Last Night’s Dinner

I spun out another one of our old standbys last night - crispy fillets of white fleshed fish (this time, black sea bass) over tomato-fennel broth. This is so easy to prepare, and I love how well it works in the heat of summer or on a chilly fall evening.

Wine Pairing: Our friends at Thirst recommended the 2005 Olivier Savary Chablis Vieilles Vignes to go with this dish, and we both agreed it was a really gorgeous wine - a beautiful gold color, very crisp and flinty, with an almost toasted-buttery aroma.

I love making savory tarts in the spring and fall months, when mushrooms and leafy greens are at their best. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t make my own pastry because of lack of a food processor and the tiny amount of workspace we’ve got in our current kitchen, but I generally have good luck with a few favorite store-bought brands. Well, my luck gave out last night – actually, it’s probably less the fault of the pie shells and more the fact that I didn’t let them thaw enough. I opened the package, pulled the first crust out of its little aluminum tin to roll it out a bit on my floured board, and it immediately shattered. It was so brittle there was no hope of saving it, and since I was already getting a late start on dinner after a very slow commute home, I said to heck with it and decided to place my filling into the second, intact shell. Not quite what I had in mind, but it would have to do.

That filling was a couple of sliced shallots, a quarter pound of chanterelles, and about four big handfuls of chopped Swiss chard, seasoned with salt and sautéed in a bit of olive oil, all of it bound with 3 beaten eggs, 1/4 cup of crème fraiche, a cup of finely grated Gruyere cheese, salt, black pepper and a half teaspoon of Colman’s mustard powder. I spread the sautéed vegetable mixture in the bottom of the pie shell, poured the egg mixture on top, and added an additional 1/2 cup of grated Gruyere to the top of the tart before placing it into a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.

I have to say that even though the tart didn’t look exactly as I had hoped it would (i.e., not something that could have just as easily come out of a box), it was darned tasty. I have really grown to love the addition of a little bit of dry mustard to creamy or custardy dishes because the bite it provides really seems to make the flavors in the dish pop, and in this instance it highlighted the earthy mushrooms and chard beautifully. All in all, this was a good meal that came together quickly, and was easy to put together after a long, hectic workday - I guess I can’t really ask for more than that.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve probably noticed that our Friday night dinners at home usually feature something meaty – a steak, pork chops, that sort of thing. But as last week drew to a close, we still weren’t sure what Mike’s work schedule was going to look like. He’s been in a crunch period and has been working heavy overtime for the last couple of months now, but there was a possibility that if he and his coworkers could push through and finish up what they needed to on Friday evening, they wouldn’t have to work another Saturday. As it turned out, that’s exactly what happened – I got my husband back, and we could look forward to a relaxing weekend.

Since things were still up in the air as of Thursday night, I had planned something pretty simple for Friday dinner – a big pot of onion soup that could simmer away as long as necessary, and bitter greens salad with sherry vinaigrette and poached egg. Onion soup is the very first thing I taught myself to cook when I was around 11 or 12 years old, and the recipe has definitely grown with me. My current version uses a mixture of both beef and chicken stock, a healthy splash of brandy, and loads of sweet red onions. While my younger self loved to blanket crocks of onion soup in a heavy layer of cheese, I prefer a lighter take these days – a toasted slice of good sourdough bread, topped with a judicious amount of finely grated cave-aged Gruyere and popped into the oven or broiler until golden.

We did get our steak dinner this weekend, but we decided to let someone else do the cooking (and the clean-up). After all, we had cause to celebrate, and now that our lives and schedules are getting back to normal, we’ll have plenty of opportunity for dinners at home.

Onion Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium red onions, peeled, halved and sliced
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 oz. brandy
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon dried marjoram

Heat butter and oil in a deep, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the onions, season with salt, toss them to coat with the butter/oil mixture, and allow them to cook until very soft – 20 minutes or so. Move the onions aside to clear a spot on the bottom of the pan and add tomato paste, allowing it to cook in the hot spot for a minute or two before stirring it through the onions. Carefully pour in the brandy and let it bubble away for a few minutes before adding the chicken and beef stocks, bay leaf and marjoram. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes, tasting and adjusting the seasonings as necessary.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls or crocks and top with toasted Gruyere croutons or your favorite bread/cheese combination.

What do you do when time, money and inspiration are in limited supply, but you still need to get dinner on the table? Fall back on an old standby, of course.

I subscribe to Food and Wine magazine, and when the October issue arrived last month, I was delighted to see an article entitled “Spanish Food & Wine (A Crash Course).” I’ve been playing more and more with Spanish flavors, and I guess you could say I’ve developed a bit of a crush. A recipe for Galician Fish Stew sounded particularly appealing, so I decided to work it into our dinner rotation soon.

The unseasonably warm weather we’ve had these last couple of weeks has not been particularly stew-friendly, so I was hoping I would have to put the dish off for too long, but as it turned out, yesterday was the perfect day for it – cool and rainy, just the kind of night when you want to curl up with something warm and hearty.

I fiddled around with the proportions of the original recipe just a bit – since I had only purchased enough halibut for the two of us rather than the four fillets called for in the recipe, I decided to reduce the number of potatoes as well. I haven’t gotten around to making a fresh batch of fish stock yet so I substituted plain water, but I kept everything else pretty much the same, and in the end, we had a richly flavored, light yet filling dish. The aroma of the paprika-garlic oil alone makes this recipe a winner.

Galician Fish Stew
(Adapted from a recipe by Janet Mendel in the October 2007 issue of Food and Wine)

For the stew:
Two 4-6 ounce skinless halibut fillets
Kosher salt
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup water (you can substitute fish stock or clam juice)
1/2 cup white vermouth (or dry white wine)
2 bay leaves
1 medium red onion, peeled and quartered
3-4 cups coarsely chopped Swiss chard leaves

For the ajada:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Season the halibut with salt and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, combine the potatoes, water or stock, vermouth or wine, bay leaves, onion, chard and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the garlic and cook over low heat until golden. Add the paprika and red pepper off the heat, stirring well to incorporate, and set aside.

Lay the halibut on top of the potatoes and simmer, turning once, until the fish is just cooked through (6-8 minutes, depending on thickness). Remove the halibut to a plate, and spoon some of the stew into shallow bowls. Set the halibut on top. Ladle some of the broth into the garlic oil and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir well, pour it over the fish and serve.

It’s no secret that we are big fans of the pork products here at Chez Dietschyblossom, so when we saw Melissa’s absolutely mouthwatering photo of Derrick’s take on Craft’s bacon and egg risotto, there was no doubt in my mind I’d try my own spin soon.

I used pancetta instead of bacon because that was what we had on hand. I diced up six thick slices, rendered them down, set the crispy bits aside on a paper towel and used the fat (mixed with a bit of Parmigiano Reggiano butter) to saute my diced onion and to begin to cook the rice. I used 1/2 cup of white vermouth and some of our homemade chicken stock for the liquid components, and stirred in the cooked pancetta with the last addition of stock. I finished the risotto with a little bit of grated parm, a dollop of crème fraiche and a bit more butter, then spooned it into our bowls and topped each serving with a poached egg yolk and some chopped chives.

Though I over-poached the yolks just a bit, I will say that this was a pretty darned awesome dish - rich, creamy, and luxurious, with a nice bit of sweetness from the pancetta. Mike brought home a bottle of Schloss Koblenz Trittenheimer Altarchen Kabinett Riesling to drink with dinner, and while the it was a bit sweet for my taste on its own, it was a wonderful match with the risotto, the richness of the dish bringing out the bright citrusy notes in the wine.

I love all types of beans, but there’s something about cranberry beans that really sends me. I’m probably in the minority here, but I find the process of shelling them incredibly satisfying – pulling their mottled rose-colored pods open to reveal the deep red swirls on the beans themselves makes me smile every time. While they lose their color in cooking, their nutty flavor and creamy texture make up for it. They’re more than just a pretty face.

My original plan was to use the beans in a hearty soup in the style of a minestrone, but when the forecast called for temperatures in the 80s, I changed things up a bit. I thought a smooth soup would feel a little lighter, and since the basil in our garden is still going strong, I decided to make a basil-walnut pesto to dress it up a bit. With crusty rolls and some sliced garden tomatoes on the side, this meal was a nice celebration of the changing seasons.

Fresh Cranberry Bean Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
Kosher salt
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 pound fresh cranberry beans, shelled (about 2 cups)
3 cups stock (I used some of the homemade chicken stock I made over the weekend, but you can use veggie stock or even water)
Several sprigs fresh thyme
One parmesan rind*
Optional: 1/4 cup crème fraiche or heavy cream
Basil-walnut pesto (recipe below)

*When I get to the end of a wedge of Parmagiano Reggiano or similar grating cheese, I always save the rind. Toss them into a zip top bag and store them in the freezer – they’ll stay good for a long time, and they add great flavor to soups

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot, and add the onion, carrot, celery and salt. Allow the vegetables to cook for a few minutes until they begin to soften, and then add the garlic and stir. Cook for an additional minute or two until the garlic is fragrant, and then add the cranberry beans, stock, thyme and parmesan rind. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook 30 minutes, until the beans are tender.

Turn off the heat, remove the parmesan rind and thyme sprigs, taste and add more salt if needed. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Whisk in the crème fraiche or heavy cream if using. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of the pesto.

Basil-Walnut Pesto

2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup shelled walnut halves
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil

Place garlic, salt and walnuts into a food processor or mini chopper and pulse. Add the basil and pulse again until you have a coarse, chunky mixture. With the blade moving, slowly add olive oil until the pesto is at the consistency you want (some people like a looser, more fluid pesto; I like mine a little tighter).

It was quite the eventful weekend at Chez Dietschyblossom. I spent much of it out in the back yard, and not just because of the blue skies, unseasonably warm temperatures, and the tomatoes which are continuing to ripen despite the fact that Halloween is almost upon us - no, I had a few other reasons:

Two boys and a girl, probably about 6 months old, and presumably litter mates - they’ve all got the same gorgeous amber eyes. They’re still a little fearful of us, but they’re coming around - the little grey tiger even licked my finger yesterday.

As if those three cuties weren’t enough of a distraction:

…lovely miss Funny Face delivered her litter on Saturday. Not in our yard, but nearby. We haven’t seen the little ones yet, but we’ll be on the lookout. We were hoping not to have to go through this again, but people in our neighborhood keep putting perfectly lovely cats outside, unaltered, to fend for themselves, and they all seem to find their way to us. And frankly, I feel an obligation to at least make sure they’re fed. It’s a small thing to do.

Anyway, this weekend was mostly about feeding our growing feline menagerie, but Mike and I did manage to feed ourselves as well:

Grass-fed ribeye steaks and creamed kale on Friday night

Flying Pigs pork chops and a salad of arugula, fresh flageolets, roasted Delicata squash and a warm anchovy vinaigrette on Saturday

and to close out the weekend, the latest version of my favorite chicken stew, flavored with leeks and tomatoes, Provencal herbs, a healthy splash of absinthe and enriched at the end with a bit of cream. Mike had taken apart a whole chicken for me early in the day, and the wings and carcass went right into a stockpot where I let it perk away most of the afternoon.

I got a gallon of gorgeous chicken stock out of it - some of the best I’ve made yet - and it was a fine addition to the stew.

We’ve got another hectic week ahead, and at least one more weekend of overtime for Mike, but I do have a few fun meals up my sleeve… stay tuned.

I haven’t worked with chicken livers much, other than using them in paté, but when I saw a container of them at Flying Pigs’ greenmarket stall last weekend, I was compelled to pick them up. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, and paté was one option that I considered, but as Thursday night approached and I realized I didn’t have anything on deck for dinner, I remembered the container of livers in the fridge and decided to make them the focus of our meal.

I recently saw an episode of one of Lidia Bastianich’s shows in which she used chicken livers and porcini mushrooms in a sauce for pasta. I couldn’t find the recipe on her website or elsewhere online, and the episode in question was no longer on our DVR, so I figured I’d wing it and see what happened. I kept the other components of the dish pretty simple, and I have to say I was very pleased with the result – the sauce was rich and earthy, with a hint of sweetness from the vermouth. Mike made the comment that chicken livers are a bit of an acquired taste, but he still polished off two servings. I think we’ve got another hit on our hands.

Chicken Liver Ragu

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms + 1 cup hot water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, diced
Kosher salt
8 oz. chicken livers, trimmed and chopped
1 oz. Italian (red/sweet) vermouth
6 peeled San Marzano tomatoes (fresh or canned), lightly crushed
4 large fresh sage leaves, chiffonade
1/4 cup grated Parmagiano Reggiano, plus additional for garnish

Soak the porcini mushrooms in the hot water until softened, about 20-30 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the liquid, squeezing out the excess, and roughly chop them. Strain the soaking liquid through cheesecloth or paper towel to remove any grit and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and cook until softened. Add the chicken livers and cook until they have lost their raw color, stirring frequently. Stir in the chopped porcinis and add the vermouth. Allow the vermouth to reduce a bit, and then add the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, the tomatoes and the sage. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting salt as needed.

Off the heat, stir in the grated cheese. Toss with hot cooked pappardelle or fettuccine, adding a bit of the pasta water if necessary, and allowing the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce. Top with additional grated cheese.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve probably noticed that I rarely follow a recipe to the letter. That was definitely the case last night. See, about a week ago, Mike forwarded me a recipe called “Rockstar Lentil Soup.” He had obtained the recipe during the course of an email exchange with our friend Kelly Sue, and she raved about it. I’m a big fan of lentils in any form, and this soup sounded like just the thing for a cool autumn night, so I wrote it into our meal plan for this week.

As I reviewed the original recipe, I had a few changes in mind from the start – I usually like to start soups with a base of diced vegetables sautéed in whatever fat I’m using and begin adding the seasonings to build the flavors, so I would cook the onions and garlic first rather than adding them in later. I was standing over the pot stirring my spices into the onion-garlic mixture when my phone rang, and I have to be honest, while I chatted with my folks I kind of put the rest of the soup together on auto-pilot. In the end it tasted great, but the measurements I’m going to give below might be a bit imprecise. I have no idea how my version compares to the Rockstar version, but I’ll print both recipes here – try them both and decide for yourself!

Rockstar Lentil Soup
(Kelly Sue informs me that this soup gets its name because she got the recipe from her friend Maggie Estep, who got it from Blixa Bargeld)

1 1/2 cups lentils
8 cups vegetable stock
1 large potato
2 bunches (about 1 1/2 pounds) Swiss chard
1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
4 T olive oil
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (or 1/2 cup chopped parsley plus 3/4 tsp ground coriander)
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 T lemon juice

Rinse lentils; sort through and discard any foreign material. Drain well.

Combine lentils and stock in an 8-quart pan; cover and bring to simmering.

Peel potato and cut into 1/2-inch cubes; add to lentils. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Slice chard leaves and stems crosswise in 1/2-inch wide strips. Add to soup, cover and continue simmering until lentils are tender (About 20 more minutes).

In a small frying pan, cook onion in oil, stirring occasionally until onion is soft and golden. Add to onion 1/3 cup of the fresh coriander (or the parsley-cumin mix) along with garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add onion mixture to soup during the last five minutes of cooking. Stir in salt to taste, pepper, cumin and lemon juice. Garnish soup with lemon slices and remaining chopped coriander or parsley-cumin mix.

Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/4 cup white vermouth
1 1/2 cups green lentils
6-8 cups stock (we didn’t have vegetable stock so I used the rest of our homemade chicken stock)
2 cups diced Yukon Gold potato
Sherry vinegar
1 bay leaf
1 bunch Swiss Chard, chopped into about 1 inch pieces
Juice of one lemon
Greek yogurt or crème fraiche for garnish

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and cook until softened. Add the garlic, coriander, cumin and chipotle powder and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring well. Add the vermouth and stir, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the lentils, stock, bay leaf and potato, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, stir in a couple of splashes of Sherry vinegar, cover again and cook until the lentils and potatoes are tender, about 35 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, add the chard and cook just until wilted. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and ladle into bowls, topping with a dollop of yogurt or crème fraiche.