A F&%@#ing Salad
Yes, this is what I have to show for my weeks of absence. It’s all I can muster. I don’t know why I feel like I have some ‘splaining to do every time I take off for awhile, but I guess that’s just how committed …
Year: 2009
Pulled chicken sandwich with apple slaw and sweet corn
Sometimes good barbecue doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Sometimes it doesn’t even require you to go outside. I shredded some leftover roasted chicken (it had been marinated in a garlicky gochujang barbecue sauce) and warmed it in some basic hickory barbecue sauce with a little apple …
Grilled eggplant and heirloom tomato panini with chevre and kalamata tapenade
Yay! Summery weekend weather started on Friday, and the lovely log of French goat cheese that’s been languishing in my fridge got its day in the sun. The first good heirloom tomatoes starting showing up in stores, and I was powerless. An eggplant and a loaf of fresh sea salt-rosemary focaccia would complete the train of thought, and this would be dinner.
I marinated the sliced eggplant (salted and left in a sieve in the sink to drain the bitter juices, then squeezed of the last drops of leachate) in a basil-balsamic vinaigrette: olive and walnut oils and balsamic vinegar; Dijon mustard and a drib of mesquite honey; then a good, fat chiff of basil, some flaky Maldon and cracked pepper. I let it soak up every atom of flavor while Scott readied the grill and I worked on the ultimate condiment.
I’m kind of picky about my chèvres – so many of the affordable ones from Trader Joe’s are just like a crumbly cream cheese and lack the depth of tang and grass and goat that distinguishes a good French cheese. Ile de France makes a really nice one that meets my exacting standards. I mashed it with some finely chopped basil, summer savory and a quickie kalamata tapenade (chopped olives with shallots, S&P and a little lemon zest and chile flake) to spread on the toasted focaccia.
We grilled the eggplant (gas flame with some hickory chips in a foil pouch – so much faster and less wasteful for the grilling needs of just two people) until roasty-soft with crispy edges, and then toasted the focaccia over the flame. I soaked the sliced tomatoes in the warm vinaigrette drippings from the eggplant, then assembled the sandwiches.
Just perfect with a lemony mixed spring green salad and sparkling grapefruit juice.
Don’t Call it a Comeback
Yay! I’m over the (first) hump and can eat real food again. I can cook it too, without being too tired or tummy-achy to stand or smell food aromas hitting my face. But I’ve had to start out slow. I’ve sort of lost my groove, …
Almost ready, I swear.
Sorry for the lag in blogging over the past few weeks. It’s not even that I’m too busy this time, it’s just that I’ve cooked exactly twice since the halibut post (grilled cheese with tomato soup and penne with jarred tomato sauce, though that hardly …
Halibut with tomato-curry cream (Machhli Tamatar)
It always pleases me when I fiddle around with ingredients and find out that it’s already a Thing. The curried fish with tomatoes and creamy sauce I was thinking about turned out to be the Indian dish machhli tamatar, fancy that. I’ve been craving Indian spices – anise, cinnamon, fenugreek, ginger – all traditionally used medicinally for stimulating the appetite and aiding digestion. Plus, I’d picked up some amazing young ginger and fresh turmeric at the Asian grocery over the weekend, and was eager to use it. The halibut at New Seasons looked good, and I had a half pint of cherry tomatoes left in the coffers.
I carved out a curry paste from fresh curry leaves (in the freezer), a garlic clove, grated ginger and turmeric, mustard and fenugreek seeds, dhana jeera (a ground cumin and coriander blend), a little of my homemade seven-spice and a squirt of lemon juice (pound the shit out of it in the mortar and pestle until a paste forms). I smeared this into salted and peppered halibut fillets and let it marinate for a bit while I got the rice cooking.
I melted some butter and olive oil (instead of ghee) in a hot pan and tossed in sliced onions and the cherry tomatoes (halved). They hissed and sputtered for a bit, then in went the fish. After I flipped the fish (5 minutes or so) I added the tub’s last couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche. I think it’s more traditional to use yogurt and cream, but I didn’t have those and besides, crème fraîche is just another cultured cream product and this worked really well. Top the fish with micro-cilantro from the garden.
I also whipped up a quick chutney of mango, red chili and golden raisins (add a pinch of garam masala or seven-spice, plus a drib of lemon juice and honey) and this was refreshing with some warm naan.
Serve with peppermint sweet tea and basmati rice.
Strawberry Shortstack
I can’t seem to get enough strawberries these days. I cruised through 4 lbs of them in about a week, just eating them raw (stemmed and halved, with my fingers), and then had to pick up another flat of them over the weekend. It’s insidious. …
Rigatoni Bolognese with olives and chiles
It’s been so hard to muster the energy or interest to cook, what with fatigue and nausea running the show. Pasta with red sauce seems to be accepted without a hitch, and requires nearly no effort, particularly when I have one last, treasured jar of homemade Bolognese from the homegrown heirloom tomatoes of last summer, canned with homeground beef chuck and fresh herbs. This last jar of sunshine was the end of an era.
This bastard lovechild between puttanesca (“the whore’s”) and Bolognese came from my need to taste red sauce with a little bit of saline fattiness of olives and the protein punch of beef. Chile flake (Korean, for flavor in addition to moderate heat) kicked it to a high hum.
Lots of grated parmesan and crusty bread to swab out the last smear of sauce is a no-brainer.
Orecchiette with pancetta, asparagus, peas and lemon balm
It’s so good to be back in my kitchen, I can’t even tell you. After the nettle dinner (those 24 things are so much work!) I was in the dry, dusty field for a week (botanical surveys in the western Central Valley, California), and spent …