Dinner! 2012

[SobaAddict70]

Continuing The Year of Cooking Seasonally project, a mostly Greenmarket dinner last night (chanterelles and prosciutto were bought at Eataly):

"Pork and beans"

Wax beans cooked in olive oil with rocambole garlic, parsley and lemon, with prosciutto cotto di Parma.

Rocambole garlic is an heirloom variety of garlic, with larger, fatter cloves and a sharper, spicier taste. Normally, garlic bulbs have from ten to twelve cloves per bulb. Rocamboles have from six to eight cloves per bulb. As you can imagine, one clove goes a long way, and they're expensive. One vendor was selling them at $1.50 per bulb at USGM. I used a single clove for all three dishes pictured in this post.

Sucrine, cremini and chanterelle salad

Sucrine is a French heirloom variety of lettuce known for its succulent sweetness and crisp texture. Substitute romaine lettuce if unavailable.

The creminis and chanterelles were sautéed in unsalted butter, along with rocambole garlic, sea salt and black pepper; dressed in lemon juice and chopped parsley; then tossed with chopped sucrine lettuce and finished with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Stufato di verdure, fresh carrot pasta

This version contains Spanish onion, rocambole garlic, two types of summer squash, Jersey tomatoes, Swiss chard and wax beans, and a couple of anchovy fillets. Same recipe as the one on the blog: http://kitchenseasons.com/2012/06/08/stufato-di-verdure/

Carrot pasta from Knoll Krest Farm at USGM.

[mm84321]

Where did you get the sucrine?

[SobaAddict70]

Where did you get the sucrine?

From Rick Bishop's stand at USGM (Union Square Greenmarket).

He was selling them for $16 a pound. I bought a little over half a pound's worth and will be using it for a few dinners this week.

===========================

Tonight's menu is:

Mussels, croutons, poached farm egg, sucrine lettuce

Parmigiana di melanzane (eggplant parmigiana)

More later.

Edited July 16, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[mm84321]

Thanks. I've been looking for some.

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks. I've been looking for some.

I'm guessing that it's not one of those things that sells out early.

I didn't show up until 4 pm on Saturday and he still had quite a bit to spare. Should be available from now through early September.

[pimpolho]

The zucchini is blanched for maybe 15-20 seconds, refreshed, then applied to the fish. The turbot was vacuum sealed and cooked sous vide.

Thank you for the kind words. I do cook like this at home. Home is where I do all of my cooking.

humm will the zuchini do anything other than aspect ? (by the way it looks amazing)...how did the fish ended? I tested yesterday sole sous vide 15 min @57ºc and it ended to mushi ( i applied min vaccum) here people prefer charcoal grilled..

[mm84321]

humm will the zuchini do anything other than aspect ? (by the way it looks amazing)...how did the fish ended? I tested yesterday sole sous vide 15 min @57ºc and it ended to mushi ( i applied min vaccum) here people prefer charcoal grilled..

The zucchini doesn't add much to the fish, in terms of flavor. It's more of a decorative thing. Turbot is a nice fish cooked sous vide. For dover sole, I've had good results at 85ºC for 8 minutes.

Grilled monkfish for tonight.

[patrickamory]

Mr Holloway we own a jaccard (and vacuum chamber), but never use it. Do you find it improves marinades substantially?

mm84321 it's rare to see a cooked monkfish so accurately evoking the live animal.

Chana chaat for the hot weather.

First the chaat masala, ready to be ground (everything except black salt, garam masala, amchoor powder and cayenne):

And here's the chana chaat:

[SobaAddict70]

Oven-roasted mussels and heirloom tomatoes, with poached farm egg and sucrine lettuce

You can't see it, but the mussels are resting on top of some crostini. The mussels were roasted with: 1 diced heirloom tomato, 1 thinly sliced rocambole garlic clove, olive oil, white wine, sea salt, black pepper and minced onion flowers. Roast for 10 minutes at 400 F.

Onion flowers can be subbed in for regular onions and used whereever you want a hint of onion flavor.

Parmigiana di melanzane

This version DOES NOT contain breaded eggplant.

Recipe here: http://memoriediangelina.blogspot.com/2009/07/parmigiana-di-melanzane.html

[Mr Holloway]

Rotuts- Yes, that was my wife's plate, all the fatty pieces went on the cooks plate

Patrickamory-Just started using the jaccard, but I really like the way it worked everything in the meat.

It turned out very tender with a ton of flavour

Excellent pic of the spices

SobaAddict70-Both meals look amazing

Shane

[SobaAddict70]

Mr. Holloway -- thanks, but the oven-roasted mussels was an appetizer. thank you for the kind words though.

Tonight's menu is:

???? bruschetta -- not quite sure yet what it will be, as I'm playing around with a couple of ideas in my mind. although when you think about it, sometimes classic is best.

Spaghetti alla norma -- I have all of the ingredients on hand, as a result of making the parmigiana last night. I overestimated the amount of eggplant I'd need for the parmigiana; consequently, I have a bowl of sliced eggplant in the fridge that's already been salted and patted dry, as well as extra tomato sauce that didn't go into the parmigiana. this version won't have ricotta salata though, as I have some regular ricotta that needs to get used up.

There may be a contorno as well. Depends on feel.

There IS quite a bit of eggplant parm leftover that I'm going to have for dinner tomorrow and possibly for Saturday breakfast if it lasts that long. The flavors develop marvelously after a day or two; I can't wait.

More later.

Edited July 17, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[rotuts]

Ah! Mr. Holloway, I finally get it. I didnt quite understand the Pork Pic initially. I see now thats a jumble of PorkLoinCutlets! i thought it was a solid piece.

interesting way to use the jaccard. Makes a great deal of sense now!

[kayb]

mm84321, thanks for the carrot directions. I do them in a similar manner, with coriander, although I don't use the parchment. The combo of cinnamon and basil intrigues me!

[mm84321]

mm84321 it's rare to see a cooked monkfish so accurately evoking the live animal.

Hm, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. It's a pretty darn ugly fish, but when cooked right, it's delicious. This is the first time I cooked a whole tail, on the bone, and it was really wonderful. Had some leftover with a salad tonight.

[SobaAddict70]

mm -- I'll file that idea away for the future. thanks for the inspiration.

Chickpea and heirloom tomato bruschetta

A riff on Mario Batali's white bean bruschetta which originated when he was the chef and owner of Pó Restaurant, the precursor to his flagship, Babbo.

This is addictive and simple: 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas, 1 diced heirloom tomato, 1 minced rocambole garlic clove, 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and red pepper flakes to taste, chiffonade of basil and/or mint. Combine all ingredients and spoon atop crostini or sliced toasted Italian bread. Can be made a couple of hours in advance and refrigerated to let flavors meld.

Spaghetti alla norma

Very simple pasta dish that consists of fried eggplant, homemade tomato sauce (1 can crushed San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove, sea salt and black pepper to taste, basil) and cooked spaghetti. This typically has grated ricotta salata cheese on top, but I had to use Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese instead.

[rod rock]

Black bass with garlic and fava beans

Your food is always nice decorated, and your style is noticeable at first sight. Very nice!

[Anna N]

Inspired by Michaela's blog, I decided to make myself an open face pickled herring sandwich as an appetizer. Consisting of bread spread with seasoned goose fat and topped with pickled herring, diced red onion and crispy fried onion, it turned out to be filling enough that dinner never did happen.

[MikeHartnett]

Butternut squash with tahini yogurt sauce and limes, from Plenty by Ottolenghi

[weinoo]

Shrimp, grits and corn off the cob...

[Anna N]

Leftover duck breast on a bed of buttered spinach.

Don't know if I had a brain wave or if I learned this somewhere else and had forgotten but for a small amount of spinach an orange juicer does a fine job of squeezing all the water out of the spinach.

[Kerry Beal]

From Recipes that Rock 2011 - Spicy Garlicy Cashew Chicken.

[patrickamory]

Tasty looking smørrebrød Anna!

[Mjx]

. . . I decided to make myself an open face pickled herring sandwich as an appetizer. Consisting of bread spread with seasoned goose fat and topped with pickled herring, diced red onion and crispy fried onion, it turned out to be filling enough that dinner never did happen.

The goose fat is a brilliant idea!

[mm84321]

Butter Poached Lobster, Tomato Pain Perdu, Celery, and "Russian Dressing"

[C. sapidus]

Kerry – I added that chicken recipe to my ever-growing list.

mm84321 – “Very pretty”

Stir-fried salmon grapao - with home-grown holy basil, Thai basil, bird chiles, banana chiles, and slivered lime leaves, plus shallots, garlic, black soy sauce, and fish sauce. Served with jasmine rice and salad.

Edited July 20, 2012 by C. sapidus (log)