Batali’s good. To begin, the first course, insalata Caprese is a classic, certainly not my own creation, and, as it turned out, neither was the spaghetti. I really didn’t need a published recipe just to assemble a pasta dish with some very ripe Sun Gold tomatoes and a few odds and ends I had lying around the kitchen, or …
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garlic-onion-penne-chili-herb-tomato frittata, micro radish
Peppers aborted, then redeemed. We like hot peppers, and we can normally take the heat, but earlier this week one variety new to us turned out to be far more fiery than anything we had experienced before. Neither of us was able to finish a small appetizer plate of this pepper (something like a Padron or Shishito), which I had served as an appetizer for …
hake, tomato, bronze fennel; cucumber; tomato and chicory
The colors don’t stop, and still they only begin to reflect the complexity of the flavors. Last night I also invited a new vegetable to the table. A spiny cucumber with a tail, and a very tasty cucumber it is. Before I sautéed it I tasted it raw, and it was delicious, but I wanted to treat it …
grilled chorizo; black beans with oregano; tomatillo salsa
Spicy. I wanted a sausage to accompany the beans I had cooked the night before, and the only sausage I had on hand was a package of frozen chorizo. I should probably have used it as part of a composed dish, since these links were far more spicy (really hot!) than I expected of a …
bacon, eggs, crusty bread, 2 salts, 2 peppers, 6 herbs, etc.
And no toast! I think I went a little overboard with the condiments this time. It was supposed to be just bacon and eggs, but I think I was inspired by a new (well, actually, antique) master salt I had just brought home and I went looking for a second kind of salt to serve with …
marinated swordfish, micro beet; tomato-mint cauliflower
Neither of us has ever been to Sicily, but we often visit the ancient island at dinner, both the food and the wine. I’m not sure whether it’s the very interesting choices of unfamiliar wines or the cosmopolitan Mediterranean food culture that is the operative factor in arranging these meals, but we try to include both together. For …
oregano/lemon-grilled squid; grilled eggplant, milkweed
I’ve made the Mario Batali’s recipe for grilled eggplant (using all kinds of eggplant) something of a classic in our kitchen; and this alternative to using an oven in the preparing small squid, bodies and tentacles (a lot of tentacles in this instance) is approaching the same status. They’re both delicious, and each of the formulas is open to variations. three …
artichoke/ricotta-filled ravioli with garlic, tomato, milkweed
This is a formula for an almost an instant dinner, and it never has to be an exact repeat, thanks to the availability of one or another form of good fresh pasta (frozen, handily little more than an arms distance from the pot), a few fantastic cherry tomatoes (which aren’t fussy/time sensitive), and the possibility of …
heirloom, greens; bass, oxalis; agretti; squash, milkweed
Hyperbole. Yes, this will sound like hyperbole, but, supported by the fallibility of memory, I mean it: This was the best fish I have ever tasted. Note: along with everything else it had going for it, there was just the right amount of crustiness to the bass when it arrived on the plates. The meal began with what …
mackerel, Sicilian caper-tomato salsa; okra sauté with chili
Once again, a great fish, and a superb recipe, this pan-grilled mackerel manages to taste a little different each time I prepare it, and this one may have been the most delicious ever. The only substantive difference I brought to it was the late addition of milkweed buds. I think the tomatoes really were ‘The …