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chorizo, chickpeas, garlic, pimenton, sherry, parlsey

chickpeas_chorizo_pimenton_garlic

something to keep up one’s sleeve, for emergencies, whether or not the emergencies involve unexpected guests

 

It’s always the same simple recipe, worked by the same cook, and in the same kitchen, but it turns out a little differently each time, and not just in its appearance.

I have to assume the source of most, it not all of the ingredients was different, but this encounter with a very basic recipe differed significantly from an earlier preparation, and also from any of the many other times we’ve enjoyed it over the years.  I usually turn to this Mark Bittman minimal ‘quick meal’ after we’ve been out until quite late, when there’s no time to prepare anything more ambitious. Note that there are others, equally as handy.

We never get tired of it.  It’s probably a little like the kind of reanimation that comes upon hearing a familiar piece of music, perhaps a favorite, in different performances, even if the principle players might remain the same.

pasta e ceci (Campagna Vesuvio, chickpeas, tomato)

pasta_e_ceci

This luscious dish is very Italian, and very simple to prepare, although it’s also rather counterintuitive for those of us who have always thought that pasta had to be cooked in plenty of water.  It happens to produce a delicious primi, or a bowl which could serve as a main course, if one dares to offend Italian convention.

Americans generally don’t suffer from a lack of protein, but I’ll mention anyway that the extremely ancient chickpea is a rich source of that essential dietary component.

  • the appetizer was our enjoyment earlier in the evening of the second concert of the 2015 Avant Music Festival, five choral works performed by the Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble
  • the recipe for the pasta comes from food52.com, so I needn’t transcribe it here, although I have four advisories (I should probably have just included my own edited version):
    1. the instruction seems to have left out mentioning that half of the three tablespoons of olive oil at the end of the list of ingredients should be used to sauté the garlic, anchovies, and rosemary sprigs
    2. be careful not to add more liquid at the very beginning than needed to cook the pasta, as you can add more along the way
    3. Stir the contents of the pot while they cook, adjusting the heat if necessary
    4. and finally, disregard the instruction, “cook till one minute less than the package recommends”, as you will find that it will almost certainly take longer than that, especially if the pasta is artisanal (which means there will be no instruction on the package anyway), so just cook the mixture until the pasta is al dente

    The list of ingredients I used began with the voluptuous curves of Afeltra Pasta di Gragnolo ‘Vesuvio’ from Eataly;  there were also salted anchovies from Buon Italia, canned San Marzano tomatoes, also from Buon Italia, fresh rosemary from John D, Maderna Farm, and 24-month-old Parmesan cheese from Buon Italia

  • the wine was an Argentinian red, Zolo Signature Red 2012 (with only a very small percentage of Malbec grapes)
  • the music was John Cage’s 44 Harmonies and 14 Tunes from ‘Apartment House 1776

a 10 minute meal: chickpeas, chorizo, garlic, sherry

chickpeas_chorizo_garlic

This is warm meal preparation reduced to almost a bare minimum.  The recipe comes from Mark Bitman’s list, Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less”,   but the catalog is not just for summer.

We’ve enjoyed this fragrant dish many times.  It’s delicious, the ingredients can always be kept on hand (and I do) for ’emergencies’, making a last-minute trip to the market unnecessary, and it really does take only ten minutes, unless you slow-heat it as I did this time, which I really recommend.

The only thing I added to Bittman’s formula was the parlsey, from Stokes Farm, chopped and sprinkled on top of the bowl.

  • Mark’s instructions for his number 40:  “Put a large can of chickpeas and their liquid in a medium saucepan. Add some sherry, along with olive oil, plenty of minced garlic, smoked pimentón (I used dulce) and chopped Spanish chorizo. Heat through.”   Note: I used chorizo from Millbrook Farm, and it was wonderful.
  • the wine was a Portuguese red, Casa de Santa Eufemia Perene Tinto Douro 2012

a bachelor/midnight/10-minute dinner, post-theater

This is sort of an American bachelor’s dinner, or midnight pasta, and with a dash of Iberia instead of Italia. Without the need to wait for water to boil, it’s even faster than the classic Italian modes.

Another thing in its favor is that it’s open-ended; it welcomes improvisation, probably even more the pasta equivalents (if there’s time and some supples to let the imagination run).

The basic formula, from a list of 101 meals that could be prepared in 10 minutes or less, later edited up to 111, created by Mark Bittman many years ago:

40 Put a large can of chickpeas and their liquid in a medium saucepan. Add some sherry, along with olive oil, plenty of minced garlic, smoked pimentón and chopped Spanish chorizo. Heat through.  

I’ve put this simple dish on the table many times, and I blogged about it once, 4 years ago, when I said, “We’ve enjoyed it with leftover wilted kale, collards, or other greens, but I can imagine any number of other cooked vegetables working as enhancements, giving them a chance to leave the refrigerator and shine a second time.”

Last Saturday, returning home from a preview of a new production of Christopher Shinn’s ‘Dying CIty’ at 2nd Stage Theater [this quiet, transfixing tale of grief and violence” – Ben Brantley writing in 2017], not wanting to do anything the least bit complicated that night, after a long absence I returned once again to Bittman’s simple chickpea/chorizo formula.  This time, while I used 3 cloves of hard garlic, in spite of the fact that they’re not now locally in season, I did add some chopped spring garlic stems at the end, and a miscellany of herbs I had on hand that, conveniently, had already been chopped.

 

[the image of the composer is from his own website, Daniel Wohl]

geräucherter Fischaufstrich; kassler; meerrettichkartoffeln

I love the idea of bringing in the first day of the year with a feast.

Feasts should be shared, and even if it’s only only 2 guests, it’s enough of an excuse for a roast of some kind. That brings us up to last Tuesday, when two good artist friends joined us for a late afternoon supper, pre-sundown, built around a large slow-cooked smoked pork rib roast, known in Germany as Kasslerbraten. The rest of the meal was pretty German as well, German in the broadest sense, since most of the wine was Austrian.

We nibbled on breadsticks, dried chickpeas, and taralli, which was not traditionally Germanic, but then neither was the sparkling.

The meal proper began with a smoked fish, which is also pretty Teutonic.

  • a composed smoked fish salad using local fish caught by Karl Karlin, the husband of Dolores Karlin, who made it, of more than one white species, mayonnaise, red onion, and celery, from P.E. & D.D.Seafood, spread on soft toasts of a rustic Pain d’Avignon seven grain bread (whole wheat, honey, sesame- sunflower-flax seed, oats) from Foragers
  • nasturtium leaves from Union Square Grassman (the only thing green visible in the market on Monday)
  • the wine was an Austrian (Wagram) white, Roter Veltliner, Wimmer-Czerny 2016, from Astor Wines

  • one six and three quarter-pound smoked pork rack [Ger: Kassler, or Kasslerbraten, once roasted] from O. Ottomanelli and Sons on Bleecker Street in the West Village, trimmed by Joey Ottomanelli, rubbed with a mix of salt, pepper, and a little of both picante and dulce Spanish paprika, placed inside a large enameled cast iron dutch oven with 5 diced yellow onions from John D. Madura Farms and 4 diced garlic cloves from Quarton Farm, 5 or 6 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, 8 or 10 juniper berries, 6 cups of water and 2 cups of a decent red wine, covered with its lid (imperfectly, because of the size of the rack, so some tin foil had to be summoned to assist), cooked in a preheated oven 375° for about an hour, the cover removed and the pork continued cooking for another possibly another hour (I didn’t time it, but it took much longer than I had expected, so we have to rely on our own judgment next time) basting occasionally, until the internal temperature was around 160º, removed from the oven, the meat cut into chops, one rib each, and kept warm while a simple sauce was prepared, starting by transferring some of the cooking liquid to a smaller saucepan where, if necessary, it was first reduced, then stirred with a mix of about 4 tablespoons of water stirred with 2 tablespoons of arrowroot to bind it, the ribs served on pre-heated plates with some of the sauce on the top, the remainder poured into a footed glass sauceboat which was added to the table
  • a rich chutney prepared the day before with 2 quince that had been in the refrigerator for what should have been an unconscionable time (but which seems to have only made them more interesting) using this theKitchn.com recipe, incorporating a few dried Calabrian (Amantea) figs from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market (to make up for the fact that I had less quince than specified in the recipe), a red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, a Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, quince from S. & S.O. Produce, dried sweet cherries from Manhattan Fruit Exchange in the Chelsea Market, chopped candied ginger from Whole Foods Market (I didn’t have the fresh ginger the recipe asked for), and a local apple cider vinegar from Race Farm
  • prepared the day before, refrigerated, and then reheated for 12 to 15 minutes the next afternoon: a little over 2 pounds of russet potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, peeled, and thinly-sliced, tossed in a large bowl with a teaspoon of freshly-ground black pepper, a quarter teaspoon or so of freshly-ground nutmeg, 3 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, half of a cup of shaved fresh horseradish from holy Schmitt’s Horseradish (in Riverside, Long Island), and two and a half cups of Ronnybrook heavy cream, all arranged inside a buttered 3-quart enameled cast iron baking dish, the liquid pressed to submerge the potatoes completely, covered in aluminum foil and baked in a 400º oven for 25 minutes, the foil removed and the dish allowed to bake further, until the potatoes were tender and the top is golden, about another 50 minutes
  • just under a pound of Savoy cabbage from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, quartered, cored, sliced into one-half-inch ribbons, sautéed inside a medium antique heavy high-sided copper pot over medium heat in about a tablespoon of olive oil and a quarter cup of cold water, cooked for a few minutes, or until the cabbage had wilted slightly, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a little more than a teaspoon of cumin seed that had first been toasted inside a small cast iron pan, and a teaspoon of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, the cabbage stirred, cooked for a few more minutes, or until tender
  • the first wine with the main course was an Austrian (Burgenland) red, Blaufränkisch, Meinklang 2016, from Astor Wines
  • followed by a part of another Austrian (Carnuntum) red, Blaufränkisch, Markowitsch 2016

Although there’s no photo of it, there was a cheese course. The choices I had made while shopping at the Greenmarket were with German styles in mind.

  • two Alpine-style cow cheeses from Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, Connecticut: ‘Dairyere‘ (aged six months), and ‘Dairyere Reserve‘ aged for a year
  • slices of a sturdy Shewolf Bakery miche, reminiscent of a great German bread
  • the wine was the remainder of the Burgenland Blaufränkish enjoyed at the end of the main course
  • followed by a return to a white, still another Austrian (Weinviertel), Riesling ‘Falkenstein’ Dürnberg 2015, also from Astor Wines

After the cheese, we sipped a port-like wine with nuts and dried fruit.

  • dried Calabrian (Amantea) figs from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, and some almonds from Foragers Market on 8th Avenue
  • the wine was a California (Jackson Valley/Amador County) Port-style fortified wine, using traditional Portuguese varietals, Ana Diogo-Draper Amador County Doce + Forte 2016, from Naked Wines