Category: Meals at home

grilled octopus, spicy cauliflower, wines

dinner, 6/26/11

I know I can get excited on this blog when things go well in the kitchen, but this time things went very well, and in spite of some less-than-propitious auguries, like still fighting a bad cold, and missing my deadline the night I had planned to do this meal.

I had headed for the Lobster Place on Saturday without any seafood choice in mind, but when I spotted some beautiful Spanish baby octopus in the shellfish area I just couldn’t pass them up.  I had never prepared octopus before, but Barry and I were big fans of octopada, and almost never missed a chance to order them when they were spotted on a menu.

The challenge was engaged once I returned home, but by the time I had decided what to do with them it appeared it was going to be too late to enjoy them that night.  We enjoyed a great inside “picnic” instead, one which was dominated by some extraordinary house-made culatello, and three excellent Italian cheeses, from Buon Italia across the hallway in Chelsea Market.

Meanwhile, since I didn’t want to leave the octopuses overnight without the help of some preservative, after dinner I placed the four little guys in a spicy marinade and returned them to the refrigerator.  Now I had plenty of time to figure out the rest of the menu and shop for the one ingredient (fresh basil) I needed for the contorno I chose the next day, as well as a lemon for the finished octopus.

I was a little scared;  Barry was scared.  But I was totally organized before I turned on the range below the large ribbed grill and a large deep pan, and the octopus turned out awesome, as did the cauliflower.   Also, my expectations for the seafood and vegetable pairing were fulfilled:  The match seemed inspired, even if it was at least partly merely a function of my love for cauliflower and the fact that I already had some cherry tomatoes on hand.

The wine pairing may not have been quite so ideal, even if a very good Italian rose had seemed like it would be spot on. Fortunately we were able to extend the pleasures of the meal longer than usual (it was a warm evening, and both octopus and cauliflower tasted even better as they reached room temperature);  that gave us the time to also try some delightful vinho verde leftover from a meal of a couple of days before.  I think the white worked better than the rose, although we’re definitely going to look into a vinho verde red.

  • baby octopus (3 oz. each) from Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, marinated overnight in garlic, oil, lemon, crushed dried japones peppers, and dried Italian oregano, then pan-grilled whole and seasoned, finished with Sorrento lemon from Eataly, oil and fresh oregano; served with flowerets of cauliflower from Manhattan Fruit Exchange sauteed in a pan in which garlic, crushed dried japones peppers, fennel and coriander seeds had been heated, the mix then braised with halved and seeded cherry tomatoes (from Manhattan Fruit Exchange) and finished with torn fresh basil leaves (from Eataly); and slices of a Demi-Baguette from Eataly.
  • wine:  Tuscan Rose, Castello di Ama Rosato 2010, from Eataly;  Portuguese Vinho Verde Vera 2010 (gorgeous label!), from Astor Wines

[image from Barry]

sea bass, spring onions, Russian kale

dinner, 6/11/11

I can’t say enough about the quality of the ingredients which went into this meal – or its success.  It was very easy to prepare:  I finished the onions and the kale mostly before putting the very beautiful lattice-marked, pink-fleshed fillets into the pan for just three minutes (two for the lightly-floured skin side, then one more for the other).

Although the bass was joined by what may not have been an obvious choice of vegetables, everything came together beautifully, the wine ennobling all.  Simply delicious.

  • small black sea bass fillets (Eastern Long Island waters) from Riverhead’s P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, quickly-sauteed then finished with a bit of oil, a squeeze of lemon and some chopped lovage;  accompanied by sweet, juicy spring onions, also from the Greenmarket (Muddy River Farm in Goshen, New York), which were sliced in half and rolled in oil and salt and pepper, then pan-grilled and finished with a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar; and small leaves of Red Russian Kale, from Lani’s Farm (again, the Greenmarket), wilted in oil which had first been heated with bruised whole garlic cloves, then finished with salt and pepper and a few dabs of oil.
  • Wine: French Chenin Blanc, a Saumur, Val de Loire Reserve des Vignerons 2010, from Astor Wines

spaghetti with ramps

dinner, 4/?/11

This is an extremely simple meal, but it’s very seasonal, and entirely dependent upon the geographic location of the kitchen, since ramps (wild leeks, Allium tricoccum) are available only for a few weeks in the early spring, and only in certain areas along the coast of eastern North America, from South Carolina into Canada.  They are also becoming extremely popular, the darlings of a growing food sub-cult, and that  is apparently exposing them to overharvesting.

  • Ligurian olives and Roberto’s grissini
  • spaghetti (superb Afeltra artisanal pasta from Gragnano, near Naples) tossed with sauteed ramps from the Greenmarket and seasoned with red chili flakes, then finished with a topping of homemade dried sourdough bread crumbs which had been heated in a bit of olive oil with a pinch of salt
  • wine: Sicilian white, Corvo Fiore 2009, from Eataly Wines

[because I had nothing current, the image used here is actually one used in this post describing a 4/24/10 meal]

steak, coriander oven fries, cherry tomatoes

dinner, 3/8/11

pasta pomodoro, flounder, mizuna, cheese

dinner, 3/7/11

After only a couple of outings, we’ve already come to think of this simple, quick technique for small fillets (here winter flounder, locally caught) as the holy grail of fish recipes:  A way to let the taste of fresh, mild-flavored wild-caught fish shine, with a minimum of distractions.  Last night it was especially superb, not least because the fish had probably been in the sea only the day before.

  • large-diameter ribbed tubular pasta, “Gigantoni,” (Setaro, from Buon Italia), combined with a simple cooked tomato sauce using canned San Marzano tomatoes, finished with basil;  served with spelt bread from Eataly
  • wine:  Italian, Cà di Pian Barbera D’Asti D.O.C. 2006, from La Spinetta
  • small flounder fillets from from Riverhead-based PE & DD Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, dried and then sprinkled with white wine vinegar and some salt, lightly-floured, sauteed in a little oil, removed from the pan, to which butter and lemon juice were then added, scraped together, gently warmed, and sprinkled with chopped parsley; accompanied by Japanese mustard greens (frisée-like Mizuna) from Lani’s Farm, also in the Greenmarket, which were wilted in a pan with oil which had first heated some chopped shallots, then finished with a bit of fresh oil
  • cheese:   an especially sweet slice of “Rupert,” an artisanal cow’s milk form from the Greenmarket stall of Vermont’s Consider Bardwell Farm (the maker describes it as “An aged, raw Jersey cow milk cheese inspired by great European Alpine cheeses like Gruyère and Comté.”);  accompanied by thin slices of spelt bread
  • wine:  Spanish, Naia 2008 Rueda (Verdejo) by Jorge Ordonez, from 67 Wine

support small local commercial fishermen

I regularly buy fish from the Union Square Greenmarket. I always leave with fish and a smile on my face, regardless of which of the stands I’ve visited.   One of the venders I find there is PE & DD Seafood.   Today, while looking for a link to a post once again mentioning this Riverhead family operation, I found this beautiful short documentary video on the food.curated site:  “Keeping Afloat w/PE & DD Seafood:  Why Supporting Small,  Local Commercial Fishermen is Important”  This time I walked away with tears – happy tears.

Keeping Afloat: Why Supporting Small, Local Commercial Fishermen is Important from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

cod with green sauce, broccoli

dinner, 2/21/11

I love broccoli – even “straight” – but I wanted something slightly more imaginative to go with a beautiful fresh cod fillet I had picked up at the Greenmarket.  I tend to prefer vegetables barely cooked, and I almost always avoid complex treatments, but when I looked inside my paper folder with the “broccoli” tab, I was instantly seduced by the ingredients listed in a Kyle Phillips recipe I had printed some time back.

Halfway through the preparation however I was taken aback when I saw that the “brew” appeared, to my eyes, overcooked, and had come to resemble the limp contorno found in authentic Italian cookery.  I shouldn’t have worried, and I should have remembered how good Italian vegetable preparation can be at its best:  The Broccoletti con Pan Grattato e Acciunghe was awesome, and I will certainly be doing it again.

  • cod fillet in green sauce (described by Mark Bittman as “a Basque staple”), that is, a seasoned fillet from Riverhead-based PE & DD Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, cooked slowly for maybe 10 to 12 minutes in a skillet with a generous amount of oil,  turned once halfway through, a handful of chopped parsley added at the time;  accompanied by broccoli, a beautiful, blue-bud sorta-Asian variety (“broccolini,” or  “baby broccoli,” which is actually cross between broccoli and Gai Lan, also known as Chinese Broccoli) from D&J Organic Farm, also in the Greenmarket, cooked with bread crumbs & anchovies (Broccoletti con Pan Grattato e Acciunghe)
  • wine:  Spanish, Naia 2008 Rueda (Verdejo) by Jorge Ordonez, from 67 Wine

a rainbow of glorious scallops

I spotted this very attractive display of still-in-the-shell Taylor Bay farmed scallops at my favorite seafood vendor this afternoon, The Lobster Place in Chelsea Market.    They’re not cheap, and certainly not as cheap as they would be back in Rhode Island or on the Cape, but I might have included the little ones in tonight’s dinner, had I not already picked up a few pounds of mussels.

They sure are pretty;  it’s nice to be reminded that the folks closest to our best food sources know how to display the produce.

grilled quail, red cabbage with chestnuts

dinner, 12/5/10

We both agreed that this simple entree was the best quail either of us had ever had, and the red cabbage/chestnut braise was an inspired accompaniment, even if the nuts were actually a serendipitous greenmarket find and the crucifer a refrigerator survivor, what remained of a head after some of it had been used in an earlier meal.

  • mixed olives from Eataly, with grissini (Roberto)
  • partially-boned Georgia quail from O. Ottomanelli & Sons Prime Meat Market on Bleecker Street, salted, sprinkled with crushed chilies, pan-grilled with sprigs of fresh thyme, finished with oil and lemon;  accompanied by red cabbage from an unrecorded Greenmarket purveyor, wilted with duck fat and cooked with a sweet white wine, then combined with “pullet” (the adjective my invention for the smallish fruit of a young tree) chestnuts from Red Jacket Orchards, also at the Greenmarket, which had been cooked briefly in bit more duck fat and then softened some in a a rich chicken stock, the two braised ingredients cooked together until the cabbage was very soft, and finished with a bit of cognac
  • wine:  California, David Bruce Pinot Noir 2002 Santa Cruz Mountains, the generous gift of a friend
  • black cherry goat’s milk ice cream from Patches of Star Dairy

The red cabbage and chestnut recipe is from Alice Waters’ “Chez Panisse Vegetables“, and that for the quail from “Italian Two Easy“.

pork chops, roots, cavalo nero

dinner, 11/29/10

I was in such a rush to get to the Greenmarket Wednesday before Thanksgiving that I forgot to bring my camera.  That means that I don’t have any notes for the vegetable’s farm sources (I normally take pictures of a stall’s sign to remember, once I get home, where things came from).  I can only say that I’m grateful for our area’s delayed full frost, since there was still a wonderful bounty of just about everything late harvest-y.

The roots gathered for this meal were terrific, the Sekt a delight, and the beautifully-cut (a rich layer of fat), very juicy Flying Pigs Farm pork chops were phenomenal!

  • grissini (Roberto)
  • wine:  German sparkling, from the Mosel (Ruwer), Eleonora Riesling Halbtrocken 2002 Kaseler Dominikanerberg (Kasel im Ruwertal) produced by Christoph von Nell, from a private tasting of wines distributed by Mosel Wine Merchant
  • pork chops from from the Flying Pigs people at the Greenmarket, seared, then oven-roasted with lemon;  accompanied by slices of roasted parsnips and celery root roasted in a hot oven and finished with chopped parsley;  and cavalo nero sauteed in oil in which whole bruised garlic had first been cooked lightly, finished with salt and pepper and a drizzle of oil
  • wine:  Spanish white, a Rueda, Shaya 2008 Verdejo old vines from 67 Wine