Roasted Bone Marrow

Probably the most delicious and yet simple appetizer ever. I explained bone marrow to someone who's never had it as meat butter, but I can't even begin to describe it's flavor. I'm lucky enough to have a ready source of fresh veal bones at Eataly, and they cut them to order. Maybe it's because I haven't had breakfast yet, but writing this post is literally making me drool...

HOW TO:

Arrange the bones marrow side up in a roasting dish. Bake at 450º for about 18 minutes or until the marrow is cooked, but not completely melted. Meanwhile, roughly chop parsley and thinly slice shallots. Just before serving, toss the two together with capers, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve the bone marrow right out of the oven with the parsley salad, toasted bread, and salt flakes to season. 

Apple Tart

I had intended to make pie, but it ended up on the floor half-finished in a super tragic accident. Luckily, I had some extra apples. So with the unused half of pie crust, I made a simple apple tart.

I've gotten pretty good at making pie crust from scratch. Key tricks: use really good butter. I think this is probably the most important ingredient. High-fat, grass-fed butter is the way to go. 

HOW TO:

Make pate brisee and set aside in the fridge. Skin, core, and thinly slice cooking apples. Toss with lemon zest, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, a little salt, a pinch of cloves, and tinier pinch of nutmeg. Roll out the dough to a round-ish shape. Arrange the apple slices in concentric circles until about an inch or two away from the edge of the pastry. Fold the dough onto the apples, overlapping where necessary. Brush the exposed crust with an egg wash, and bake the tart at 400º for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is browned and the apples are toasty.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The classic. My take: three types of meat, fresh bread soaked in milk, fresh basil and parsley, grated parmesan, and one egg. The meat was from Eataly, the bread from Eli's, and the milk from Ronnybrook. Locavore galore. Anyway, after I browned the meatballs, I threw them into a basic sauce. I'm talking real basic here, just crushed tomatoes, garlic, and ripped basil. I served the dish with some delicious Chianti, and, I'm happy to say, this was a very successful classic Italian-American dinner.

(I figured I'd start posting bottles I enjoyed with my meal so I can remember them)

HOW TO:

To make the sauce, sauté chopped garlic with olive oil in a large pot. When fragrant and before the garlic begins to brown, pour in at least two jars of crushed tomatoes. Season with fresh ripped basil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. 

For the meatballs, start by tearing out the inside of a loaf of bread - I used half a white boule for two pounds of meat. Soak it in whole milk. Mix together equal amounts of ground pork, beef, and veal and toss with chopped basil, chopped parsley, grated parmesan, one egg, and the slightly squeezed-out bread. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roll out the meatballs in equal sizes - I eyeball them and typically make them to be about an inch and a half in diameter. Brown the meatballs on all sides in a hot pan, and toss them into the sauce. Simmer together for 30 or so minutes and serve with spaghetti. 

Braised Oxtail

I'm not sure how it happened, but all of a sudden it's fall, going on freezing. Ok, maybe not quite freezing, but something about the weather says, "braise" to me. Few meats braise as well and taste as delicious as oxtail. Throw in some carrots, onion, wine and crushed tomatoes and it's a party. See the list of all the invitees below. I served the oxtail with brown rice, but some creamy polenta would have also been delicious.

HOW TO:

Finely dice onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Thickly chop three carrots, and set all the cut vegetables aside. Season the oxtail heavily with salt and pepper. Coat lightly with seasoned flour, making sure to tap off all the excess.

Sear the oxtails in a large pot and remove them when browned on all sides.

Throw in the finely diced vegetables. Cook until slightly browned. Deglaze the pan with some wine. Toss in the crushed tomatoes. Add a few sprigs of thyme and some coarsely torn parsley and basil. Cook together for a few minutes. Add the oxtail back in with a cup or two of chicken stock. Cover and put the pot in a 285-300º oven for 4 hours or so. With an hour left, throw in the thickly chopped carrots and some cipollini onions.

Breakfast BLT

My secret to an amazing BLT: add an egg. Really. BLTs are great, but sometimes they lack an extra mmmmm flavor to bring the ingredients together. An egg with a runny yoke totally puts the sandwich over the top. Plus it's good for breakfast.

Tagliatelle with Pork Cheek Ragu (from homegrown tomatoes!)

Mmm where to begin. I love tomatoes, so back in April I planted seven plants that take up more than half of the garden plot that I have down in Battery Park. They're probably seven and half feet tall now, and I've been getting a bounty of tomatoes for the last couple of weeks. (Bounty in Manhattan terms. Probably totally pathetic to someone who has a real backyard garden.) Red sauce is the perfect solution for not so perfect tomatoes. The trick is to peel the tomatoes, that part is not that simple, but everything else is pretty basic. Afterwards, it's the most rewarding and delicious pasta sauce ever. Really. Ever. In the history of cooks everywhere.

HOW TO:

Peel many tomatoes, the more the merrier. Season and sear the pork cheeks. Remove them from the pot and throw in equal amounts of chopped garlic and onion. Sauté until soft and clear. Add the tomatoes and cook until slightly saucy. Throw in the pork cheeks and some basil leaves. This time I also had some Parmigiano-Reggiano rind, so that went in too. Cook for hours and hours until the pork cheeks have completely broken apart. Serve with fresh tagliatelle.

Lunchtime: Roast Beef Sandwich

A few weeks ago my CSA had a little pickling workshop that I participated in. It was pretty much show up and pickle whatever vegetables we got that week. I walked out with some regular pickles and a "giardiniera"mix since we had cauliflower. Coming from Chicago, the only reasonable thing I knew to do with giardiniera was to put it on Italian beef sandwiches. (Just typing this makes me think of Portillo's...extra gravy with mozzarella and hot peppers please.) I knew I couldn't recreate that particular  deliciousness, so I figured some roast beef sandwiches would have to do. I got some roast beef, sliced on the thicker side, from Whole Foods, some excellent ciabatta buns, provolone, and some tomatoes and got to work. There's mustard on the bottom bun, lots of mayo on the top one, and all sorts of awesome in between. This was a serious experiment win.

Stuffed Eggplant

The CSA has been doling out tons of eggplants the past couple weeks. I love eggplant, so I'm not really complaining, but it is a bit challenging coming up with some fresh ways of cooking them. This week's success story: stuffed eggplants. It's a pretty basic meat stuffing. I used grass-fed ground beef this time, but ground lamb would be excellent. The eggplants are stuffed and roasted for about 50 minutes or so, and the final result is so delicious. Even though it's made with very basic ingredients, it's surprisingly rich and flavorful.

Uncooked and not half eaten...

HOW TO:
Start by sautéing chopped onion, garlic, and half a cubanelle pepper until soft. Throw in the ground beef, season, and brown. Add several chopped tomatoes. (Since it's tomato season, I used local plum tomatoes. In the winter, canned or jarred would probably be better.) Toss in some chopped parsley and basil, and cook until tomatoes have broken down. Meanwhile, cut the eggplants in half. Slice out some of the flesh from the centers. Salt and pepper them right before stuffing. Top each eggplant with the meat mixture, and garnish with slices of the other half of the cubanelle. Cover with foil and roast for 30 minutes at 375º. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes at 425º. Serve with rice, polenta, couscous, or something similar.

Octopus with Potatoes and Flat Bean Succotash

Octopus is the latest dish I've been ordering at seafood restaurants all over the city. I'm hooked, so I figured I'd give it a shot at home. Luckily, Eataly steams them for you in advance and sells them whole at the seafood counter because I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle steaming or boiling a whole octopus. My version is simply pan fried with multicolored potatoes. Oh yes, it was another successful experiment. Not as crispy as I would have liked, but I suspect a frier was involved in the restaurant versions.

I served this with a flat bean, spring onion, corn, and fava bean "succotash." It was a really delicious way to cook flat and fava beans, things I had gotten in my CSA that I normally don't eat.

HOW TO:

Cut pre-steamed octopus tentacles into large bite size pieces and sauté in a hot pan with olive oil until crispy. Remove from pan and add potatoes. Cook until brown. Add the octopus back in, season to taste, and finish with parsley and lemon.

For the succotash, prep the vegetables by peeling the fava beans, cutting the flat beans into inch long pieces, cutting the corn off the cob, and slicing the spring onions on a long diagonal. Add the flat beans in a large pot or high pan with butter, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until almost tender. Add the corn, fava beans and spring onions to the mix. Sauté for about 3 minutes or until everything is tender.

Grilled Lobster

I was in Maine for the 4th weekend, and I had a fantastic time. I spent a good amount of time doing the stereotypical Maine activity: eating lobster. Mmmm so good. Especially when I started grilling them, which is I think the only way I can eat lobster now. It takes the crustacean to a whole new level of deliciousness. 

HOW TO:

Boil a large pot of water and salt heavily. Throw in the 1 1/2 pound hard shell lobsters. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and let cool. When manageable to touch, cut the lobsters in half as pictured above. Spoon melted butter into the cavity. (A couple times I added a smashed clove of garlic to the butter while it was melting. It gave the lobster a very subtle garlic flavor, which is pretty awesome if you like garlic.) Throw the lobsters on a medium temperature grill until they are about fully cooked. Flip them over and spoon more butter onto the tail and into the body. Sprinkle some parsley and remove from heat when the claws are bright red on both sides. Eat, enjoy, and try to go back to eating regular boiled lobster.

Beef and Garlic Scape Stir Fry

I think this is my first truly seasonal recipe. Garlic scapes are essentially the stem of the immature garlic flower. They have this nice crisp texture, similar to asparagus, with a mild garlic finish. They're perfect for stir fry.

In other exciting news, this garlic bulb was one of the first items I picked from my garden plot! This also went into the stir fry.

HOW TO:

Roughly slice and set aside ginger, garlic and scallion whites. Thinly slice the beef against the grain and marinate with soy sauce, sesame oil, turbinado sugar, salt, cornstarch, and a touch of rice vinegar or cooking wine. Slice the scapes as thinly and as diagonally as possible so they're able to cook quickly. Sauté the ginger, garlic, and scallion in some oil. When fragrant, turn the heat on high and add the beef. Cook until almost fully cooked and remove from the pan. Add the garlic scapes, a little water, and cover with a lid. Cook for a couple minutes until the scapes are tender, add the beef back to the pan, stir together, and serve.

Roasted Black Sea Bass and Homegrown Broccoli Greens with Pancetta

My boyfriend and I have a little farm plot down in Battery Park, and the greens of the broccoli we chose to plant are edible and tender. Since this is the first time I've ever made or eaten broccoli greens, I figured I'd sauté them with garlic and pancetta to make sure they'd be extra tasty. Surprise surprise (not really), they were good. Not bitter with a texture similar to kale, they were a great vegetable side to the main course: black sea bass. 

I bought the sea bass from that great fishmonger at the Union Square Greenmarket, P.E. & D.D., seasoned them everywhere with salt and pepper, stuffed them with sliced organic lemons and rosemary that I also picked up the greenmarket, and finished them with some olive oil before putting them in a 425ºF oven for 17 minutes. It's a simple and really tasty way of making individual fishies.

Pork Tacos

So that roast pork shoulder I made earlier is ideal for tacos. Just chop it into small cubes and fry it up. The pork is naturally fatty, so no extra oil is needed. I served it on fresh corn tortillas with avocado, cilantro, red onion, a little radish, and some limes to garnish.

Roast Pork with Black Beans and Corn, Tomato, and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

I'm on this serious Mexican kick. This was my attempt at roast pork, and it was mighty successful. I made a dry rub of salt, pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, a little cinnamon, and a bit of curry powder. I'm probably missing something, but that covers the main players. Then the pork shoulder was marinated overnight in a smoothie of chipotle chilies, pineapple and lime juices, garlic, onion, and jalapeño. Roast for 4 hours at 315ºF and...

To round out the meal, I made black beans from scratch and a spicy corn, tomato, and roasted red pepper salad. To make the beans, soak them overnight in enough water to cover by 2 inches. Rinse and drain the beans. Sauté garlic and onion in a large pot until lightly browned. Add the beans and cover with water or stock. Add a bay leaf, salt, and pepper and simmer for a couple hours until tender. In the last 15 minutes or so, add some chopped garlic and cilantro.

The corn salad is pretty basic. Cook corn on the cob and remove the kernels. Toss with chopped cilantro, red onion, jalapeño, tomatoes, roasted red pepper, and lime juice. To roast the red pepper, place it directly on the gas burner and rotated it when the skin blackened. Place the pepper in a tall bowl and cover with plastic wrap. After 20 minutes or so, the skin should peel off easily.

I served this all with some tortillas from Nixtamal and some left over guacamole from my pre-dinner snack. Part 2 of the Mexican dinner series will be coming up shortly.


http://www.tortillerianixtamal.com/

Pasta with Ricotta, Spring Peas, and Pancetta

I really like peas. It kind of took me by surprise too, I mean who likes peas? Seriously though, nothing tastes better when they're in season. There are some great organic growers at the Greenmarket in Union Square that I like to buy them from. They're only around for a few weeks in the very beginning of summer and after that, nada. Picture my really sad face. Anyway, this dish is in honor of pea season. It's pasta with peas (obviously), sheep's milk ricotta, pancetta, garlic, onion, and some lemon.

HOW TO:

Fresh peas come like this:

So they require some shelling. I recommend doing this with a nice glass of white wine. Afterwards, voilà!

Brown diced pancetta in some olive oil. Remove from pan and sauté garlic and shallots (I used red onion here) in the remaining oil. Return the pancetta after lightly browned. Meanwhile, cook the peas in some salted, boiling water for 4 minutes, and start cooking the pasta. Drain and transfer the peas to the pan with the pancetta. Lightly smash the peas. Season with salt, pepper, and the zest of one lemon. Turn the heat on low and add the sheep's milk ricotta. Add some pasta water to thin out the sauce. Toss in the pasta and mix to combine. Finish with some lemon juice to taste.

North African Meatballs with Couscous

I have to give credit where it's due. I had help with this one. I'm a little ashamed to say where it came from though. Ok...I was bored and channel surfing when I came across Melissa d'Arabian making "North African" meatballs in this tomato based sauce, and it looked pretty tasty. I've never watched her show because the terrible title, Ten Dollar Dinners, really puts me off. That particular episode was interesting though, so of course I had to give it a shot. With my excellent instruction-following skills, I pretty much used her recipe as a guide. Besides the general no measurement of everything, I made the following adjustments.

Sauce:
More onion and garlic
Red wine, not white
Turbinado sugar instead of brown
Waaaaaay more cinnamon. That was an accident, but I have no patience for measuring so I just dumped lots of red pepper and cinnamon in. That was before I saw it was supposed to be a pinch. Oops.
Cumin
Bay leaf

Meatballs:
Lamb instead of beef
No tomato paste
No cinnamon (too much in the sauce)

I topped the whole dish with pistachios and I have to say, it was pretty awesomely delicious. The sauce wasn't too heavy on the cinnamon at all and the lamb meatballs were really tasty. I want to try this again with fresh tomatoes and more olives. Oh, just a note, this was definitely over $10 bucks to make. I don't know what food prices this lady is using.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/north-african-meatballs-recipe/index.html

Dinner: Chinese Edition

Chinese food is a good go-to for me when ever I have lots of left over chicken or when I'm out of ideas for something to make for dinner. One of my childhood favorites is a dish my grandma came up with. It's a simple mix of stir fried beef, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and green onion. It may sound like a strange combo, but it tastes delicious and is perfection over rice.

Another simple, always-tasty dish is chicken stir fry. It is pretty much what is sounds like: marinated, diced chicken with green beans, red pepper, and carrot. (Pardon the picture. It was half eaten with I took it.)

HOW TO (Beef):

Thinly slice steak against the grain in 2 inch or so length pieces. Marinate in a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, turbinado sugar, salt, pepper, a bit of cornstarch, and a liiittle brown rice vinegar and set aside. Meanwhile, dice 6 to 8 scallions, keeping separate the white parts from the green. Chop 4 medium to large tomatoes into inch size pieces. 

Start by scrambling 5 eggs in a large pan. Remove when almost cooked through. Turn the pan on high and add the marinated beef. Also remove when almost cooked through. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the chopped tomatoes, the diced scallion whites, a small spoonful of turbinado sugar, and some soy sauce. Let cook for 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes melt into a sauce. Add the beef and egg back into the pan letting everything simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Remove from pan and garnish with scallion greens.

HOW TO (Chicken):

Marinate diced chicken in a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, turbinado sugar, salt, a bit of cornstarch (see a pattern?). Roughly chop 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, thinly slice 3 or 4 scallions on a long diagonal, setting aside the green parts, and prepare 3 or 4 slices of ginger. Also slice 2 carrots, blanched green beans, and a small red pepper into similar size strips.

On medium heat, start by frying the garlic, ginger, and scallion whites in a little oil until fragrant. Add some hot chili paste, turn up the heat and stir fry the chicken until cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan, add the carrots, green beans, and red pepper. Stir fry slightly until just cooked. Add the chicken back in along with a slurry of corn starch, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, sugar, and brown rice vinegar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Garnish with scallion greens.

Chicken Noodle Stew

I came back from a long vacation, and after a long flight on a smelly airplane I was feeling a tiny bit sick. As hokey as it sounds, I was craving some chicken noodle soup. So out I went to the store to buy some chicken, carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, garlic, pasta, and chard. The soup was rich and filling, and I'm happy to say I never got sick.



HOW TO:
To prepare the chicken for stock, wash and dry the chicken and remove the meat from the legs and breasts leaving all the skin and bones attached. Cut the chicken meat into small pieces and set aside. (There will be leftover meat. A later post will provide a potential use.) Add the chicken to boiling water and bring back to a boil. Dump the water and rinse the chicken and pot from any residue. (This is a Chinese tactic to keep the stock clear and clean tasting.) Add enough cold water to cover the chicken and bring the pot back to boil. Add a couple of carrots, celery, chunks of onion, garlic cloves, and a bay leaf. Simmer for hours and hours and hours.

Marinate the diced chicken in a little flour, salt, pepper, a little sugar, white pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and set aside. Finely dice a carrot, a celery stalk, a few cloves of garlic, and one small onion. Also chop a couple of carrots and potatoes into 1/2 to 1 inch size pieces and set aside. In a large pot, sauté the chicken until mostly cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the finely diced vegetables to the pot, scraping up any chicken pieces. Cook until soft and fragrant. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the chopped carrots and potatoes and simmer until just cooked. Turn up the heat and add some bite-sized pasta and chopped chard. Cook until pasta is al dente, and serve hot.

Lasagna

Who doesn't love lasagna? I make a classic version with ricotta, mozzarella, and homemade sauce. I'm able to get local, fresh ricotta at the Whole Foods here, which I think makes a difference in taste and texture. It's definitely more creamy and less cottage cheesy. I made my own meatball-based meat sauce for this recipe. By meatball-based, I mean I prepped the ground meat the same as I would if I made meatballs, but instead browned the whole batch and made sauce. I think it makes for extra flavorful lasagna without being too greasy like sausage can. This is definitely not diet food, but it's great for leftovers.

HOW TO:

Sauté diced onion and garlic until softened in a large pot. Remove half and add to ground beef, pork, and veal in a separate mixing bowl. Add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, soaked bread or bread crumbs, fresh chopped parsley, one egg, salt, and pepper. Mix until combined and set aside for at least half and hour to marinate. Add the meat mixture back into the pot with the onions and garlic and brown. Deglaze with a cup and a half or so of red wine. Pour in two jars or cans of good crushed tomatoes. (I use jarred to avoid BPA in cans.) Toss in a handful of ripped basil leaves. Simmer for at least 45 minutes.

To a pound-ish of ricotta, add chopped parsley and basil, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, one egg, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined. Boil a box of lasagna noodles until slightly under-cooked. Remove and add a little olive oil to prevent them from sticking together. Now it's finally time for the fun part. Add some sauce to the bottom of a large baking dish. Layer noodles, ricotta, sauce, and shredded mozzarella until the pan can't hold anymore. Then top with one last layer of noodles and sauce. I added some basil leaves to the top of my lasagna because I love basil and I think it looks pretty, but it's a totally unnecessary step. Finish with mozzarella and parmesan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350ºF or 375º being careful not to burn the cheese. After removing from the oven, try really really hard to not eat it right away. It's better it sits for 20 or 30 minutes.

Ribs with Spicy "Pickled" Cucumber, Red Cabbage Slaw, and Sesame Paste Green Beans

Um, what can I say. The ribs were rubbed with almost every spice in the pantry and finished with some barbecue sauce from Whole Foods. I regret not making my own sauce, but Monday night is not the ideal time to be experimenting. The cucumber was marinated with brown rice vinegar, turbinado sugar, salt, garlic, chili paste, and sesame oil. The slaw was red cabbage, red onion, and carrot in a light dressing of lemon juice, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard seed, mustard, and a little mayonnaise. The green beans were simply blanched and served with a sesame paste dipping sauce (sesame paste, sesame oil, garlic, brown rice vinegar, turbinado sugar, salt, and soy sauce). It's probably my favorite way of eating green beans...totally reminds me of my childhood.

HOW TO:

Start with a rub. I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper, turbinado sugar, curry powder, a little cinnamon, cayenne, and cajun seasoning. I probably forgot something. There may have been a little chili powder as well. Marinate overnight in a ziploc. In the morning, add some barbecue sauce and marinate until dinner time. Bake at 325ºF covered with foil for two hours, flipping and basting halfway through. Raise the temperature to 475ºF, remove the foil, baste one last time, and bake for 15 minutes.

Grilled Rib-Eye

I love steak, but since my stove is, oh maybe 15 feet from my bedroom and I don't have a range hood or any real ventilation system for my "kitchen," I don't make it at home that much. This weekend was special. I was able to use a real, four burner grill, so I went all out. The steak was grass-fed, bone-in rib-eye, cut about two inches thick. I usually like dry aged, but there wasn't any available this time.

For those that don't know, grass-fed is the way to go for heath and the environment. Here are a couple links for some basic information:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/grass-fed-beef/AN02053

http://www.eatwild.com/

HOW TO:

Let the steak sit at room temperature for an hour or so. It's important to have the meat not be right-out-of-the-fridge cold. Preheat the grill (or pan, or grill pan) on high. Rub both sides with a gently crushed garlic clove and softened butter, and heavily salt and pepper. Throw those bad boys on the grill. Cook for 6-8 minutes a side, and either close the grill or put into a 425ºF oven for another 6-8 minutes for medium-rare. The times are extremely variable though, so use the touch test to determine how done the steak is. Serve with amazing red wine. I have an example below.

Lunch: Ham Sandwich

This isn't just any ham sandwich. This is a sandwich made from the best deli ham I've ever had. I don't know what kind of magic or crack the people at Fra' Mani use, but their rosemary ham is SO GOOD. This sandwich is: Fra' Mani rosemary ham, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, red onion and avocado on buttered and toasted French boule with a little mayo and grain mustard. Looking at this picture is making me hungry. I wish I had some of that ham left...

Roast Chicken with Fingerling Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Sometimes a simple roast chicken is the perfect weekday dinner. It's surprisingly easy to make and even comes with its own side dish! It's cooked on a bed of root vegetables or squash, so it pretty much makes for a complete meal. The vegetables cook in the chicken juice, so the they always turn out extra delicious. Mmmmm. I used butternut squash and fingerling potatoes from my CSA in this version.

HOW TO:

Peel and cut the vegetables into 1-inch or so pieces. Toss with garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil and spread them out on the bottom of a large baking dish. Wash and dry the chicken. Season inside and out. Stuff with rosemary or thyme, one lemon, and half a head of whole, peeled garlic cloves. Tie the legs together, tuck the wings in, and place on the vegetables. For a 4-5 pound chicken, roast at 425ºF for about an hour and fifteen minutes. After cooking, cover with foil and rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Lobster and Scallop Ceviche

The Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday morning is one of the few reasons I will get out of bed before 10AM on the weekends. One of my first stops is always PE & DD Seafood. They have a great selection of really fresh fish that usually sells out by 2PM. I was in the mood for some ceviche and was originally planning to make a fish version, but nothing at the stand was calling my name. Their scallops are always a safe (and delicious) bet, except scallop ceviche just sounded boring, so I picked up a lobster as well. I've never made ceviche before, but I figured if people can sell it out of unrefrigerated carts in Central America I can definitely manage to put something together. The "How To" for this is pretty simple: just marinate the scallop and lobster together with cilantro, onion, tomato, avocado, Serrano peppers, lime and orange juice, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. Two hours and some home baked tortilla chips later...ceviche!

Lunch: Duck Rillette Sandwich

I was hankering for some pâté the other night, and ended up getting some duck rillette from Dickson's Farmstand in Chelsea Market. Not quite what I was looking for, but still delicious. What better overindulgent way to use the rest of the rillette than to make sandwiches? Particularly on some nice, sliced French boule with some prosciutto di Parma, arugula, grain mustard, and thin carrot slices. Seriously, has to be one of the top 5 sandwiches of my life. It was meaty and crispy with a good balance of acid from the mustard and sweet from the carrot.

Penne with Eggplant, Sausage, and Kale

My solution for a "quick" Monday meal. It's pretty close to a one pot dish. I guess it's technically two if you count the one needed to cook the pasta. It's vegetable heavy with two large eggplants and a whole bunch of kale. The spicy Italian sausage rounds it all out. The pasta makes for great leftovers, particularly when baked with mozzarella and topped with breadcrumbs and parmesan. Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably better the second time around. 

HOW TO:

Sauté garlic and onion with olive oil in a large pot. When lightly caramelized, throw in the sausage and cook through. Add the diced eggplant, stir to coat, and cook until they are just beginning to soften. Add crushed tomatoes and simmer until fragrant. Finally, throw in the chopped kale around the same time that the pasta starts cooking. When the pasta is just al dente, stir the pasta into the sauce, adding some pasta water if necessary. Cook another 3 or 5 minutes and serve with parmesan.

Bacon Cheeseburger with Avocado

Burgers hold a special place in my heart. They're the first real meal item that I cooked all by myself. This probably happened when I was 12 or something, but my sharp as a crayon memory means I really have no clue. Anyway, my current favorite version is a grass-fed beef patty with organic cheddar cheese, avocado, uncured maple bacon, organic lettuce and onion on a Eli's Bread brioche bun. It is burger heaven, especially paired with bacon fat roasted potatoes. I don't have a picture of those because I ate them before I could take a picture...oh well. Another time.