some odds and ends. As we passed the meat department, my wife mentioned we should get something for dinner like steak and she meant she wanted some steak! We looked at the packaged kind with those blood soaked annoying tampon things wrapped in plastic, I was about to tell her no when she said, "hey lets get that juicy one there!",no problem it was a marbled and expensive piece of Prime aged laying out uniformly along with all the other pieces in majestic meatiness. I decided to make a dry spice rub that I sort of based loosely from a fellow blogger the Zen chef, I had already tried his chimichuri recipe for an Argentine steak special at work, it was a sell out! With a nice touch of coarse sea salt I used gave it a sensational crust and the fingerling potatoes and sauted baby spinach instead of the standard old school creamy spinach,no this was a simple meat and potato deal without shoveling out a load of cash for some blackened blue steak sizziling on a greasy plate with a less than interesting crowd, getting milked for every side order and drink! Nope this is take your time and chew and swallow down a good Claret from Coppola vineyards and just go and chill out after with some Anthony Bourdain on tivo for some after dinner entertainment!
Just joined a car sharing deal with Zipcars.com this weekend, so what do you do? Shop! Sure who really wants to drive in New York, I mean I ride my bike and see how stupid people are, cell phones in ear, or coffee waiting to spill into their laps and singe the privates! No I don't even like the radio, I want all attention, mirrors adjusted, seat in the right position....dot the i's cross the T's. Destination, that insane upper west side food emporium, Zabar's. We usually will get our cheese and sausages there, but you never know what ingredient will grab your attention and you just have to have it! This day was actually calm, as we entered their weren't that deer in the headlight looking crowd, stopping dead smack in the center aisle kind of browsing, no it was clear! I grabbed a cart, made my way over to the sheep and goat cheeses, just peripherally eying some phat almonds stuffed into some bursting green olives, food porn. I carefully made for my usual pick of chabichou de Poitou, the packaging so perfectly perforated so the cheese can breath and you can sniff. Then I almost gasped at the price of my all time favorite yummy cheese, Cypress Grove's Humboldt Fog, it's worth the sticker shock, especially when let out from the confines of the fridge to just get soft and gooey, it's almost like a naughty candy bar from some sheep. By the time I had re-emerged from my cheese wandering I was suddenly surrounded by the tourists, you know the non New Yorkers who look more awe struck than me when shopping here, I heard one women exclaim how cheap the cheese was and how much you got! No kidding, this is Zabar's sweety! My wife ahead of me called out and said I should take her ticket for the cheese counter and order her favorite blue cheese. Quickly I perused for my own blue cheese, not there, Roaring 40's from King Island in Australia, according to my friend John Downes, they export this so much no one gets it over there, not fair I think? We should go local, by from farmers and make our own good cheeses, no? Anyway, I remembered I had my camera and decided to snap some shots of the madding crowd and whatever I could, finishing up with my cheese purchase I turned to the deli/meats area and of course looked for a saucisson, these day's it no longer possible to get French ones, what a bummer. So I found a D'artagnan saucisson sec, another one wrapped in paper was calling to me. Hand crafted, Artisan? Fra'mani salametto dry salame, made by Paul Bertolli, I like his book. I snap the aisle of cheese, the sausages and as I try to negotiate the corner who walks by but none other than Monsieur Z., that guy looks like a hermit or something from an R.Crumb comic strip, you should meet his brother too, he is on the east side! We go straight for some Nova, or labled here as Novie, don't ask about the sodium content please. I get a couple of slices, and we grab a whipped cream cheese with scallions for the schmear on the bagels, no I didn't bake them this time! My miche is in the fridge retarding for later, instead we make for the bread counter, I look over my shoulder for Mr. Z in case there is a clause or policy about snapping food pictures? There I go snapping some bread porn, there are no more bagels, not to worry H&H is around the corner! Sometimes you have to give in to your wifes shopping whims, not to often, but food well that I can handle.
So it's New Years Eve, yech! What a stupid gluttonous time, too much drink, puking and a hangover in the morning! Seems like it never ends this holiday festive brouhaha! Enough to make you want to cook a dinner for yourself and sulk over a glass or bottle of red wine! Well then that is what I am doing on this evening, instead of spending it amongst the millions in front of the boob tube or even in that over lit party on Broadway, some say they are using environmentally friendly light bulbs in the lantern!
So this end of the year I tried making a meal for two, roast rack of lamb with an herb and sun dried tomato
Crust, accompanied by some winter root vegetables. Dinner was fabulous, vegetables were so nice and cooked just perfect, lamb pink, ok my dinner partner screeched at the red and asked for some heat to make it medium well, sacre bleu! You just can't please some people, next faux pas was my putting scallions in the salad of arugula, roast red peppers, pear tomatoes and Parmesan shaved with balsamic vinaigrette! By this point I am livid, next the wine, "too strong!" Finally roasted apples, "not cooked enough, too much butter!",(not to worry, they were deliciously polished off!) "Go wash the dishes!" That was the straw that broke the camels back I thought? My cigar was too moist and I couldn't light it!
Next year I am going to the local bar and getting very wet, come home kick the cat and beat the wife, that is my resolution!(Highly unlikely, I have a cute cat and a Latin wife!)
Ok enough leftovers, stuffing, turkey and pies! Two days of leftovers can be sort of a broken record,even if the food was good! I have to say I was pleased with our dinner this Thanksgiving, though I didn't take pictures of the turkey, just too busy wolfing beausoleil's oysters with mignonette and washed down by a Vetliner! Thanksgiving is a dysfunctional meal with my family,I am sure were not the only ones! Trying to get my brother to cook instead of watching football games. my mom running into the kitchen doing something to pick up after my brother and me while we growled our discontent trying to shoo her away! Finally we got to the table, carved the bird and popped the corks on numerous wines finally making a toast or two then chowed! My brother showed a real professional streak when doing his best sommelier show! Thanksgiving is my favorite meal for sure, this years was no exception and well see you all next year!
As I schlepped my turkey and oysters from work onto a crowded city bus the driver suspiciously looked at my plastic box with duck tape handle and said, "whaddya got in dare?" "Oysters," I replied! Jeezus it's thanksgiving dude!
To say this is my favorite holiday is an understatement; it's not that it celebrates the gathering of the Pilgrims and the unfortunate Indians who invited them to share in their harvest. No it's the actual act of preparing a meal that as a young child I recalled having come from Europe, where they celebrate eating and sitting at the table as a ritual. Times sure have changed; we don't sit and talk or eat well for that matter. People are not spending quality time at anything really; no one wants to sacrifice time to make something that will feed your soul as well as the body. Food nurtures us and yet we don't really take time to see where it comes from, how it grows. I think there are some optimistic signs, green markets, organic are just some of the good things we can see coming back. Somehow were realizing that our way of living depends solely on how we are treating the planet we call home!
Over the weekend I will have some days off to cook, what else? Right now I have my gizzards confiting on the fire for my stuffing, my levain, liquide and stiff are both rising for some rolls or whatever I fancy to make!
This holiday I think is the best food related for me, no gifts, no singing, unless of course it's Alice's Restaurant! Just good old turkey, stuffing and all them fixins!
The menu for Thanksgiving 2007
Wellfeet and Beausoleil oysters, with a mignonette sauce
Roasted turkey with our traditional gizzard confit and mixed rice stuffing
Parsnip puree, sweet potato and ginger puree, haricot vert and chantrelles
Cranberry sauce,of course!
Pies Pecan Pumpkin and apple (French style this year!)
Sunday is the day of rest,watch a good episode of Colameco wash laundry etc... So this particular day I had a lunch that seemed appropriate since my fridge was empty and my wife was kicking back while I attended to chores. My hugely successful levain I made the other day was a great place to start layering what was just laying around, gravlax my wife picked up for me at Ikea! Some tomatoes, lettuce,red onions, avocado and some Italian butter. Dagwood is a cartoon character and he likes sandwiches that resemble buildings, layers of different ingredients stuffed between two pieces of bread an almost vertical but yet horizontal tower of good eats! Washed down with a nice lager, can't be beat!
David Lebovitz is coming to NYC this Sunday for a book signing, at City bakery next to Union Square! He recently had a post about his mortar and pestle, and I was so inspired I whipped up a pesto the old fashioned way! First is trying to make believe a processor doesn't exist, while your pounding or grinding the ingredients there is definitely a workout in store! No pulse or on off it's pure stamina, but what comes from all this primal pounding ? What I discovered was a slow food moment, by not using electricity instead I let stone meeting stone divine what is a truly unctuous sauce that is truly rustic and the flavor is well different?
Get a mortar and pestle it won't leave a carbon foot print!
A few years ago I visited my brother on a dude ranch he was working at in Colorado, on that visit I rode western style for the first time, I even met the famous horse whisperer guy too! Fast forward to Paris and I am enjoying a steak with Béarnaise sauce with crisp pommes frite on the banks of the Seine. I notice a sweet taste to the beef and ask the waiter where this beef is from, he grins and tells me its horse! Without feeling a bit guilty I dig in, and am reminded of burgers I used to eat when I was stationed in Germany, they were spiced meat on small brotchen. My friend John would whinny like a horse and call them pony burgers! So this last vacation I actually ate some horse entrecote at my sisters, my brother in-law loves horsemeat! The day we were returning from a grueling ride from my visit to Maisprach, my brother in-law suggested we pick up some steaks, my only concern was to get over the next hill and into the shower! We made it home and my sister put together a meal that was wonderful, kohlrabi gratin, green beans and pasta, with horse steak smothered with herb butter! What would Mr. Ed say?
If you're like me spring is the season of renewal. Even though I love root vegetables and cooking stews in winter, there isn't anything more delicious than... berlauch! You know berlauch? No you say? Well then berlauch are ramps, those green leafy white and burgundy tipped stemed plants that grow in the woods up and down the east coast. When I got my first seasons batch I quickly matched them with morels and scallops, then used them for Passover. This latest batch I served with creamed corn and black sea bass. Last weekend my sister in Switzerland called and told me she had eaten at a fine restaurant where they served them in ravioli. In Germany they use them in bread. I wonder what Alex and Aki at ideas in food would do with them?
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