Cooking with Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden

[blue_dolphin]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 Thanks for sharing your experience with this. I still think I might give it a go since our tastes are not necessarily identical.  I am especially enamoured of James Beard’s iconic onion sandwich and one of the options for using this mayo is with spring onions to make the sandwich. 

 

I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts if you try it.  It wasn't bad at all.   I'm certainly not binning it and I expect it may improve on sitting a bit longer.   Just didn't quite knock my socks off today.

[Anna N]

21 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts if you try it.  It wasn't bad at all.   I'm certainly not binning it and I expect it may improve on sitting a bit longer.   Just didn't quite knock my socks off today.

Will have to wait until I can get some basil and mint but they are on my shopping list as of now. If I can just remember why they are on my shopping list we will be good to go. 

[liamsaunt]

Corn, tomatoes, and clams on grilled bread, fork and knife style, p. 230

 

The corn was from my freezer, but still sweet. I added lots of chili flakes (he says to taste), and put the bread on the side rather than under the clams and broth, because I like some crispiness.  Everyone loved this fast and easy dinner.

 

[blue_dolphin]

That looks amazing, @liamsaunt!  

 

I picked up some nice beets with fresh greens at the local farmers market:

 

So today, I made the Roasted Beets, Avocado & Sunflower Seeds,  p 134.  I subbed toasted slivered almonds for the sunflower seeds.  Had a mix of red, gold and candy beets but the red ones turned the others pink on the outside.

This is an interesting cross between a warm side dish and a salad.  The beet greens get sautéed in olive oil, then marinated with vinegar along with the warm beets.  I added a sprinkle of feta because I thought it needed a little something and didn't want to turn the avocado to mush by mixing too much more.

Edited January 15, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Okanagancook]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Corn, tomatoes, and clams on grilled bread, fork and knife style, p. 230

 

The corn was from my freezer, but still sweet. I added lots of chili flakes (he says to taste), and put the bread on the side rather than under the clams and broth, because I like some crispiness.  Everyone loved this fast and easy dinner.

 

Now THAT is an inviting dish.  The broth looks to be the perfect consistency.

[liamsaunt]

I needed a cabbage to make slaw for a fish sandwich the other night, and the only cabbage in the grocery was a monster, weighing in at 7.5 lbs.  I might end up making all of the cabbage recipes in the book to use it up!  I started  by making a pot of comforting cabbage, onion, and farro soup (page 337).  That took care of one pound of the cabbage anyway.  It does not look like much but the flavor is very appealing--sweet cabbage, nutty farro, and robust chicken stock.  Should make for a couple of tasty desk lunches this week.

 

[gfweb]

Looks like the dish in the photo is broccolini or rabe, but the recipe calls for broccoli.

 

I broiled up some broccoli florets...not great not terrible. I'll skip this dish until I get some rabe.

 

[blue_dolphin]

A version of the Rigatoni with Broccoli and Sausage from Six Seasons p 179.  

Rigatoni isn't my favorite pasta shape so I substituted cavatappi. Also, I was a little short on the broccoli so I sliced up the leaves off a head of cauliflower to make up the difference.

For this dish, I made Instant Pot ricotta yesterday and whipped up the Whipped Ricotta p 37 - ricotta blended with olive oil, salt & pepper.  I wasn't sure about this.  Tasted on it's own, it seemed to take the nice fresh cheese and make it heavy and tasting of olive oil but just a little of it and the pasta water make a lovely creamy sauce.  

I enjoyed it.  My first choice for a broccoli-sausage pasta would be to omit the cream but I appreciate the variety.

 

[blue_dolphin]

Raw "Couscous" Cauliflower with Almonds, Dried Cherries & Sumac from Six Seasons p 186.

There's plenty of texture going on here - crunchy toasted nuts, chewy dried cherries, fresh greens and cauliflower that really does have a couscous-like texture. A lot of flavor, too, much of it sour - tart dried cherries, red wine vinegar and sumac. I'm usually adding acid to things but this was a bit sour for me.  I had it as a main course, though I can see it working as a bracing side with other dishes. Maybe I was off in measuring out the vinegar? If I make it again, I'll drain the vinegar from the cherries and hold some of it back instead of tossing it all in along with the cherries.

[blue_dolphin]

As you can see from these photos, it's peak season here from cauliflower and other Brassicas

 

 

I went with the basic white.  The one I picked was about average sized from this pile and weighed ~ 4.5 lbs.  I used a lot of the fresh leaves in the "couscous" I posted just above.

 

I used the big center slabs to make a version of the Cauliflower Steak with Provolone and Pickled Peppers from Six Seasons p 191.

Love the bursts of salty-savory-sweet-hot flavors from the olives, capers and pickled peppers and would certainly make it again.
I subbed Gruyère for the provolone and Pecorino Romano for the aged provolone because that's what I have on hand. The recipe calls for a "large head cauliflower, 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 lbs." Since mine was much bigger, I was a bit worried they wouldn't cook through but they came out fine.
This recipe is delicious as is, but I had a hot Italian sausage leftover from the rigatoni so I crumbled, browned & drained it and added it to the topping. Makes it into a more substantial meal, especially if you are serving meat-lovers. Looking forward to using a bit of leftover topping to make stuffed mushrooms for cocktail hour 

[rotuts]

what is the ' prickly ' looking green one ?

[blue_dolphin]

14 minutes ago, rotuts said:

what is the ' prickly ' looking green one ?

 

Romanesco.  I love the fractal shape!

[Smokeydoke]

Wow, $4 each? Is that the norm in SoCal?

[Anna N]

5 minutes ago, Smokeydoke said:

Wow, $4 each? Is that the norm in SoCal?

 I would be very happy to pay $4 for cauliflower.  They range between 5.99 and 6.99 around here.  But my friend, who always has my back, found one in the reduced produce cart for just $1.99. It had one questionable spot on it!  I turned it into cauliflower rice and froze it. 

[Smokeydoke]

I think I paid $1 the last time it was on sale.

 

I usually buy it as Costco, for around $2 a pound. But it's just the florets in a bag.

[heidih]

I'm in Los Angeles. I would argue that florets in a bag are a far cry from a recently picked juicy head like Blue_Dolphin showed. Also she noted that the beautiful beast weighed 4-1/2 pounds! Yes that is about average for a Farmers Market and for that size & quality

[Smokeydoke]

4 1/2 lbs is a big cauliflower.

[Smokeydoke]

I miss Farmer's Markets. I used to live in California and used to go all the time but I've completely forgotten the experience. I remember getting the sweetest strawberries and the freshest corn at a little stand in Carlsbad. Picking fresh figs, lemons, pomegranates was as easy as going to my backyard. That was years ago.

 

Now I shop at Costco and Trader Joes.

 

I've honestly forgotten what good produce tastes like, probably why I rarely eat it anymore. 

[ProfessionalHobbit]

Preheat oven to 425 F.

 

Although the book doesn't mention it, I recommend lining a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and parchment paper. You'll save yourself some cleanup later.

 

 

Drizzle some olive oil on the paper, and season the oil with salt and pepper.

 

Make a shallow cut along some leeks like so:

 

 

Clean the leeks by running cold water from your tap all throughout the leeks making sure to rinse out each layer.

 

Trim the ends and slice into 4" lengths, then press each leek, cut side down, on the oiled parchment paper. Smoosh the leeks around, making sure to season the cut sides well. Drizzle some more olive oil on top, then season with salt and black pepper.

 

 

Roast for 30-40 minutes at 425 F, stirring the leeks every so often to prevent burning.

 

 

While the leeks are roasting, take some anchovy fillets and place in a bowl. Add 3-4 tbsp. Meyer lemon juice. I live in San Francisco and Meyer lemons are available here. If you don't have Meyer lemons, regular lemons are ok. Mash the anchovies with a fork, then whisk in 3-4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. Taste for salt and pepper.

 

 

When the leeks are done, transfer to a bowl.

 

 

Dress with anchovy dressing.

 

Transfer to a plate, crumble egg on top. Spoon more dressing, season with salt and pepper, then serve. I added some minced parsley for color contrast.

 

 

Roasted leeks with anchovy and egg, page 106.

 

Edited January 20, 2018 by ProfessionalHobbit (log)

[ProfessionalHobbit]

On 1/19/2018 at 11:12 AM, Smokeydoke said:

Wow, $4 each? Is that the norm in SoCal?

 

 

This specimen cost $5 today at my farmer's market. It'll be for Sunday dinner.

[Smokeydoke]

^^ it's gorgeous.

[blue_dolphin]

Pan-Roasted Carrots with Carrot-Top Salsa Verde, Avocado and Seared Squid from Six Seasons p 140.

This recipe is in the Early Summer section of the book but I had nice carrots with fresh tops from the local farmers market so I decided to give this one a try.  I'm very happy that I did.  This dish has a lot of ingredients that I don't regularly use together so I really didn't know what it would taste like.  There's a carrot-top salsa verde (some tasty stuff!) made with carrot tops, mint, parsley, scallions, lemon zest, a little hot sauce, salt & pepper and olive oil.  I have some leftover and will follow the suggestion in the recipe header to use it as a condiment with simple roasted carrots.  In addition to the carrots and squid, there's also pickled pepperoncini and pickling liquid, avocado and roasted pistachios. 

I thought pan-roasting the carrots was a bit fiddly but I did it.  May try just roasting them in the oven next time. 

[blue_dolphin]

Farro and Roasted Carrot Salad with Apricots, Pistachios, and Whipped Ricotta from Six Seasons p 290. 

Carrots are roasted (CSO, steam-bake, 425°F, 15 min), farro, per the recipe on p 50,  is lightly toasted in olive oil with a garlic clove and red chile flakes before adding water, salt and bay leaf.  I did that in a small skillet, then transferred to the Instant Pot (pot-in-pot, 5' manual, high pressure). Thinly sliced red onion, chopped, dried apricots, parsley, toasted pistachios and ricotta salata or feta plus olive oil and white wine vinegar complete the salad, which is served on a smear of whipped ricotta p 37. I was mildly entertained that while the book is always having me soak scallions in ice water, something I've never done before, there is no mention of doing the same with the red onion in this recipe - and I always give raw red onions the ice bath treatment  for salads - go figure!

 

I liked the added flavor from the garlic and chile in the farro and while I enjoyed the dish,  it didn't quite tickle my taste buds as much as the carrot dish with carrot-top salsa verde, avocado and squid that I made yesterday.   I'm not a fan of cooked carrots so my enthusiasm for yesterday's dish is actually more surprising than my ambivalence towards this one. 

 

[blue_dolphin]

This is the Onion and Pancetta Tart from Six Seasons p 352.

The crust is a walnut vision of the Pecan Dough on p 49 and it's buttery and delicious. I was afraid that the full 5T of sugar would make it taste more like a shortbread cookie than a savory crust so I went down from 5T to 2T and was happy with it. I tend to leave pie crust to the doughboy but this one really makes the tart so I'm happy I made it, even though it is very tender and crumbly.

I was tempted to use a pie pan but the thin tart pan was a better choice as unlike a quiche, the filling is mostly onions with just one egg yolk, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 2 oz gruyere cheese -  just enough to hold the onions together. I used a very large onion and should have quartered instead of just halving it before slicing to minimize the long onion strings that annoyed me when trying to make nice slices but otherwise, everything worked well.

[Smokeydoke]

^^ that looks delicious!