We don’t eat out often, but when we do, I’m always happy to let Caroline Fidanza and crew do the cooking.
Tonight’s Dinner
15 Thursday Mar 2007
Posted in dining out
Monthly Archives: March 2007
Caponata-Style Escarole and Cod
15 Thursday Mar 2007
Posted in close but no cigar, cod, escarole, Italian, seafood
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It was a beautiful day yesterday, but I wasn’t able to get out of the office to enjoy it, so when I got home, Mike mixed us up a round of Aviations and we took them out front to the stoop to take advantage of the evening’s waning warmth.
I had some local wild cod filets and a bunch of escarole that I wanted to cook up for dinner, so I did a quick search on foodandwine.com and found a recipe for Caponata-Style Escarole and Cod. It sounded quick, easy and tasty, so while I generally don’t cook from recipes, I thought I’d give this a go.
I have cooked a lot of fish fillets (cod included), and I think I can say I’m pretty good at it, but in this instance the cod began to break up about as soon as it hit the oil, and by the time I flipped the fillets and cooked them through, we were left with this:
Not pretty, and not a good sign of things to come.
Despite the fact that the fish had pretty much disintegrated, I had high hopes for the sauce. We love olives, capers, anchovies and tomatoes, and we love escarole and all manner of bitter greens – the combination sounded awesome. However, in the finished dish, we thought that the bitter and salty flavors were almost overwhelming. They definitely overpowered the fish, and it just didn’t taste balanced to us. I pulled out the cooked olives and added some uncooked whole olives hoping that their fruitiness might help, but it didn’t. The dish wasn’t inedible, but it was disappointing.
As Mike said, this has a lot of potential, but it needs some work. I do think that I’ll attempt the dish again, tweaking it to maybe add a bit of heat or acidity, and maybe try it with a different fish that will hold up better to the cooking. Not a bad dish, but I hope I can turn out a better version next time around.
Penne with Lamb Ragu
14 Wednesday Mar 2007
Posted in greenmarket, Italian, lamb, pasta
The lovely folks from 3-Corner Field Farm will be away from the Greenmarket until June after this Saturday, so we made sure to stock up on lamb when we were there last weekend. We got a big package of ground lamb, part of which we’ve frozen, and the rest of which I made into a super tasty lamb ragu last night.
As much as I love a classic Ragu Bolognese, I think this sauce might be my new favorite meat sauce for pastas. The lamb had a hint of sweetness, and was rich without being too heavy. Mike gobbled down two helpings of this and has more for lunch today; I polished off my portion quickly, and couldn’t help but sneak spoonfuls of the remaining sauce while I washed the dishes. This stuff might be addictive.
Lamb Ragu
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 lb. ground lamb
1 cup white wine
1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes with their juice (I used San Marzanos)
1 teaspoon red chile flakes
1 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used a mixture of flat-leaf parsley, thyme and rosemary)
Kosher salt to taste
Add olive oil to a large heavy-bottomed pot and warm over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrots and a good pinch of salt, and allow them to cook until softened. Add tomato paste and allow to cook for a minute, and then stir it through the vegetables. Add the lamb and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until it has lost its red color. Add the wine, tomatoes, chile flakes and half of the herbs. Stir well, breaking up the tomatoes, and then allow to simmer uncovered for an hour or so, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has cooked down to a thick ragu, and much of the liquid evaporated, turn off the heat, taste for salt and adjust if necessary, and stir in the remaining chopped herbs.
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I had my pasta water boiling away for most of the time the sauce was cooking so it was ready to go when the sauce was nearly finished. I removed all but about 2-3 cups of sauce from the pot once it was finished and added a ladleful of pasta water to the remaining sauce in the pot. I cooked a 500g bag of imported penne rigate until it was just short of al dente, and I added about half of the cooked pasta to the sauce to allow it to finish cooking.* When the pasta was al dente and coated with the ragu, I spooned it into shallow bowls and finished each with a dollop of ricotta and a little more of the herb mixture I had used in the sauce. The ricotta imparts a nice creaminess to the sauce as it melts into it, but I think grated Pecorino Romano would be great with this as well.
*I often make more pasta than we will need for a dish and freeze what is left over. Since the pasta isn’t quite cooked through, it reheats pretty well, and is a nice thing to have on hand on those days when I’m feeling crummy enough that I can’t make it in to work and want to put together a quick lunch. I generally run the bag of pasta under some water to thaw it a bit then toss it in a sauté pan with some butter or olive oil, halved grape tomatoes, garlic and herbs, and a bit of grated cheese at the end.
Wild Mushroom Napoleons
13 Tuesday Mar 2007
Posted in meatless, mushrooms, wine pairing
After a weekend in which I cooked nothing except hard-boiled eggs (which, incidentally, I forgot about and overcooked when I got too wrapped up in the book I was reading), I was eager to get back into the kitchen on Monday. I was even feeling a bit ambitious, and thought I’d attempt something different for our meatless dinner. I thought it would be fun to do a napoleon, with mushrooms and a creamy cheese between layers of puff pastry.
I have a pretty standard mushroom preparation that I have done for years, and which with small modifications I have used for saucing pasta, for topping polenta or crostini, and as an accompaniment to a good steak; I figured it would work here as well. I also knew that I wanted to use a robiola cheese in this dish; when I first moved to the city, my local pizza place was Bella Via in Long Island City, and they serve a fabulous pie with robiola and truffle oil. That combination worked so well I was pretty sure that the cheese would also work well with mushrooms. I tracked down a three-milk version (sheep/cow/goat) at Formaggio Essex.
I did not make my own pastry, but Fresh Direct’s butter-rich version worked just fine – it was light and flaky and really delicious. I cut the pastry in half, which gave me two big squares, and baked it according to the package directions. While it was cooking and then cooling, I prepared the mushrooms.
Mushroom Ragout
1 cup dried porcini or cepes
1 cup hot water
2 tbsp. each butter and olive oil
1 cup diced shallot
1/2 lb. assorted fresh mushrooms (I used half oyster mushrooms and half sliced shiitake caps)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
2 tbsp. heavy cream
Soak dried mushrooms in the hot water until they are soft. Remove the softened mushrooms from the liquid and gently squeeze them out. Roughly chop them and set aside. Reserve the mushroom soaking liquid.
Combine butter and olive oil in a skillet and heat until the butter is melted. Add shallot and a pinch of salt and cook until softened and translucent. Add the mushrooms you have soaked and stir well to coat them with the butter and oil. Cook for two minutes, add the fresh mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Allow the mushrooms to cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the wine and half of the mushroom soaking liquid (discard the rest as it is usually a little gritty). Cook until nearly all of the liquid has reduced. Stir in half of the fresh herbs and the cream and remove from heat. Garnish with the remaining herbs.
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To assemble the napoleons, I pulled each cooked square of pastry apart into three even layers, and crumbled a bit of robiola between each. I reassembled them and placed them into a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes to warm the cheese. I removed the pastry squares and placed them onto plates (on a bed of baby greens), and I spooned some of the mushroom mixture over each. I garnished them with additional fresh herbs and a little more crumbled robiola.
Wine Pairing: Lieb Family Cellars Bridge Lane Merlot had some wonderful peppery notes and rich fruit that went really nicely with this dish.
Roast Pork Shoulder; Mashed Potatoes with Kale
12 Monday Mar 2007
Roast pork shoulder with caramelized fennel & onion; mashed potatoes with kale and olive oil. Dietsch cooked; I just plated. And ate. And swooned.
Corn Chowder with Chile Shrimp
09 Friday Mar 2007
Posted in quick and easy, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, soups, wine pairing
Corn is far from being in season, but I have been craving a sweet corn chowder, perhaps in the hopes that a little taste of something summery would work out the chill in my bones. It didn’t quite work out that way, but this chowder was tasty and made for a good, quick weeknight meal.
I started by coring a couple of poblano peppers and slicing them in half lengthwise. I placed them on a sheet of foil and ran them under the broiler for about 10 minutes, until the flesh was soft and the skin was charred and blistered. I turned off the heat and removed them, still on the foil, and folded the foil up into a package so they could steam for a bit.
I sautéed half a red onion, chopped, in a couple of tablespoons of butter in the Le Creuset, and then added a quart of chicken stock, the juice of one lime, a tablespoon each of dried oregano and cumin, plus a bit of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. I had purchased a few bags of frozen organic sweet corn from Whole Foods a couple of weekends ago, so I added one bag to the pot, as well as half a pound of diced red-skinned potatoes.
The roasted poblanos were cool enough to handle, so I removed them from their foil packet, peeled off as much of the skin as possible, cut them into about 1 inch pieces, and added them to the pot. I added salt and pepper and allowed the chowder to come to a boil, then reduced the heat to low and let it simmer until the potatoes were tender.
I wanted to serve a few seared shrimp on top, so I cleaned and peeled half a pound of large gulf shrimp, patted them dry, and tossed them with a mixture of salt, Mike’s chile powder and smoked paprika until they were well coated. I tossed them again with a small amount of olive oil and placed them into a hot cast iron skillet to cook – just a few minutes per side.
When the soup was done cooking, I turned off the heat and pureed it about halfway with an immersion blender. I then stirred in half a cup of heavy cream, ladled it into our bowls, and topped each bowl with three of the shrimp.
I was pretty pleased with how this turned out, though I think next time I will up the spices and lime juice a bit, and perhaps even add some chipotle to the mix. I do think this soup will be really nice in the summer, when we can use fresh corn and roast the poblanos over hardwood outdoors.
Wine Pairing: Mike picked up a really nice Alsatian pinot gris to go with this, and it was a great match for the sweet corn and spicy chiles in the dish.
Creamy Chicken Stew
08 Thursday Mar 2007
Posted in chicken, greenmarket, stews
This is one of my favorite stews to prepare, and while it has some richness to it with the addition of cream at the end, it never feels heavy to me, just hearty and warming and delicious.
I usually like to prepare this using bone-in chicken parts with the skin, often from a whole bird we have cut up ourselves, but we had some boneless breasts and thighs from Dines Farms in the fridge, and I’m happy to say it worked just as well using those – just keep the pieces in fairly large chunks.
Heat a quarter cup or so of olive oil in a deep, heavy bottomed pot. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and then dredge them in a bit of flour. Shake off the excess and place the pieces a few at a time into the hot oil to brown, making sure not to crowd the pan. Remove the pieces to a platter as you finish browning them and set them aside.
Add a bit more oil to the pan and add about two cups of sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only) and about a cup of sliced celery. Season with a pinch of kosher salt and allow to cook over medium heat until softened. Add two cloves of garlic, minced, and cook for another minute or two. Stir a tablespoon or two of smooth Dijon mustard into 1/2 cup of white wine until dissolved, then add that to the vegetable mixture.
Once this is bubbling, add 2 cups of chopped tomatoes with their juices, the chicken pieces, 2 cups of chicken broth or water, and 1/2 lb. quartered new potatoes. Cover and allow to come to a boil, then reduce heat, taste to adjust salt, add about 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves and about 1/3 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves. Cover and allow the stew to cook over low heat for at least 1 hour.
Off the heat, stir in 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Garnish with additional thyme and tarragon if desired.
Halibut with Lemon Butter and Olive-Dill Relish
07 Wednesday Mar 2007
Posted in halibut, quick and easy, seafood, wine pairing
This is one of those dinners I’m going to have to do a bit more work on. Mike loved it, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied. I had two wild Alaskan halibut filets to prepare for dinner, as well as some green beans, and I wasn’t quite sure how to jazz them up, so I did a quick skim of recipes Food and Wine. Cal Elliot and Polo Dobkin’s recipe for Halibut with Mixed Beans and Lemon-Butter Sauce caught my eye (not surprising, as Dressler is one of our favorite places to eat out), so I thought I’d try a spin on it.
Since I only had the green beans to go with the halibut, I thought I’d prepare a sort of relish to go on top of the fish to provide a bit more color and texture. I whisked together about half a cup of fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil in a bowl, then added a handful of chopped fresh dill, a tablespoon or so of lemon zest, one minced garlic clove and half a cup of Greek olives, pitted and sliced. I set that aside and got to work on the fish, seasoning it with salt and giving it a light coating of olive oil on all sides. I placed the fish into our cast iron skillet, which I had heated almost to smoking, and let it cook skin side down for several minutes, until the skin was crispy and the fish was cooked about halfway through.
While the fish cooked on the first side, I cooked the green beans – half a pound, trimmed – in just a bit of water until bright green and crisp-tender. When they were done I drained them and set them aside. I moved back to the fish, gently flipping the filets, turning off the heat and adding half a cup of white wine and the juice of a lemon. I turned the heat back up to medium and began scraping up the little browned bits from the bottom of the pan. I let the fish cook in the wine and lemon juice for 2-3 minutes, then removed the filets to a platter and covered them with foil. I reduced the heat to low and whisked in about 1/3 cup of cold butter a little at a time until the sauce was smooth and creamy.
I tossed the green beans with the butter sauce and added them to our plates, placed a halibut filet over, and spooned more lemon butter over the top of the fish. I then spooned a mound of the olive-dill relish on top, and served.
The meal was tasty, and Mike said the fish was perfectly cooked, but I think I would have liked a little more zing in this dish – I will probably try upping the amount of citrus in the butter sauce and/or adding some chile flakes to the relish next time around.
Wine Pairing: Neither of us are big fans of Chardonnay, but we love Wolffer Estate La Ferme Martin, and it worked really well with this meal. It had just the right amount of crispness to complement the rich and meaty halibut and butter sauce.
Cranberry Bean & Pasta Soup
06 Tuesday Mar 2007
New York City is in the throes of a terrible cold snap, and you’d better believe I’m countering it with as much soup as I can muster. I can think of very few things that are more comforting and restorative than the aromas of garlic and onion and herbs filling the apartment, or of that first slurp of broth that warms you right through. The promise of leftovers is an added bonus.
8 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
4 carrots, trimmed and chopped
4 stalks celery, trimmed and chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups cranberry beans*
1 quart stock (I used homemade chicken stock) or broth or water
Several branches fresh thyme and sage
1 bay leaf
1 parmesan rind
Kosher salt
1/2 cup small pasta, like ditalini or elbows
1 cup water*I used dried beans, soaking 2 cups of them overnight covered with about 6-8 cups of water. You can substitute canned beans or use the hot soak or quick soak methods discussed here.
Preheat oven to 400. Wrap garlic cloves in a double layer of foil and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Place into oven and allow to roast for 25 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Place the remaining olive oil into a large heavy bottomed pan and warm over medium heat. Add the softened garlic cloves and their oil, mashing the cloves into a paste. Add onion, carrots and celery along with a few pinches of salt and allow to soften. Add tomato paste and stir through. Add wine and allow to cook uncovered several minutes, and then add the beans, stock, herbs and parmesan rind. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat. Allow the soup to cook until the beans are tender, about 45 minutes.
Remove the herb branches and bay leaf, taste and adjust seasoning, then add the water and pasta and allow to cook another 10-15 minutes, until pasta is al dente. Garnish with additional chopped herbs and freshly grated parmesan.
Cockles & Chorizo with Israeli Couscous
05 Monday Mar 2007
Posted in cockles, pork, quick and easy, shellfish
Pork and clams are a classic combination, and for good reason – they’re delicious individually, but they really shine when put together. I love combining Manila clams or cockles with smoked sausage – in this case, Spanish-style chorizo sausage from D’Artagnan – and serving them in a lightly spicy broth. I’ve become a huge fan of Israeli couscous, and I love adding a bit of that to the dish as well – it provides a fun interplay of textures and looks like little pearls floating in the broth.
To start, warm a tablespoon of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot, then add a couple of thinly sliced garlic cloves and sauté them until they’re golden and fragrant. Cut chorizo into chunks (I used 3 links – about 1/2 lb. – and ended up with about two cups worth) and add to the pan. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and caramelize it, then stir it through. Add a cup and a half of white wine, a cup and a half of water, a tablespoon of smoked paprika, a tablespoon of sherry vinegar and a few dashes of hot sauce, stir, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, add a pound of cockles or small clams, cover the pot and continue cooking until they have opened (discard any that have not opened).
While the cockles are steaming, bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat, add 1 cup of Israeli couscous, cover and set aside.
When the cockles have opened, taste the broth and add salt if necessary. Add 2-3 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves and stir through. Spoon a bit of couscous into each serving bowl, then ladle the cockles, chorizo and broth over the top. Garnish with additional fresh thyme.
