Pan Roasted Baby Artichokes

Baby artichokes were on sale, so I figured I'd give them a shot. Ever since The New York Times ran this article, I've been trying to eat more unusual vegetables more often. Artichokes are actually fun and pretty tasty to eat, but I have a problem figuring out how many of the outer leaves I should remove. In this case, I didn't remove enough so some pieces were a little tough. Oh well, you cook and you learn.

HOW TO:

Wash the artichokes. Remove as many layers of tough exterior leaves as necessary. Trim the top and stem off. Quarter and let the pieces soak in a mix of lemon juice and water. Mince garlic and parsley separately, and set aside. When ready, dry the artichoke pieces and place cut side down in a large pan preheated with olive oil. Let brown before turning the pieces. Toss in the minced garlic and season well with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and garnish with parsley and lemon juice.

Wild Salmon with Fresh Corn Salsa

Salmon, although delicious, is not my favorite to cook at home. It's probably my technique, but it usually starts to feel very one-note after a few bites. Wild Alaskan salmon is in season though, and it looked too gorgeous to pass up. I thought I'd try something different and serve it with a fresh salsa as a garnish/side dish. The combination ended up being perfect. The salsa was refreshing and sweet, a great balance to the fatty fish.


HOW TO:

Broil corn until tender. When cool, cut the kernels off the cob. Dice equal parts red onion and tomato. Finely chop garlic, cilantro, and jalapeño. Toss together with lime juice, salt, and pepper. For the fish, rinse and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Add oil to a very hot pan. Sear, about 3 to 4 minutes a side, until just under cooked.

Pork and King Crab Dumplings

Dumplings are one of my family's specialties. They've always been a regular part of my diet when I was growing up. Now that I'm on my own and in a different city than my parents, it's much more of a treat. It's a challenge making them without the help of seasoned family members, and it usually takes all evening. In the end, all the hard work is worth it because nothing compares to homemade dumplings. 

A few years ago, my parents and I came up with the outstanding filling combo of pork and king crab. There's also some Taiwanese cabbage, scallion, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and salt in there. The dough is made and rolled by hand, and each dumpling is individually folded. They're cooked in boiling water for a few quick minutes, but they can also be pan fried for potstickers. 

HOW TO:

First the dough. Work a minimal amount of water into 4 or 5 cups of flour. Seriously minimal. It should just come together and be malleable. That's it. Put the dough in a pot with a fitted lid and let rest for an hour or two. Knead well midway.

For the filling, finely mince 3 or 4 scallions and 3 thin slices of ginger. Add those, a decent amount of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and salt to the pork. Mix in and set aside to marinate. Finely chop half a head of Taiwanese cabbage. (Taiwanese cabbage looks like flattened cabbage. It's sweeter in flavor and has a crisper texture.) Mix in with the pork. Stir continuously in one direction until the meat has a sticky and firm consistency. This is really important and could take a while. Water or broth may be added if necessary. When the meat is well mixed, gently work in roughly chopped crab meat.

Roll out the dough into long snakes, and pinch off small balls. Each ball needs to be smoothed, flattened, and rolled into a thin, circular disk. A helpful boyfriend makes for a great assistant in this case.

Fill each dough disk with the filling and crimp the edges in a pleated pattern. (Next time I'll take a picture of this.) To cook, toss no more than 20 into a large pot half filled with water that is at a rolling boil. Stir gently throughout the process, adding cool water if necessary. The dumplings are done when they are puffy and float. 

Lamb Chops with Garlic and Mint "Pesto" and Pan Roasted Potatoes

Chops or steaks are great for when I'm short on time and feeling a little indulgent. The lamb chops at Eataly are some of the best I've ever gotten in a store. (I know I rave about Eataly often, but they really have excellent meat and seafood and really good service.) One of the butchers told me that the lamb they sell is from American farms that raise their animals beyond the typical age for slaughter. The majority of lambs are killed at too young an age which traumatizes the ewe. So not only is the meat delicious, it's more conscientious too.

Anyway, dinner was seared lamb chops with pan roasted potatoes. I'm going through a phase where I'm cooking potatoes on the stovetop rather than in the oven for whatever reason. It's great for the summer though, when the thought of having a hot oven on during a 90º day sounds like torture. It's incredibly easy. Just toss halved small potatoes in with some butter and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and turn occasionally until browned. 

I also felt like making a little garnish/sauce/whatever for the lamb. I thought mint would be a good herb to use. The "pesto" was really just very finely chopped mint and garlic, olive oil, and a little salt and pepper. It was a great accompaniment. 

HOW TO:

Halve small golden potatoes. Heat butter and olive oil in a large non-stick pan, and toss the potatoes in. Season with salt and pepper. Turn very occasionally until well browned. Season the lamb chops well with salt and pepper. Be sure to let the meat come to room temperature or close to room temperature before seasoning. Preheat a stainless or grill pan until very hot. Toss those babies on. Sear about 3 to 4 minutes a side for medium rare. Meanwhile, finely mince and mash together mint, a clove or two of raw garlic, and some coarse sea salt. Finish the mixture with olive oil for a nice pesto-like consistency. Plate it all together and spread the mint mixture liberally onto the chops. 

Pasta with Clams

Restaurants may trick you into thinking that this is difficult, but it's not. One of the many perks about living in New York is the fresh, local seafood. Littleneck clams are really easy to get here, and are usually very very fresh. In this dish, they're tossed with sautéed pancetta,  tons of garlic, a little shallot, and regular fettuccine for a simple, delicious pasta dish. 

HOW TO:

Rinse the clams well. Ina Garten says a tablespoon of flour in the water helps release some of the sand - couldn't hurt. Mince about 1 head of garlic and chop 1 medium shallot finely and 1 finger thick slice of pancetta into small cubes. Sauté the pancetta until crisped. Add the garlic and shallot until slightly caramelized. Season with salt and pepper. Deglaze with a quarter to half a cup of dry white wine. Toss in the clams and stir until well coated. Cover the pan until the clams start opening, about 4-8 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the pasta per directions (most Italian noodles work well with this dish). When the clams are all opened, throw in the cooked pasta along with some pasta water if the sauce is dry. Toss together well. Garnish garnish with red pepper flakes, parmesan, and parsley. 

Raw Kale and Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

My latest go-to salad. I know kale can be intimidating and texturally tough-looking, but after a brief marinade in some kind of acid (fresh lemon juice, or pomegranate vinegar in this case), it's just as crisp and tender as butter lettuce. Roasted beets are a great sweet balance to the tart kale leaves, and fresh chèvre rounds it all out.


HOW TO:

Wash beets well. Try to use fresh ones, i.e. not loose, tennis ball sized or smaller. Dry, cut off the tops, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place them in a foil packet and bake for about 45 minutes at 375-400ºF. Remove beets from the foil, fork-test to make sure they are tender, and set aside to cool. Wash and soak kale, removing the tough main stem in the process. Dry the leaves well (hellooo handy salad spinner that I finally caved and bought) and chop into bite-ish sized pieces.

For the marinade, whisk together the juice of half to one lemon, a slightly greater amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. Add a little honey if the dressing tastes too tart. Throw in the chopped kale and toss to make sure all the leaves are coated. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the cooled beets - the skin should come off easily just by rubbing. Cut them small chunks, and toss with a little lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Bring the salad together by plating the kale and beets, and crumbling some fresh goat cheese on top.

Lobster Soup

I had an indulgent lobster dinner the night before, but sadly (and shockingly) I couldn't finish it all. As I was brainstorming about what to do with the pile of shells and claws that were left, soup popped into my head. I'd never made a seafood soup before, but I figured it couldn't be that difficult. The soup stock consisted of the basics - onion, celery, carrot, peppercorns, and a bay leaf - as well as the leftover lobster shells and bodies with the gills and most of the tomalley and roe removed. The stock was excellent, not fishy at all, and the perfect base for my "leftover" meal. I threw in some seafood, potatoes, and saffron and served it with some crusty bread and butter. I'm definitely making this again, especially when I go to Maine and there are more lobster shells and bodies than I could possibly ever use.


HOW TO:

Boil the above stock ingredients for a few hours, until the broth is richly flavored.

Soak a pinch of saffron threads for 20 minutes. Strain stock into a separate pot, add the saffron water, and boil halved yukon gold potatoes until just tender. Add the lobster claw and any additional seafood (I used scallops, rock shrimp, and cod). Cook until everything is just done, in this case 3 minutes or so. Garnish with parsley and serve hot with bread for dipping.

Cajun Shrimp with Polenta

I'm not great at making seafood, but this dish was SO easy to make and really enjoyable to eat. I realize that I probably should have made grits instead of polenta, but they're basically the same and more importantly polenta and parmesan was what I had in the fridge.


HOW TO:

Devein, rinse, and dry the shrimp. Toss with chopped garlic, finely diced red bell pepper, cajun seasoning, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Sauté in a little olive oil and butter until just cooked through. Finish with parsley and lemon. Serve with polenta.

Pork Belly Adobo

I went through a chicken adobo phase immediately after the New York Times came out with this article. That was almost two years ago, so the dish had inevitably fallen out of my cooking rotation and was forgotten. My primary dining companion, aka my boyfriend, suggested adobo when I was scraping the bottom of my mental barrel for dinner ideas. Since I have been meh about chicken recently, I thought I'd upgrade the dish with pork. A trip to Whole Foods later, I had four pounds of locally raised pork belly ready for marinating. I made a slightly different marinade than what was written in the Times article (pasted below), basically a little more soy, a little raw sugar, and no coconut milk. I added organic coconut cream at the end of cooking to thicken the sauce instead. It turned out much better than I expected, and I expected delicious. With pork belly and coconut, I thought the dish would be oily and heavy, but the vinegar balanced it all. The flavor was an unique combination of porky, spicy, and sour.


HOW TO:

Cut the pork belly into 1-2 inch size cubes.

 Marinate with soy, rice vinegar, garlic, chilies, bay leaves, and lots of pepper for at least 4 hours.

Simmer everything together with a cup or so of water for an hour to an hour and a half or until the pork is tender. Add creamed coconut toward the end. Remove the pieces to a sheet pan and broil until browned and slight crispy. Meanwhile, reduce the remaining sauce until thickened. Serve all together with rice.



TIP:

Use Mizkan's brown rice vinegar. It makes for a much smoother vinegar flavor.

Chicken Adobo

By SAM SIFTON

1 cup coconut milk

¼ cup soy sauce

1½ cup rice vinegar

12 garlic cloves, peeled

3 whole bird’s-eye chilies or other fiery chili

3 bay leaves

1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

3 to 4 pounds chicken thighs.

1. Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a large, nonreactive bowl or resealable plastic freezer bag. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

2. Place chicken and marinade in a large lidded pot or Dutch oven over high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, around 30 minutes.

3. Heat broiler. Transfer chicken pieces to a large bowl, raise heat under the pot to medium-high, and reduce the sauce until it achieves almost the consistency of cream, about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and chilies.

4. Place chicken pieces on a roasting pan and place under broiler for 5 to 7 minutes, until they begin to caramelize. Remove, turn chicken, baste with sauce and repeat, 3 to 5 minutes more. Return chicken to sauce and cook for a few minutes more, then place on a platter and drizzle heavily with sauce. Serves four. Adapted from Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan, Purple Yam restaurant, Brooklyn.

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.