KITCHENS

OVER THE YEARS, I'VE HAD MANY KITCHENS. There have been 30-foot kitchens with as many cabinets and islands, tiny kitchens with no counter space whatsoever; I've even had kitchens which served as a wall in a living room. The fact is, one can do almost anything in any kind of kitchen if dictated by necessity. 

When I was growing up, we had electric appliances and it was on those stoves and ovens that I learned how to cook. I barreled my way through Julia Child and a lot of La Technique by Jacques Pepin on a GE electric stove in my parents' home. It was a challenge, trust me. In Italy, I had a makeshift kitchen (I was a student after all) but there was a gas stove (finally!). one Christmas in Bologna, I made a duck, pommes dauphinoise and stuffed artichokes on that tiny stove; it was a labor of love. In Holland, I had three different kitchens ranging from those old-style cavernous rooms with a vaulted ceiling and a huge work table in the middle - all of it facing a cow field - to a state of the art modern (this was 1979) kitchen with all the bells and whistles and a terrace overlooking the Maas River on which to sit and have breakfast while gazing at the boats streaming by. Here in New York, still a student, one had to make do with what one is given and so, my first kitchen was a Pepto Bismo pink kitchen (probably the 102nd coat of paint)  with appliances that dated back to the Great Depression (definitely not frost free!). Since then, I've had a French country kitchen with a window over the sink overlooking the back of a church and courtyard (in midtown Manhattan mind you!) and 31 kitchen cabinets; a two-room kitchen with huge windows; and a wall for a kitchen with 3 cabinets and no counters whatsoever. How we suffer at times for culinart! I've never had a kitchen with granite counter tops. With all the rage for all this stone, I consider myself lucky to have a ceramic tile floor. However, were I to consider granite, I'd have marble first but even better than that, I'd have Corian. It takes a beating, lasts forever and cleans up so incredibly well.

My latest kitchen is probably my smallest kitchen but it has everything one could desire: lots of cabinets, enough counter space to make the kitchen serviceable and great appliances. Space in Manhattan - in New York City in general; it matters not which boro - is a rare and very highly priced commodity so my huge walk-in closet serves as a great storage space for pots and pans, appliances like blenders and stand mixers as well as roasting pans, platters, cake pans, etc. All things considered, I would have to say that this kitchen is the best kitchen I've ever had (along with the French kitchen in midtown). It's perfect for one person but definitely not a two-person kitchen (unless, of course, the two cooks are in perfect sympathy and harmony with each other - a rarity indeed!). Of course, none of this would be the case were it not for my indefatigable dishwasher. Dishwashers are a great thing. They wash dishes to the point of sterilization but they also have the dual talent for hiding dirty dishes as well as making clean up a very speedy task indeed.

Last night, I had a few small pieces of bread (which I had baked the other day) fried in olive oil and smeared with some blue cheese along with two scrambled eggs. It was delicious; especially with a dollop of strawberry jam (also homemade) on  the eggs. I used a small cast iron skillet to fry the bread and afterwards scrambled the eggs in the same pan re-greased with a pat of unsalted butter. The pan was so hot that the eggs heated perfectly. In fact, they cooked so quickly that they were done in literally seconds and didn't stick to the pan at all. I always find it difficult to keep scrambled eggs from sticking to the bottom of any pan so this was a positive delight for me. The combination of blue cheese with eggs and strawberry jam may sound odd, but I assure you, it's delicious. It is definitely not one of those "I was so hungry moments" that one will eat anything. The sweet of the jam definitely complimented the savory of the blue cheese. Try it, you may find it as delicious as I do.

The other day, I boiled some baby octopus and made a salad with white cannelini beans, red onions, some celery and avocados in some really good vinegar and oil. It was amazing. You can use a can of beans or boil your own, which I do and keep refrigerated for just such an occasion. You don't have to serve these to friends but can keep it around for when you want something fabulous instead of sugar. Trust me, it works!

Boil about a pound of octopus in salted water with a few peppercorns, 2 or 3 bay leaves and a lemon halved. I boil the buggers for about 2 hours. Drain and rinse under cold water while rubbing off most of the dark skin. I remove the heads and cut the octopi in half (see photo). 

If you're using canned beans, pour into a sieve and drain and rinse with cold water. Put into a bowl with one medium red onion thinly sliced, an avocado cut into medium dice, salt pepper and one smashed clove of garlic. I dice the celery but not to finely because the crunch makes a nice contrast to the softness of the beans and the resilient bounce of the octopus. Dress with vineger and oil, salt pepper and some fresh thyme or oregano.  Decorate with the octopus and some chopped parsley and toss before serving. 

Buon appetito!

TIMBALLO DI MELANZANE

A couple of New Year's Eves ago, I made a timballo   (see my entry on December 28, 2012) with monkfish. That recipe was adapted from Venezia Food and Dreams by Tessa Kiros and it was only natural that, coming from Venice, fish should be a predominant ingredient. 

This recipes comes from Katie Caldesi's extraordinary Italian "cookery" book called Cook Italy and is reminiscent of the south, primarily Sicily,  Earlier this summer, I decided to make a timballo (Italian for timpani; or in the shape of a drum, but in this case, something encasing pasta, be it pasta sheets, a  vegetable or even rice) made with eggplant and here is what I got! 

The process is rather easy if you know what you're doing, but painstaking nevertheless. Basically what you're doing is preparing eggplant (either pan frying or roasting) to make the thin slices malleable enough to bend to your will in order to line a mold or cake pan (in my case I used a shallow circular ceramic casserole dish) to prepare the outer shell.

This dish serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a main course. 

For the shell:

2 medium sized eggplants sliced in long slices

EVOO

Flour (N.B.)

Dredge the slices of eggplant and pan fry them on both sides salting for seasoning as you go. Saute both side but do not burn, you want them to soften but not cook completely through. Once you have sauteed the eggplant slices, line the bottom of the casserole dish making sure to overlap the slices and ensuring that the slices extend well over the edge (you will want the overlapping slices to close over the filling, thus making a "drum"). I put circular slices at the bottom of the casserole dish over the inside edges of the longer slices to make a sealed top. 

N.B. Roasting the eggplant on baking sheets lined with parchment paper is infinitely more easy (and you don't need to use the flour) but you must watch the oven constantly and no more that 20 minutes tops at 425º. Either way, you will end up using copious amounts of olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 350º and place a rack in the middle of the oven.

For the pasta filling

1-1 1/2 pounds pasta (I prefer using 3 types: farfalle, rigatoni, penne

Tomato sauce

Grated Cheese (your choice but I mix with Parmesan, Provolone, Romano)
and any or all of the following:

Breadcrumbs

Mozzarella

Sausage

Pine Nuts
Peas

2-3 tbs. heavy cream

Cook the pasta in a great big covered pot filled with lots of water. Salt generously when the water comes to a boil. Add the past and cover the pot (it helps to bring the water back to the boil faster). Remove cover once the water is boiling and stir frequently. Cook until al dente.

Dress the pasta with tomato sauce and add the ingredients above (you can omit some or add something of your own choice - the mixture can vary). Once the pasta mixture is dressed to your liking, add it to the mold, drizzle the cream around the edges of the mold and fold over the eggplant hanging over the sides of the casserole. Add any leftover eggplant in the center to completely encase the mold. Place the dish on a roasting sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to test for 20 minutes before cutting or let it rest for several hours and serve it lukewarm. This dish, like lasagna needs time to rest so the slices are clean. It also refrigerates well and is terrific reheated the next day.

Buon appetito!

MORE GELATO!

LAST YEAR (October 6th to be exact), I wrote about Gelato. Since then, I've made quite a lot of the stuff, especially during these scorching and very long hot days of summer. I know that I've been extremely lazy where writing in this blog is concerned, but truth be told, I've been battling some pretty health issues where sitting at a computer and typing prevented me from writing. Be that as it may, now that I'm back, I'd like to voice some other thoughts on gelato, something which, as I mentioned previously, has become almost second nature to me. It is the season to write about such things especially since mercury has been above 90 since just about forever! Ironically, the weather today is holding gloriously at a mere 75º F. with a balmy breeze. It is also the first day I've been able to turn the air conditioner off since May. It must be September. Take that Consolidated Edison!

I've been experimenting quite a bit with new flavors and new ways of getting the consistency I want (one that is just frozen and yet malleable with the ice cream scoop). The basic premise is the same:

2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered skim milk

3 tbs. light corn syrup

whisked together and heated to 180º.

While heating the milk, take 
1 tsp. powdered gelatin
and bloom it in a very little bit of cold water

Remove from the stove to cool.
Once the milk has cooled, add:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbs. vanilla extract

and whatever flavor you wish to make your gelato.

Once you have chilled this mixture for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight) you can make the gelato in an electric ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

Pictured above, is a small dish of Cannoli Gelato; a flavor I've been dreaming about making for quite a while now. I experimented last year with ricotta and fig and honey, even goat cheese and ricotta but it never came close to what I had envisioned as a truly original gelato. 

This recent experiment proved to be exceptional in every way. The delicacy of home made ricotta mixed with powdered sugar and candied fruit added to simple gelato base was more than I had ever expected. Not to gild the lily, oh well, yes, to gild the lily, I added pistachio marmalade.

For a completely singular and absolutely gorgeous gelato, all you need do is add the following mixture to your gelato base   before refrigeration and churn away!

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. orange extract

1 handful of chopped candied cherries and citron

2 tsp. minced candied orange or lemon peel

1/2 cup pistachio marmalade (recipe to follow)

Place ricotta, sugar, vanilla and orange extracts in the canister of a food processor and blend until very smooth. Remove from canister and place in mixing bowl and fold in fruits and pistachio marmalade. Stir into gelato base until completely blended (no lumps) and refrigerate overnight.

Pistachio Marmalade

1 cup shelled pistachios

Pour boiling water onto the pistachios and let sit for about 3 or 4 minutes. Drain and place on a clean, dry dish towel and rub them around until the skins come off. Let the nuts dry for several hours or overnight. Place the green nuts in a spice grinder and grind with 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar for about 1 minute until you have a fine powder.

Bring 2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, add the pistachio powder and cook until the liquid becomes a very thick paste (or marmalade). 

This should yield about 1 cup of marmalade. Add half the mixture to the gelato mixture when adding the other fruit. You can reserve the remaining pistachio marmalade for another use, cannoli of course! The marmalade will keep in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks.

ASPARAGUS!

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN when asparagus, both green and white rear their gorgeous stalks into the green markets, grocery stores and ultimately, the kitchen or dining room. In Holland, Germany and Belgium, May is the month when many festivals in local farming villages - not to mention major metropolises - are held in honor of the woody spears. Some villages even crown young ladies Queen of the Asparagus Festival. This dates back hundreds of years and comes down from a long held tradition. I wonder if the Druids celebrated asparagus in some sacrificial rite!? 

Asparagus dates as far back as 3000 B.C. with the Egyptians.  But it is to the Europeans in general that we owe much thanks for the cultivation of asparagus on a grand scale.  White asparagus is much more prevalent in Europe than here in America, where it is also more expensive than its green counterpart. Besides its generally sweeter flavor, the only difference between white and green is the fact that white asparagus is "grounded" (covered in dirt) and cultivated out of the sun. I am an avid white asparagus nut and eat it every chance I get. With butter and chopped hard boiled egg, with Hollandaise Sauce, with Veal Oscar (the best!) but somehow, the simplest way is most ideal, unadorned except for a sprinkling of olive oil and vinegar or drizzled with butter. Eaten with some boiled potatoes and a thick slice of boiled ham . . . OMG! The best! And then, of course, there is Risotto with Asparagus, also deliciously delicate. I once made a Lasagna with Asparagus as a first course for one of my Thanksgiving feasts. There was nothing left.

STEAMED ASPARAGUS

To steam one pound of asparagus, chop off about 1/5 (almost an inch or so) of the tough bark at the bottom of each stem, leaving anywhere from 5-8 inches of the stalk. Take a potato peeler and, holding the top of the spear very carefully, gently peel away the skin, turning as you go (see photo above). Once all the asparagus has been trimmed, take some kitchen twine and tie the asparagus into one bundle.  Tie another piece of twine at the opposite end and then connect the leftover twine so you create a handle with the twine. 

If you have a tall narrow asparagus steamer, wonderful! If not, fill a large pot with water and bring it to the boil. Add 1 tablespoon of Kosher salt and add the asparagus. Cover the poi to bring it back to the boil as quickly as possible and then lower the heat and cook uncovered for about 7 minutes. Once you have even the faintest whiff of asparagus, remove them from the water and bathe them in cold water for about 10 seconds to stop them from cooking.

With these asparagus, you can add any of the following sauces:

Melted butter
Hollandaise Sauce
Lemon vinaigrette
Vinegar and Oil with salt and pepper

If you wish to make risotto, reserve about 5 stalks of the cooked asparagus and cut the stalks on the bias but reserve the tops in a separate bowl for finishing the risotto. You can make basic risotto or you can follow my recipe for risotto con asparagus and piselli here: http://paoloknows.blogspot.com/search?q=risotto.

RISOTTO CON ASPARAGI

THERE IS also one more of the endless possibilities which is so good - Roasted Asparagus wrapped in bacon, or pancetta or ham, or even mortadella and served with poached eggs. A creative way to eat something delicious without eating any carbohydrates.

Bon appetito!

FRIENDSHIPS AND RECIPES

IT WOULD BE  A TERRIBLE THING indeed if one didn't acknowledge their friends. Friends who share recipes and dishes are friends indeed. 

I am a carnivore, but in today's day and age, meat isn't the only thing going on. Recently, a friend of mine, also a very good cook and baker in his own right, brought me something that I had never eaten before. A meatless chopped liver! I am here to say that it is one of the most delicious things I've eaten in a very long time; to the point that, the other night, I couldn't stop eating the stuff. Then, I spoke about it to a couple of other people who have done the same thing - always for Passover, by the way - but in a variety of ways. 

One way is with canned peas, another way is with lentils, but the basic ingredients are really so simple that it's silly.

4 hard boiled eggs
1 cup walnuts
1 large onion, sauteed and caramelized in oil of your choice
1 can green peas (or 1 cup cooked lentils)

Prepare all ingredients and put them in a food processor and zap them into a paste, just like chopped liver and place them in a container. It is always best the next day but we all have our own devices and desires.

Bon appetit!

CODFISH FILETS WITH CREAMED CORN AND LEEKS

AS PROMISED, I am returning to a form of sanity once more, after a trying and tedious move into much smaller quarters. A real New York City Studio Apartment in Chelsea but facing the West Village, with southern exposure no less! Who could ask for more? The deal maker was the fabulous up-to-date kitchen and the washer and dryer in the apartment. Once the piano is turned around and my 700+ books are on shelves instead of under the piano, I shall be in business.

One night a few weeks ago, after one of my jaunts to the fish mongers of Chinatown, I ventured into the oven, pulled out a great little roasting pan, lined it with foil, brushed it with oil and plopped an entire cod filet on top of that. More oil brushing ensued with a mashed up lemon, having been previously preserved with salt, spices and saffron and then thrown under the broiler. That was dinner one night (served with rice and arugula). The next night, I made my favorite dish of all time: creamed corn and leeks with some very hot Thai chiles. Topped onto reheated rice and then the fish placed above that and this is what you get!

Pan and Plate

RICE

1 cup Sushi Rice

2 cups chicken broth

Bring rice and liquid to a boil. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, reduce heat to the lowest flame setting and cook for 20 minutes. Let stand for another 10.

Corn and Leeks

1 leek, trimmed, cleaned and thoroughly inspected for any sand. I like slicing the leek from the top down the middle about half way down and rinsing the entire leek under cold water until all vestiges of sand are removed.

1 cup corn (frozen or cut from an ear or two of freshly cooked corn.

Butter and Oil to heat the bottom of the pan
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
Salt and Pepper
Nutmeg
1-3 Thai chiles

Take the chiles and put in the pan and heat them over high heat to release oils and flavor. Add the oil and butter to the pan and add the leeks and saute until translucent. Add the corn, seasonings and then the cream and cook over high heat until the cream thickens and bubbles. Lower the heat to the simmer and cook until the cream becomes a thick sauce. Correct seasoning, if necessary, and check on the nutmeg flavoring. I prefer more but that is my own personal taste.

Cod

1 whole filet fresh Codfish
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 preserved lemon wedge, plus juice, smashed
Salt and Pepper

Turn on the broiler and have a rack at the highest level possible just below the broiler. Line a medium sized shallow roasting pan with foil and brush it will EVOO and some lemon juice from the jar of preserved lemons. Add about 8 turns of freshly ground pepper to the fish (I don't salt because the lemons are preserved in salt). Put under the broiler (about 4-5 minutes on each side. If you like, you can "butcher" the fish into medallions which are easier to turn than an entire filet.

Once everything is ready, you can start building your plate. Et voilà! 

Codfish with Creamed Corn and Leeks

Buon appetito!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASTER BACH

TODAY WE CELEBRATE the 330th birthday of 

Johann Sebastian Bach. As musicians, we have so much for which to be thankful. To any keyboard player (organ, piano, harpsichord, et. sl.), his music laid the foundation for all keyboard music that followed. So tonight, Mu Phi Epsilon celebrates his life and music at Tenri Cultural Institute, 43a West 13th Street, New York City at 7:30 p.m.

Or click here for a chuckle!  MPENYCAC BLOG

I'm back, as you can see. More on food next week: Creamed corn and leeks with rice and broiled cod. Vegetable soup (the last vestige of winter), Pasta (of course) cooked several ways, including Gnocchi di Ricotta and a few other masterpieces up my sleeve. But in the meantime: Happy Birthday Johann!