Sam Sifton named this as one of his favorite new dishes of 2010 recently, a whole wheat pasta and chick pea dish from Del Posto.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/dining/29yearrex4.html
I made it recently and it really is good... though I agree with Susan that it might have benefited from a bit of lemon zest.
It's rare that I follow recipes to the letter but I think I did with this one, down to including the "juice" from the canned chickpeas, something I'd ordinarily spurn. (Canned beans are a standby for me. I do love home-prepped dry beans, but when you're in a hurry....)
Bonito-- shaved, dried tuna. I bought some ages ago to make broth for miso soup. It really does add a briny dimension to the dish. I bought it at one of the Asian stores in the Strip District.
The dish also reheats well. I melted some butter and sauteed the leftovers in it.
Friday
Wednesday
Mock Aloo Gobi
If you keep a well-stocked spice cabinet, Indian-flavored food is quite easy to assemble. I'm sure my "curries" are non-traditional- they certainly do not follow any recipes- but they're quite tasty, quick, and nourishing. This technique (if I dare call it that), which results in a flavorful sauce, can then be customized with the vegetables, meat, leftovers of your choice.
I used cauliflower and potato, resulting in a mock Aloo Gobi. Neither were cooked, but it's a simple matter to cut and roast a cauliflower and peel, cube and boil some potatoes.
While they cooked, I made a basic mirepoix, sauteeing chopped carrots, celery and onion in some EVO with S and P. I know that this is French technique, but it adds an incomparable flavor base.
While they sauteed, I made my spice mix, starting with cardamom.
A little cardamom goes a long way. The raisin-looking green pods can be added whole to dishes; they're inedible, but add an exotic, citrusy flavor to rice dishes, soups, and sauces easily.
I also like the little black seeds (which resemble slightly larger poppyseeds) inside the pods. These needn't be fished out of the finished dishes. However I prefer crushing these seeds into powder with my mortar and pestle. If you start with about a dozen seeds it takes about 30 seconds. I have a one-ounce jar of the seeds which will probably outlive its use to me.
So, in my mortar I pestled the dozen (or so) cardamom seeds. To this I added a rounded tablespoon of cumin, a teaspoon of Tumeric, 1/2 teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon of hot paprika, same of cinnamon, then very little clove powder, grated nutmeg and cayenne. Took about a minute in all, and I eyeballed the measurements. Let's call this "garam masala."
The vegetables were still softening over medium heat, so I peeled and grated some ginger and garlic, and finely chopped the garlic. The potatoes were done, so I drained them and added them back to the warm pan to dry.... the cauliflower was starting to brown nicely at 350, but needed some more time (about a total of 30 minutes).
I added the ginger and garlic to the vegetables and sauteed about 30 seconds, allowing the aromas to bloom. I added the spice mix and stirred to coat the vegetables.
I added about a tablespoon of butter to the pan, and when that melted added about 1/8 cup of flour, stirring them together for about a minute to make a roux, which would give this saucy dish a pleasing consistency. I next added about two cups of stock* slowly, a little at a time, first allowing the liquid to pick up the burnt sugars that had cooked out of the vegetables from the bottom of the pan, then to slowly incorporate the thickening action of the roux. It took me about two minutes to add all the liquid.
I added the potatoes, then, when it was finally cooked about ten minutes later, the cauliflower. I let the whole thing mingle together for about 10 minutes, eventually adding a little more stock and salt. It then went over leftover wild rice, finished with a spoonful of yogurt. Some chopped cilantro wouldn't have been out of place, nor some chopped chives, but I had neither.
*stock: I make this with whatever I have on hand. I free all my bones and vegetable scraps for this purpose. My stocks, as a result, are never the same. Stocks are frozen in old 1-quart yogurt containers. I suspect this batch of stock had some chicken and duck bones in it, the duck leftover from some earlier duck confit. So, technically, this batch of Aloo Gobi could not be deemed vegetarian.
I used cauliflower and potato, resulting in a mock Aloo Gobi. Neither were cooked, but it's a simple matter to cut and roast a cauliflower and peel, cube and boil some potatoes.
While they cooked, I made a basic mirepoix, sauteeing chopped carrots, celery and onion in some EVO with S and P. I know that this is French technique, but it adds an incomparable flavor base.
While they sauteed, I made my spice mix, starting with cardamom.
A little cardamom goes a long way. The raisin-looking green pods can be added whole to dishes; they're inedible, but add an exotic, citrusy flavor to rice dishes, soups, and sauces easily.
I also like the little black seeds (which resemble slightly larger poppyseeds) inside the pods. These needn't be fished out of the finished dishes. However I prefer crushing these seeds into powder with my mortar and pestle. If you start with about a dozen seeds it takes about 30 seconds. I have a one-ounce jar of the seeds which will probably outlive its use to me.
So, in my mortar I pestled the dozen (or so) cardamom seeds. To this I added a rounded tablespoon of cumin, a teaspoon of Tumeric, 1/2 teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon of hot paprika, same of cinnamon, then very little clove powder, grated nutmeg and cayenne. Took about a minute in all, and I eyeballed the measurements. Let's call this "garam masala."
The vegetables were still softening over medium heat, so I peeled and grated some ginger and garlic, and finely chopped the garlic. The potatoes were done, so I drained them and added them back to the warm pan to dry.... the cauliflower was starting to brown nicely at 350, but needed some more time (about a total of 30 minutes).
I added the ginger and garlic to the vegetables and sauteed about 30 seconds, allowing the aromas to bloom. I added the spice mix and stirred to coat the vegetables.
I added about a tablespoon of butter to the pan, and when that melted added about 1/8 cup of flour, stirring them together for about a minute to make a roux, which would give this saucy dish a pleasing consistency. I next added about two cups of stock* slowly, a little at a time, first allowing the liquid to pick up the burnt sugars that had cooked out of the vegetables from the bottom of the pan, then to slowly incorporate the thickening action of the roux. It took me about two minutes to add all the liquid.
I added the potatoes, then, when it was finally cooked about ten minutes later, the cauliflower. I let the whole thing mingle together for about 10 minutes, eventually adding a little more stock and salt. It then went over leftover wild rice, finished with a spoonful of yogurt. Some chopped cilantro wouldn't have been out of place, nor some chopped chives, but I had neither.
*stock: I make this with whatever I have on hand. I free all my bones and vegetable scraps for this purpose. My stocks, as a result, are never the same. Stocks are frozen in old 1-quart yogurt containers. I suspect this batch of stock had some chicken and duck bones in it, the duck leftover from some earlier duck confit. So, technically, this batch of Aloo Gobi could not be deemed vegetarian.
Tuesday
Cassoulet
Cassoulet.Beans, simmered with pork (a fresh ham hock this time).
Duck confit.
Pork belly confit.
One of my favorite dishes, ever. So satisfying, so warming, so filling.
One of my favorite dishes, ever. So satisfying, so warming, so filling.
But it's a lot of work, so I only make it once a year.
And then I enjoy it with lots of friends.
Hmmmm.... what to drink
OK, it's snowing, I'm blowing off yoga because I came home and shovelled, walked the dogs and cooked a cauliflower and potato curry. No yoga + chores = cocktail.
But what to have? I usually favor the brown stuff in colder months, but honestly I'm craving something a little brighter. I have fresh lemons... a White Lady?
Better yet, a Sidecar: a White Lady made with brandy instead of gin. I can "winterize" it with the addition of a spiced cherry steeped in booze and twist the oil from an orange rind on top, similar to another winter favorite, an Old Fashioned.
Sidecar
Chill a cocktail glass
Over ice stir
2 parts brandy or cognac
1 part cointreau or triple sec
1 part fresh lemon juice
Strain into chilled glass. Plop in a good quality aged, steeped cherry, then twist the oil out of a piece of orange rind on top. Tastes like Christmas, but in a place bereft of snow.
Friday
The French 76
Cooking a Thanksgiving meal is thirsty work. Around noon last Thursday I felt it was time for a holiday cocktail. Drinking early in the day is a delicate process though; one needs one's few wits, so is wary of the hard stuff, like my beloved Sazerac, my winter drink. The hard stuff is so much more palitable at, say, 5 pm.
We had a bottle of Asti Spumante in the 'fridge. It's very sweet yet dull. A joke in the wine world, no better than that peachy colored "white zinfandel" quaffed by ladies who don't really like wine. However, Spumante is low in alcohol and had bubbles, so it at least got me thinking.
My first thought was the French 75, a refresher named for one of my favorite cannons from W.W. I. An ounce of gin meanders its resiny goodness through lemon juice, sugar, and (mostly) champagne in an elegant flute. It's refreshing, slightly tart, and not overly alcoholic, so seemed to fit my bill.
But, I thought, the sweetness of the Spumanti would still be the dominant note in this little alcoholic quartet. How to balance?
My answer was to cut out the sugar (naturally) and to introduce a bitter element, which I did in the form of Campari. Campari mixes beautifully with gin in the classic Negroni; also, it turns out, in the French 76.
Like the amps in Spinal Tap, is the 76 "one better" than the 75? No, but I would say it's its equal.
I'm now saddened to report that I once poured a bottle of Asti Spumante onto our compost pile. (My wife gets them as Xmas gifts from her boss.) Never again.
French 76
to a flute add:
1 oz. gin
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. Campari
top with cheap champage
garnish with twish of fresh orange peel
We had a bottle of Asti Spumante in the 'fridge. It's very sweet yet dull. A joke in the wine world, no better than that peachy colored "white zinfandel" quaffed by ladies who don't really like wine. However, Spumante is low in alcohol and had bubbles, so it at least got me thinking.
My first thought was the French 75, a refresher named for one of my favorite cannons from W.W. I. An ounce of gin meanders its resiny goodness through lemon juice, sugar, and (mostly) champagne in an elegant flute. It's refreshing, slightly tart, and not overly alcoholic, so seemed to fit my bill.
But, I thought, the sweetness of the Spumanti would still be the dominant note in this little alcoholic quartet. How to balance?
My answer was to cut out the sugar (naturally) and to introduce a bitter element, which I did in the form of Campari. Campari mixes beautifully with gin in the classic Negroni; also, it turns out, in the French 76.
Like the amps in Spinal Tap, is the 76 "one better" than the 75? No, but I would say it's its equal.
I'm now saddened to report that I once poured a bottle of Asti Spumante onto our compost pile. (My wife gets them as Xmas gifts from her boss.) Never again.
French 76
to a flute add:
1 oz. gin
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. Campari
top with cheap champage
garnish with twish of fresh orange peel
Tuesday
Rummaging through the freezer
I'm thrifty, and I hate wasting food, so I always freeze bits of leftover food: the vegetable skins and chicken bones for stock, which I frequently make, but is never the same. Doesn't matter. It comes out flavorful and adds taste and nutrition to any meal it goes into.
On Sunday I rummaged, and here's what I found:
1 cup frozen liquid from cooked beans and a smoked pig shank
1 baggie frozen corn
1 cup frozen chickpeas in their cooking liquid
1 last "ice cube" of frozen pesto (I freeze pesto in ice cube trays, then pop them out and store them in baggies)
3 ice cubes of frozen tomato pesto (cherry tomatoes and blanched almonds, whizzed in the food processor with a little garlic and olive oil)
Pancetta, about a 2 oz. portion
1 small pork pattie, made a few months before as part of a batch for Bahn Mi-- it was flavored with a little caramel and lemon grass
From the pantry:
1 can black beans
1 small smoked pepper, maybe chipotle? medium spicy
1/2 an onion
Spices: cumin, cayenne, tumeric
In other words, enough to approximate a batch of black bean (AKA Black and Gold) chile.
On Sunday I rummaged, and here's what I found:
1 cup frozen liquid from cooked beans and a smoked pig shank
1 baggie frozen corn
1 cup frozen chickpeas in their cooking liquid
1 last "ice cube" of frozen pesto (I freeze pesto in ice cube trays, then pop them out and store them in baggies)
3 ice cubes of frozen tomato pesto (cherry tomatoes and blanched almonds, whizzed in the food processor with a little garlic and olive oil)
Pancetta, about a 2 oz. portion
1 small pork pattie, made a few months before as part of a batch for Bahn Mi-- it was flavored with a little caramel and lemon grass
From the pantry:
1 can black beans
1 small smoked pepper, maybe chipotle? medium spicy
1/2 an onion
Spices: cumin, cayenne, tumeric
In other words, enough to approximate a batch of black bean (AKA Black and Gold) chile.
Sunday
Anniversary dinner
A quiet dinner at home for our anniversary this year. The previous two weekends saw us travelling, first to New York with friends, next to San Antonio to see my mother and step-father. A night in was in order, and we enjoyed some very fresh Chilean Sea Bass from my favorite fishmonger in the Strip District.
I seasoned the steaks, then seared them skin-side down for two minutes, then flipped them and place the pan in a 350-degree oven. After ten minutes I topped them with some bread crumbs which I made from a couple of slices of my mother's brown bread, to which I'd added some chopped fresh herbs from the community garden behind our house. Also going in the pan: a couple of sliced cherry tomatoes and some baby beets, likewise from our plot in the garden.
It never ceases to amaze me how much spinach can cook down; a panful becomes a small green mass in mere moments. The spinach made a good bed for the fish. A drizzle of olive oil, a bottle of Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc, a beautiful woman across from me, and all was very well in the universe.
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