redacted recipes

Gotta Try That! Serendipitous Taste of Spring

Don't you love it when you're browsing food blogs, see something you'd like to make, and realize you have all of the ingredients on hand? That's exactly what happened to me yesterday as I was wandering through Lydia's archives at The Perfect Pantry. There it was: a recipe for a simple asparagus tart in puff pastry. Even better, Lydia recommends a specific type of frozen puff pastry and it's the only brand I buy! Win!

This tart is a Martha Stewart Living recipe and man, is it good! So easy to make, so rich-tasting, so pretty. Thanks, Lydia!

Asparagus Gruyere Tart
from Everyday Food - Great fast Food, by Martha Stewart Living Magazine

1 sheet frozen puff pastry
2 cups (approx. 5-1/2 oz) gruyere, Emmental or swiss cheese, shredded
1-1/2 pounds medium asparagus
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. On a floured surface, roll pastry into a 16 x 10 inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place the pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife score the dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. Using a fork, pierce the dough inside the markings at half-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Remove the pastry shell from the oven, and sprinkle with cheese. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over the cheese, alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

This post goes out to Bookmarked Recipes, a weekly event hosted by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Goat Cheese Terrine

The wonderful Susan of Food Blogga is hosting an event for the month of May called Beautiful Bones, Susan wants us to remember that all women run the risk of developing osteoporosis and encourages us to take steps to protect our bones at every age.

Creamy-style goat cheeses, such as chevre, have 20% fewer calories than cow's milk cream cheeses, while offering the same amount of protein and twice the amount of calcium. Goat cheese is also easier to digest than many other cheeses, because of the structure of its component fats, which are generally small molecules, made up of short-chain fatty acids. Their small size makes them easier to break down and digest than the larger-chain fats of cow's milk and cheese.

This calcium-rich and delicious terrine is perfect with good bread and wine. It's also pretty, easy to make ahead of time, and freezes well. You can wow guests by serving slices on a plate for a first course, or just by setting the whole terrine out with other cocktail nibbles.

Goat Cheese Terrine

1/4 cup homemade or prepared basil pesto
1/4 cup finely chopped roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons tapenade
20 oz soft mild goat cheese, softened to room temperature (2 cups)
Fresh basil leaves, for garnishing

Special equipment: a 2 1/4-cup loaf pan (5 3/4 by 3 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches)

Drain the pesto in a small fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl 15 minutes, reserve the excess oil.

Line the pan with parchment paper, by cutting two rectangles-- 1 long piece to line the bottom and the narrow ends and another piece to line the bottom and wide ends, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Spread about one fourth of the chevre evenly over bottom of the pan and top with the pesto, spreading it gently and evenly. Drop another 1/2 cup of chevre by tablespoons over the pesto and spread gently to completely cover the pesto layer. Add the roasted peppers and  another 1/2 cup chevre, in the same manner. Then add the tapanade and the remaining chevre.

Fold the overhanging parchment paper over the top of the chevre and then wrap the pan in plastic and chill overnight, or for at least 8 hours.

When you're ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap and unfold the parchment paper. Invert the terrine onto a serving plate, and then peel off the parchment strips. Let the terrine stand at room temperature 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and then, if you're feeling fancy, a swirl of the reserved pesto oil on the plate. Serve with good bread and crackers.

 

Fresh, Simple and Delicious

I love this time of year at the Greenmarket. Saturday we snagged tiny little potatoes, asparagus, a bunch of miniscule radishes and the freshest mesclun mix-- all locally grown.

Dinner was easy and mainly eaten with our hands. We layered sliced radishes on good bread with butter;  roasted the asparagus spears and those darling potatoes with olive oil, lots of fresh lemon thyme and a sprinkling of fleur de sel. The warm potatoes went on top of the baby greens with a little lemon juice. Simple and delicious.

Recently Deeba of Passionate About Baking nominated me for an Excellence Award. Thank you, Deeba for such an honor! here are my own nominations:

Tammy at FOOD ON THE FOOD for always making me smile and for influencing me to join a CSA this year with her wonderful narratives about The Farmer (and his produce).

Ann of A Chicken In Every Granny Cart for her urban observations, stunning photos, and mouth-watering creations.

Adele at Tales of The Basil Queen where the writing is so rich that photos are superfluous.

Jessie at Cakespy who knocks me out with her anthropomorphic pastries.

And finally, to the Heart of the Matter founders, Joanna, Ilva, and Michelle, for more than a year's worth of healthy recipes.

Linguine With Fresh Clams

Back when I was young and just starting out on my own one of the first dishes I learned to make was pasta with white clam sauce-- using canned clams. It was easy, inexpensive, and (to my unsophisticated palate) exciting and unusual. You probably know the recipe-- saute some garlic in olive oil, add fresh chopped parsley, a little  white wine, a can of clams with juice, and toss with hot pasta. To my shame, I think I plopped a can of parmesan cheese onto the table, too.

I've gotten a little pickier about seafood in the intervening years (and there have been a lot of years since then!), and now I wouldn't think of making the dish without fresh clams. It's still a ridiculously easy recipe, though.

Linguine With Fresh Clams
serves 4 - 6

1 pound linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup bottled clam stock
1½ pounds littleneck clams, scrubbed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Start the pasta cooking once you have prepped all of your ingredients.

Heat the oil in a medium stockpot over high heat and add garlic, cooking for about a minute. Add the crushed red pepper and cook for a few seconds. Add white wine and clam stock and cook until the mixture reduces by half, about 3 minutes.

Add the clams, cover the pot and cook until the clams open, discarding any that remain closed. Remove the clams with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Bring the liquid that the clams have cooked in to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the pasta and parsley. Return the clams to the pasta and serve.

PS/ This post is retroactively submitted to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast. Thanks for the nudge, Ruth!

The Omnivore's Delight

Ann and I are shameless omnivores. There are very few things we won't try. Ann draws the line at black pudding and haggis; I still suffer from occasional aesthetic panic about shellfish. This happens less frequently the older I get, but when it does the gastronomical renaissance man in me regresses to become the squeamish, sensitive child who gazed in horror at the humble mussel and saw something that looked like the diseased expectoration of a consumptive squid.

But one thing neither of us has any qualms about is a solid chunk of red-blooded, four-legged animal flesh. We have every respect for vegetarianism but sometimes we just want to get some juice-oozing meat between our teeth.

Last night I dropped in at the Grand Central Market and picked up a pair of thick New York Strip steaks. While I was there some plump little mushrooms called to me and that was that; I had dinner sorted. Steak in creamy mushroom sauce with baked spuds and salad. Simple yet effective, like the first Ramones album or a young Mike Tyson. Here's what I did for the two of us.

Steak with Mushroom Sauce
serves 2

2 good, thick steaks (New York strip, sirloin, anything nicely marbled and about an inch and a half thick)
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Ground black pepper

Sauce

8oz mixed wild mushrooms, sliced (crimini, shitake, portobello... whatever you fancy)
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup of reduced beef stock
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots
1 oz butter
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to about 400. Use a griddle pan to cook the steaks if you have one, otherwise a regular skillet will do. Put it on full heat and leave it until it is terrifyingly hot. You want that pan hot enough to set off your smoke alarm, intimidate your neighbours and bring back terrible memories of Chernobyl. While it's reaching meltdown, generously sprinkle your steaks with coarse salt and ground pepper, press that in a bit and then lightly rub them with just a little olive oil. Slap 'em into the pan, then open the doors and windows and don breathing apparatus as your kitchen fills with smoke. Don't worry, you're not going to be searing flesh for long. Two minutes a side and that's it. Don't pierce the steaks while this is going on, and use tongs or a spatula to turn them. Don't move them around except to flip them that one time or to swivel them through 90 degrees if you're using a griddle and you want the pleasing traditional cross-hatched pattern.

Transfer the steaks to a roasting grill over a baking tray and put them on the middle shelf of the oven. You'll want to leave them there for about ten minutes if you like it rare, maybe 15 for medium-rare, 20 for medium. You'll need to know your own oven for this. While they're finishing, make the sauce as follows.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the shallots and mushrooms until just tender, about 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle flour into the pan and quickly stir it in. Add the wine and the cream and blend. Reduce for about two minutes. Add the stock and the Worcestershire sauce and blend. Add salt and pepper to taste then keep on a low simmer while the steak finishes and the sauce thickens. Shouldn't take more than ten minutes at the very outside.

Pour a little of the sauce over each steak and serve it with whatever takes your fancy. As I mentioned, I went for baked potatoes with sour cream and a simple green salad with thinly-sliced red onion and mustard dressing.  Obviously a full-bodied red was involved as well. When it comes to steak, some traditions should not be messed with.

Greenmarket Pleasures

Spring seems to have finally arrived and the Greenmarket gets more interesting every Saturday. We were delighted to find kale and collard tops on offer from Garden of Eve (suppliers to the CSA we've joined). They look pretty in a vase, don't they?

They're also delicious to eat. Slightly bitter, they taste like a cross between broccoli and escarole. Discard the thicker woody stems and saute them quickly in olive oil for a fabulous side dish.

Garden of Eve also had eggs on offer, which were just too beautiful not to photograph.

So Retro

Sometimes you just have to have an old favorite and that's how I was feeling this weekend when I turned to Jack and said, "I need pineapple rings and maraschino cherries right away." (Before I forget, I just want to say that Jack is fabulous about last minute runs to the store and this is no small thing, as we live on the sixth floor of a walk-up apartment building. Aren't I lucky?)

For some reason I woke up on Sunday thinking about a particular recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake. It's one a friend once made for me and which I really think is the tastiest ever. The secret is melting butter with butterscotch chips instead of the usual brown sugar, which creates an amazingly gooey topping with little bits of crunchy butterscotch all around the pineapple.

As you can see, we were unable to get a photo that doesn't look as if it was featured in a Nixon-era cookbook. We tried, believe me, and I'm convinced something funny was going on. At any rate, we ended up with a retro cake and a retro-looking photo no matter how many frames we took (with two different cameras!).

This cake is well-suited for a cast-iron skillet.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1/2 package of butterscotch chips
1/3 stick butter
1 can pineapple rings in juice
maraschino cherries (as many as pineapple slices used)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 whole eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup pineapple juice (add milk as needed to make 3/4 cup total liquid)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Drain the can of pineapple rings, saving the juice.

Place the butter and butterscotch chips in a cast iron skillet and melt. Arrange whole pineapple rings and cherries (with cherries in centers of the rings) over the butterscotch in pan. If you have left-over pineapple rings cut them in half and then line the sides of the pan with them (standing up).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Continue creaming with a mixer, adding eggs, one at a time, and stirring until mixture is lemon colored. Add the vanilla and mix well. With the mixer running, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk-liquid mixture. Beat on medium speed for three minutes. Pour batter into the pan being careful not to disturb the pineapples and cherries.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a clean toothpick or butter knife inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to stand for a few minutes to set and then turn it upside down onto a serving dish. Serve while still warm, although it's fine at any temperature--and really, really nice for breakfast, to my shame!

Gotta Try That! Green Beans and Beets with Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette

Last week I had a bag of green beans in my vegetable crisper and no thoughts about what to do with them, Naturally I started wandering around in food blog land and found this lovely recipe for green beans with a lemon mustard dressing over at From the kitchen of a captious vegetarian. As I also had a couple of beets rolling around in the crisper (left over from my experiments with Beet Risotto) I was very pleased to see that the captious vegetarian sometimes substitutes beets for green beans in this recipe. A green bean and beet salad was obviously meant to be.

Interestingly, the captious vegetarian notes that, while she loves the dish, she's gotten so-so reviews on it. I honestly don't see why-- the dressing perfectly compliments both the green beans and the beets, and the way the thin slices of onion are prepped makes them almost taste pickled. It's perfect in my book. Thanks to the captious vegetarian for the inspiration and recipe!

Green Beans and Beets with Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette
serves 4 as a starter

1 small red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
1/4 tsp salt (too much?)
pinch freshly milled black pepper
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 pound of green beans, trimmed
1 medium-sized beet

Scrub the beet, cut it into quarters, and wrap it loosely in foil. Roast in the oven at 450F for about 30  minutes, or until it is tender.

Place the thinly sliced onion in a bowl and cover the slices with boiling water. Let sit about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch the green beans in boiling water (about 4 minutes) and then plunge them into cold water.

Drain the onions and toss them with the salt, pepper and vinegar.

When the beet quarters are cool enough to handle, remove the skin and cut each quarter into thin slices.

Make the vinaigrette, whisking all of the ingredients together:

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Drain the onions once again, squeezing them dry. Toss half of the onions with the green beans and half of them with the beet slices. Assemble the salad by placing the green beans and sliced beets on a platter.  Pour the dressing over the top and let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving.

Heart of the Matter: Healthy Brunch

Mushrooms contain so much flavor it's easy to forget that they're good for you. In fact, I never think of them as healthy because I associate them with rich complicated dishes, like Turkey Tetrazzini or Coquilles Saint Jacques, where their strong distinctive flavor enhances the other ingredients. Mushrooms don't have to be relegated to supporting roles, though, as they are delicious on their own.

It turns out that mushrooms are, in fact, damned good for you. They're an excellent source of phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and selenium (often lacking in highly processed food).  Mushrooms are also particularly rich source of riboflavin: one portobello mushroom supplies nearly one-third of the daily recommended value, while a serving of white or crimini mushrooms supply about one-quarter of what we need daily. Mushrooms are high in fiber, contain virtually no fat or cholesterol, and are one of the best plant-based sources of niacin.

So forget about burying mushrooms in cream, butter and pasta and let them play a starring role. They'll reward you with great flavor and with the satisfaction of knowing you've done your body some good.

Roasted Mushroom Breakfast Bruschetta
serves  4

2 large portobello mushrooms, cut in half and sliced
2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
4 slices of sourdough bread
1 garlic clove, cut in half
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Lightly oil a large baking sheet. Toss the sliced mushrooms with the olive oil and oregano and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for about 20 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Check on them frequently, shaking the pan to make sure they roast evenly. Remove from the oven and set aside, covering with foil to keep them warm.

Bring about 3 inches of water to a high simmer in a large skillet.

Meanwhile, lightly toast the slices of bread and then rub one side of each slice with the garlic halves. Place each slice of bread on a plate.

When the water is simmering nicely, break the eggs one at a time into a ramekin or coffee cup and then slide the egg gently into the simmering water. Let them *poach about 2 minutes for runny yolks-- longer if you are so inclined. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and let the water run off before gently transferring them to the top of the mushroom bruschetta.

This recipe goes out to Joanna, of Joanna's Food, who is hosting this month's Heart of the Matter and needs ideas for healthy weekend brunches to feed herself and her family.

*If you have a fear of poaching eggs, this link may help!

Studiofeast II: Underground, Overground

After the great time we had at last month's Studiofeast with Ilan Hall, we were very keen to repeat the experience. This time, however, we invited a couple of guests: Mike, a work colleague of mine who is another fan of interesting eat-out experiences, and Zenchef, known to many of you from his warm, witty and wonderful blog, "Chefs Gone Wild".

We met in one of our favourite Williamsburg bars, the Brooklyn Ale House. We love this place because in the ten or eleven years we've been going there pretty much the only thing that's changed is the dodgy artwork on the walls. There are always several regulars at the bar, there's a reasonable selection of beers on tap as well as specials in the cask, the jukebox is good and at weekends the bagels are free. Dogs often roam the peanut-shell-strewn floor looking for attention and, it has to be noted, a carelessly low-hung coat to cock a leg against. Only the unwary put their coats over the back of the bar chairs here.

Once again we turned up at the secret location promptly at 8:00 having stopped en route to buy a selection of wines from The Bottle Shoppe on Bedford Avenue. Co-organiser Mike Lee remembered us from last time, which was nice, and after a brief chat with him we settled ourselves at the end of a table. As the place slowly filled up we sampled the first of our wines: a light and silky-smooth Momokawa Ruby sake selected by Mike, who is something of a Japanese cuisine afficionado. There were quite a number of people we recognised from the last event, which made this pre-prandial part of the evening even more fun than last time. The atmosphere at Studiofeast really is very warm and sociable. Everyone just seems so pleased to be part of it and eager to talk and share with friends and strangers alike. You can get a sense of the event (and what the chefs were up to) here.

At around 8:45 the hors d'ouevres appeared. We were treated to three different varieties which we accompanied with a pleasantly crisp, fruity 2006 Botalcura El Delirio Chardonnay Viognier. The Isleford Crab Rolls turned out not to be rolls at all - we suspect a last-minute supply issue here - but consisted of salty, citrusy crabmeat over thickly-sliced bread triangles. Next came dill-dressed gravlax over thin rectangles of rye bread. Very simple, but tasty. The last of the trio was everyone's favourite: Devils Eggs. These were not the spicy little things we were expecting (as in Deviled Eggs) but simple halves of boiled egg with light touches of garlic, salt and cheese. The yolks were just cooked, avoiding the dryness of the typical hard boiled egg. I would love to show you some pictures of these creations (and the subsequent courses) but for some mysterious reason my already shaky abilities with the camera completely deserted me this time. Apologies for that; you'll just have to take my word for the fact that it looked good as well as tasting good!

Next came the first course: a salad comprising asparagus, morels, leafy greens and candied pork with a sauce Gribiche dressing. We paired this with a 2006 Wyatt Pinot Noir which was a fairly classic medium-bodied example of the breed with a lovely, characteristic brick red tone. The salad featured watercress which had not had the large stalks trimmed away; an unusual idea that we had some doubts about but which, surprisingly, worked very well. The slight bitterness of the stalks made a good contrast with the highlight of the dish: the candied pork. These meaty little nuggets were bursting with sweetness yet not so much that the flavour of the meat was lost. The combination of the leaves and stalks, the woodsy earthiness of the morels and the mild tang of the dressing made a whole that was definitely more than the sum of its parts.

I think it was early during the serving of the salad course that we happened to notice a vital stage in the preparation of the entree. Even in a crowded room it's hard to miss a whole roasted goat on a spit being carried through to the kitchen. Yes, those crazy Studiofeasters had really taken underground dining to the edge this time -  the edge of the roof, to be precise. Underground dining with overground cooking - they'd roasted the beast right out there in full view of neighbouring buildings, passing subway trains and, no doubt, flocks of worried pigeons. Later in the evening Mike took us up to the roof to show us the huge grill, and told us how they'd spent a few anxious hours hoping the local Fire Department didn't think there was anything unusual about a thick plume of smoke rising into the air above the building. Well, the FDNY either didn't notice or didn't care, and as a result we all got to enjoy succulent slices of the roof-roast, accompanied by the most deliciously salty pebble-sized potatoes, Vidalia onions and hunks of curry corn bread topped with a savoury, garlicky butter.

We paired this with a wine provided by the Zenman - a Mocali Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2001 - which was just perfect for the dish. A big-bodied, dirty-minded number, this had a deep black fruitiness laced with just a hint of pine forest floor. Just what you need for roast meat and potatoes!

It would have been a mistake for this meal to end with a heavy-hitter of a dessert and it didn't: Monica Glass had created a simple layered carrot cake with chocolate, hazelnuts and cream cheese mousse. We paired this (and the petits fours which followed) with an Otima Port. This is not a heavy, rich port so it worked well with the relatively light dessert.

Our second Studiofeast experience was every bit as enjoyable as the first and it was great to meet Zenchef. Do check out his report of the occasion, which features the only two remotely useable photos we took. Zenchef doesn't look that blurred in real life, even after half a dozen glasses of wine!