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.