We were entertaining guests from Berlin, one of whom hadn’t been to our apartment for dinner before, at least while we were there (we had exchanged apartments for a month). Neither meat nor pasta could be on the menu. I wanted to serve something which we would all appreciate, and which also would allow me to …
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cod and tomatoes baked on a bed of purple potatoes; rabe
The aura of New England cod. I think I’ve understood its emanation since at least the time I was cramming for a family trip to New England in the early 50’s, so when Glen Bickleman told me that the bucket of cod fillets he was displaying in his fish stall, caught out of eastern Long Island …
fried duck breast; sweet potato frites; cabbage; cheeses
Practice. I’m getting the hang of this cooking thing, even with the added complication of guests. I had cooked everything that appears on this plate many times before, although with a little variation each time, but it still seems to me like an accomplishment that I hadn’t done anything ahead of time, that I started …
culotte, ramp butter; fennel seed-roasted carrots; sprouts
Size didn’t really matter. Until the package had defrosted, there was no way to tell how many pieces of steak it contained, or, of course, how much each weighed. Those numbers aren’t all important however, at least until it’s time to put the dinner on the 2 plates, when questions of aesthetics and fair apportioning …
saddle of hare, game sauce, quince; roast squash; sprouts
The richest, gamiest game imaginable. Wild hare, two days in a row! Well it was already there, and for several reasons it seemed neither advisable nor possible to push back cooking our second ration of this noble meat to another day. We found 2 more pieces of shot, for a total of 4 between us. …
hare in cognac sauce; chutney; buckwheat risotto; cabbage
One Scottish hare. It turned out to be a 2-day feast, not necessarily because there was so much meat, but mostly because I was anxious to try to specifically prepare ‘saddle of hare’ (the phrase had always attracted me, like ‘haunch of venison’). For the saddle, see the next day’s post. But there definitely was …
marinated, breaded swordfish, potatoes; tardivo, balsamic
Dinner was good, very good. While we were enjoying it I thought to myself, surprisingly good, but if I had considered our routinely good experiences with the terrific fresh swordfish we can get in Manhattan, I couldn’t have been surprised. one beautiful 16.5 ounce swordfish steak from American Seafood Company halved, marinated on an ironstone platter …
smoked trout; venison steak; celeriac fries; leaved broccoli
Farmed game. Well, it’s not entirely an oxymoron. It was December 25th, Christmas, so the meal had to be at least a little special. Two forms of wild game would definitely fill the bill, I thought, and that’s what I went for, although without the “wild” part. Unless you fish for trout and hunt deer …
roasted: spiced lamb rack, potato, radicchio, various herbs
We don’t really celebrate Christmas, except culturally, which always means there’s a place for a special meal and a special wine. This was only the night before the night before Christmas, and so while it was a special meal and a special wine, the occasion was probably more that of the Sunday thing. We also …
lemon pork chop; fennel-roasted carrots; cabbage, juniper
A good December meal. two thick 12-ounce blade pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, rinsed, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper before being seared quickly in a heavy oval enameled cast-iron pan, then half of a large organic Whole Foods Market lemon squeezed over the top (after which the lemon was left in …