FISH SURPRISE!

I THINK I MENTIONED THAT I WAS AT THE STRAND bookstore last week. While perusing the stacks, I found a fabulous cookbook (yes, another one!) by Patrick O'Connell, chef of The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia. Price? $4.00. And what treasures I found in this cookbook. This dish is inspired by one of the dishes found in the book.

His recipe calls for red mullet but I had used red snapper instead, and I improvised with the Gazpacho, so . . . Let me tell you, this was one of the most delicious meals I've made and it was incredibly simple; and completely clean food! No starch, no butter, no fuss. Simply delicious!

RED SNAPPER WITH GAZPACHO SALSA

I used the last of the Gazpacho that I made the other day, strained it in a china cap strainer and let it drain in a bowl while making the fish.

Take anywhere between 4 and 16 filets of red snapper, depending on how many people you're serving (I allow two pieces of fish for each person). Salt and pepper both sides. Heat a pan with some oil, fry each piece of fish, skin side down for about 4 minutes. Turn the fish over and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Take the strained juice and pour a little in each bowl, drizzle some olive oil around the juice and spoon a mound of salsa in the center. Arrange two pieces of the fish over the salsa and serve immediately. 

Bon appetit!

RIGATONI CON PESCE

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, I feel the urge to break my diet. The other night was one of those inevitable exceptions to the rule where the craving for carbohydrates outweighed the controlling effort on my part to shed pounds. So, after culling through the cabinets for something good to eat, the choice was either farfalle or rigatoni. As you can see from the photograph below, the rigatoni won.

RIGATONI CON PESCE

I love fish. I know a lot of people who don't and they simply don't know what they're missing. I had some leftover cod and red snapper, too, as well as some anchovies so it was obvious to me what had to be done. You can use sardines for this dish as well.

Serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a meal.

I put a big pot of water on the stove, turned the flame on high, covered the pot and moved on to other tasks: smashing garlic, mincing an onion, chopping up a few fennel stalks, measuring out a 1/2 teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes and a very tiny pinch of saffron as well, if you are so inclined.

Heat a pan, pour a generous amount of olive oil in it and sauté the garlic and onions until translucent. Add the red pepper flakes. While the onion mixture is cooking, chop up the fish, including the anchovies into small pieces and put it in the pan. Keep cooking for a while and add about 1/2 cup of Prosecco or white wine. Add the saffron at this point if using. It will melt into the wine base. Let it cook and reduce by at least halt. While the wine is reducing, take 8-10 very ripe plum tomatoes and after hulling them, chop coarsely. When the wine mixture has reduced, add the tomatoes. Once the sauce comes to the boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Salt and pepper to taste, add a handful of chopped parsley and basil. Let cook until the tomato sauce become very thick. 

By this time, the water should be boiling. Add a handful of Kosher salt to the water and put the rigatoni in the water and stir. Keep stirring for a moment to make sure none of the pasta sticks to the bottom of the pot. Cover, but watch carefully for the water to start boiling again. Once it's boiling, remove the cover and stir again. Continue to monitoring and stirring the pasta, uncovered - cooking time, 8-9 minutes. 

The sauce should have thickened by now. When the pasta is done, drain the water and pasta in a colander and pour the drained pasta directly into the large sauce pot and mix well. Turn off the flame. Allow the pasta to rest a moment and then serve immediately in bowls. 

You can sprinkle dried, seasoned, or toasted bread crumbs on top if so desired. Never cheese with fish. Absolute no-no!

Bon appetito!

MORE VEAL

I'M SURE YOU SUSPECTED that I'd be writing again about Veal. Yesterday, when I wrote about demi-glace, if you remember, I mentioned using the leftover pieces of meat from the stock for another purpose. I added some fresh pieces of veal and made a stew with vegetables, leftover stock and demi-glace. I served it with beans and it was delicious.

VEAL STEW

Serves 8 in a pinch.

3 tbs. unsalted butter

3 strips bacon cut into medium dice

1 lb. stewing veal

3 tbs. flour or cornstarch

1 onion coarsely chopped

1 cup carrots cut in thick julienned strips

3 stalks chopped celery

2 lbs. leftover meats from freshly made stock (veal, beef, etc.)

3 cups hot veal stock (chicken if necessary)

1 cup demi-glace

Sauté the bacon with the butter until the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon and sauté the veal pieces until the meat is partially cooked. Remove the veal, sauté the vegetables and add the veal and the bacon and continue to cook. Add the flour and cook until the flour is completely absorbed into the veal mixture. Add the leftover meats from the stock and then the heated stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover partially and cook for 3 hours. Add the demi-glace for the last hour of cooking, continuing to skim during the cooking.  

Serve with a starch of your choice (beans, boiled potatoes,  even polenta* or gnocchi.

* See December 10, 2013 entry for polenta with Osso Buco.

Bon appetito!

VEAL ET. AL.

MY FAVORITE CARNIVOROUS DISH of all time is veal. Scallopini, Osso Buco, roasted, grilled, in tomato sauce, you name it, there is nothing like it. As summer is now approaching its end (the autumnal equinox is Thursday), it's that time of year to start preparing for winter and comfort food. With that said, I want to talk about sauces, Espagnol in particular, and demi-glace. These two sauces - one being converted into the other, form the basis for almost all brown sauces (Brunoises) of any merit (Bordelaise, Chasseur, Bigarrade, etc.). 

I have made this numerous times but this time around, it turned out especially well. Time is the key ingredient to making demi-glace. 

DEMI-GLACE

Demi-glace is a sauce that has been reduced over a matter of hours, even days. The photo above shows the last stage of making the sauce, already strained and reduced from 8 gallons to 6-8 cups.

It's easy enough to begin. Take about 3 lbs. veal bones (I like necks), a couple of beef shanks and the carcass of a chicken and cook in about 8 gallons of water. Bring to the boil, skim off the foam and put in an herb bouquet of thyme, sage, parsley, rosemary, peppercorns and bay leaf, in addition to one large onion, the white of one leek, 3 carrots and two stalks of celery. Bring to the boil again and turn down to simmer. Continue to simmer for several hours and allow it to reduce by half. 

Take the pot of the heat, allow to cool, degrease and strain through a large sieve lined in cheesecloth or paper towels. Refrigerate and de-grease again. (You can sift through the bones and extract the meat(s) if you like and use it for another purpose (pot-au-feu, stew, meat loaf, etc.)

The next day, make a roux as follows:

Reheat the stock. 

Make a mirepoix of diced onion, carrots and celery (about a cup in total). Sauté in 1 stick of butter in a large enough pot to hold all of the veal stock until the onions and leeks become translucent. Add 1/4 cup flour and 3 tbs. cornstarch and mix well and cook the flour mixture until completely blended and becomes a roux. The idea is to cook the flour until it no longer even resembles the very idea of "flour." 

Pour 2/3 of the heated stock into the pot with the roux and mix completely and bring to the boil. The sauce should become very thick. Turn the sauce down to the simmer. Add 4 tbs. tomato paste, 1/2 cup madeira. mix thoroughly and bring to the boil again. Turn the heat down to a simmer and slide the pot half-way off the flame and simmer partially covered for several hours, skimming scum off every 15 minutes or so. The sauce should reduce by at least half. At this point, you can refrigerate the sauce again and de-grease once more before making the demi-glace.

Take the Espagnol Sauce off the stove and strain this sauce through a sieve in the same manner that you did the stock. In a new clean pot heat the sauce again and add the other third of the veal stock and more Madeira if you like. Cook this on a low flame and allow to reduce to a thick syrup for at least 2 hours, skimming the scum from the top often. You should be left with about 2 cups. Salt and pepper to taste and allow to cool completely. The result is practically fat-free but very rich brown sauce.

Place in small containers and freeze (will stay in the freezer for about 4 months) or you can reserve some in the refrigerator if you intend to use it within the week. A very nifty way to store them frozen is to pour the demi-glace into ice cube trays, freeze and then unmold into zip lock bags so you can use small amounts as needed.

There is indeed a lot of effort employed here but it is well worth the effort if you think about the ease it will facilitate in simply throwing in a cube of demi-glace into a pan with some of the juices from whatever it is you're cooking and transforming it into a memorable - a flavorful - sauce.

NONNA'S STUFFED ARTICHOKES

MY GRANDMOTHER PASSED THIS RECIPE down to my Mother and I make them when I have the time or inclination to sit and stuff leaves. This is definitely a job that should be done sitting down, unless you want a stiff neck, of course!

CARCIOFI RIPIENI

Artichokes are one of those things that spring to mind when I think of Rome. I say Rome because the Romans are famous for their green thistles. In Italy, they are definitely a seasonal vegetable reserved for the winter months, which because of their round and abundant character seems fitting. Unlike the Romans, though, we can have ours year round. They are a very old vegetable and date back as far as the Egyptians and the Greeks. They are part of a family of plants which include the even more elusive and hard-to-find Cardoon (another delicious vegetable resembling celery once peeled and trimmed.) A bit of interesting etymology from a scholarly friend who speaks a multitude of languages and knows his Greek!

In Greek carciofi sono ἀγκινάρες 

cardoons = ἀγριαγκινάρες wild artichokes or field (campestres) artichokes…

Carciofo comes from the Arabic al-Kharshouf (accent on last syllable), which itself is probably of Persian origin.

No doubt the word came into Italian through Sicily…

The Arabs in the Levant call them Ardishauki, which is a back-formation of the French version of the word: artichauts. 

Interestingly the Arabic element -shauki in “ardichauki” means spiny, thorny or prickly

Spanish: alcachofas (dialect: alcarchofas)

Portuguese: alcachofras

The English version is from the French; the final element was probably changed to -choke — example of the operation of “folk etymology”  — or it could have come from an alternative version of the French.

Many people eat their artichokes boiled with Hollandaise or with clarified butter or with vinaigrette, or even Bagna Cauda (which is truly delicious) but in Sicily, we stuff them and they are a thing of beauty as the photograph below attests.

You have to cook the artichokes before stuffing. It's very simple. Cut off the stems so the artichoke can stand up straight - this is the only time I ever cut the stems because I find them to be the most delicious part of all. Sweet and succulent with great meaty texture!

Serves 4 or can serve 8 if you share.

4 GLOBE ARTICHOKES

Cut the stem off at the base, tear away any unsightly leaves from the bottom of the choke and trim each leaf with a scissors. Take a sharp knife or cleaver and slice off the top in one fell swoop so it is flat and no pointy leaves remain. Rub the artichoke with lemon juice from a fresh lemon and put in a bowl of cold water. When you've finished trimming all the artichokes, put the artichokes in a large pot of boiling salted water and cover. Cook for about 20 minutes. Test the leaves for doneness. If they pull out easily, they are done. Drain, rinse in cold water and let cool. Turn them upside down and gently squeeze any excess water out of the chokes and place upside down on a large plain to drain. You can do this a day ahead and chill them before stuffing.

STUFFING

1 stick butter

1/3 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, minced

1 green pepper (or any color actually) seeded and chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup chopped celery

2 Golden Delicious Apples (peeled, seeded and diced)

2 cups seasoned bread crumbs (with dried herbs such as basil, oregano, etc.)

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup Pine Nuts

1/2 cup Raisins

2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

16 basil leaves cut in chiffonade

Put the oil and half the butter in a large frying pan and sauté  the onions, garlic, celery and green pepper over medium high heat until translucent. Add the apples and continue to sauté until the apples soften a bit. Add the bread crumbs and the cheese and continue to fry, stirring frequently to avoid scorching. Cut the rest of the butter into small pieces and add that as well as the nuts (Pine Nuts are expensive, I know; but, no other nut will do), the raisins, thyme and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue stirring until the breading browns to a deep golden color. The apples should melt into the dressing transforming the breading into a moist mass.

When the breading is cooked, remove from the heat and allow to cool completely (overnight is good). If stuffed while still warm, bacteria may grow and there goes dinner!

When you are ready to stuff the chokes, open up the center of the artichoke and remove the center leaves hidden from sight. There should be a deep well in which you will place the  stuffing until it is completely filled to the top. This is where I sit down to finish the job. Take a small demitasse spoon and begin spooning the dressing into each leaf starting from the top and working you way around and down to the very bottom of the artichoke. There should be a fair amount of breading mixture packed into each leaf.

There are two schools of thought on finishing the artichoes: The first version is simply placing them on a clean plate after you've stuffed the artichokes. The other is placing the stuffed artichokes in a deep pan with a very shallow water bath of boiling water and steaming them for 5-10 minutes. This moistens the stuffing and finishes the cooking process. Let cool, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 5 hours (preferable overnight). Before serving, take them out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. Serve as a first course or among assorted antipasti.

Buon appetito!

GREEN MARKET GOLD!

STROLLING BACK FROM THE STRAND, and after buying yet more cookbooks (!!!) and one about Wagner, Ludwig and I perused the stalls at the Union Square Green Market. We came upon some very overripe heirloom tomatoes (green, yellow, gold and red) for $1.00 a pound. I picked out a few and the girl at the counter kept telling me to put in more and more. Finally, I carried away about 15 gems (for $2.00!) and immediately went home and made Gazpacho. You know what they say, the best things in life are free - or almost.

CHUNKY GAZPACHO

I happen to like Gazpacho with great chunks of vegetables in it. The pureed counterpart is sometimes rather too thick and oppressive in its paste-like consistency. It's nice to be able to taste each of the ingredients on their own terms; especially the pepper! The best Gazpacho I ever had and one I've been trying to imitate for ages, was at a tiny restaurant called Cafe 1505 in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Theirs is utterly delicious and full of chunky morsels of peppers and cucumbers. They also make a mean egg salad sandwich (always hard to find in my estimation).

Anyway, in this particular case, since my creation yesterday was so impromptu, I had to improvise with the very hot green Thai chiles instead of the traditional Jalapeño. The addition of Tabasco at the end is the finishing touch to the heat in this very cold dish. Fire and ice!

12-16 very ripe, chopped red tomatoes or a variety of colors (if you like)

1 large seedless cucumber, peeled and diced

1 large diced yellow or orange pepper (I know, I know, green is the mandatory ingredient, but . . . )

1 onion, diced

3 stalks of celery, diced

6 Cloves of Garlic

2 whole Jalapeños, seeds removed and diced

Juice of 2 limes

4 tbs. Olive Oil

2 tbs. red Jerez vinegar

1/4 cup Sherry

2-3 dashes Tabasco

Salt

Place the garlic and the equivalent of one of the jalapeños and process in the food processor until a paste is formed. Take half of the tomatoes, half of all the other diced ingredients, and process in a food processor until fine chunks still show in the liquid soup. Place the contents in the processor in a large bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients, including the remaining diced vegetables until well combined. Do not salt until after the soup has chilled for at least 2 hours. Salt to taste and serve immediately.

Gazpacho can be refrigerated for several days, but I don't recommend freezing.

FAREWELL TO SUMMER

IT'S ALWAYS AT THE END of summer that everything looks and tastes so good. Consider the tomato. They're in full bloom right now and red as blood and sweet and dripping with juice, as are peaches and apricots, even grapes. Cherries too but they're almost finished for the season. 

CUCUMBER AND BEET BORSCHT

I'm writing today, however, about cold food and hot. Light yet creamy, hearty but not too filling. I should really have titled this entry Pickled, but we'll leave it at that. 

I had a cucumber in the house and some shellfish stock and decided to make cold cucumber soup. I made it with my own home made yogurt, fresh dill and cayenne pepper but somehow it just didn't have the oomph I was trying to attain. After thinking about it for a moment and then exploring the contents of the fridge, I found a couple of jars of leftover pickled beet juice with what remained of the pickled onions - the beets were long gone - in the juice. I added this to the soup and it came out pink and tasted like a very cold, very subtle borscht. It was delicious! I've written about cold soups before (see entry dated July 14, 2013) so you can refer to the recipes there. All you need to do to the finished cucumber soup is add the pickled beet juice to make it pink. You'd be surprised at how this little addition changes the overall flavor of the soup, while still being able to taste every ingredient on its own.

On a completely different note, I bought a loin of pork and decided that I wanted sauerkraut and kartoffel. It was rather simple and I decided to do to sauerkraut what I did to the cucumber soup!

ROAST LOIN OF PORT WITH SAUERKRAUT,
ROASTED POTATOES AND BEET HORSERADISH

This should be enough to serve 6 as a main course.

Preheat the oven to 375º

1 4-5 pound loin of pork

Seasoned with an oil rub comprised of:

1 tbs. olive oil

1 tsp. harissa paste

8-10 anise seeds

6 or 7 fennel seeds

1 tbs. dried tarragon (powdered)

1 tsp. kosher salt

8-10 turns of the grinder with black peppercorns

Mix into a paste and rub all over the top of the pork loin. Place the pork into a ceramic or earthenware dish and surround it with the following:

French Sauerkraut cured in champagne and lardon drizzled with pickled beet juice.

Baby red spring potatoes cut into quarters which have been salted and peppered tossed with a bit of olive oil and rosemary.

Pour about 1/2 cup of Champagne or Prosecco over the sauerkraut.

Place the dish into the oven and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes. Juices at the bottom of the pan should have reduced at least by half. 

Cut the pork into slices. Place sauerkraut onto a plate, arrange the pork slices over the sauerkraut along with the potatoes. Serve with a hefty dollop of beet horseradish. 

Bon appetit!