Last Night’s Dinner

Lots of food and drink related activity this first weekend in our new home, as we embarked on our first Providence food safari to supplement the goodies we moved up from Brooklyn. We had beautiful weather, which made for more enjoyable wandering, and which also meant we were eager to unpack the grill and put it to use.

We kicked off Friday night with a round of cocktails and a delicious grilled chicken rubbed with lemon and herbs and loads of fresh garlic. While Mike took charge of the bird, I cleaned and steamed some artichokes and whipped up a garlicky lemon vinaigrette to serve on top. It was a simple meal, but it was light and tasty, and was made even better by the wine recommended to us by the guys at Eno downtown: Marc Kreydenweiss Partager Avec Toi Gewurtztraminer from Alsace.

A big priority on Saturday was to check out the wintertime farmers’ market at AS220, and were we ever glad we did. Though the space was small and the number of stalls was limited, we brought home something from just about everyone there, and have been happily eating our way through that bounty of local goodness.

The oysters we enjoyed pre-dinner from Matunuck Oyster Farm were fantastic, the greens for our salad and the fresh asparagus were delicious, but the star of Saturday dinner was this beautiful grass-fed ribeye from Simmons Farm. Bathed in a quick marinade and grilled to perfection, it was one of the most flavorful steaks we’ve had in a long time.

We want to get back into the habit of having seafood dinners on Sundays, so we took a trip to our nearby Whole Foods to see what they had to offer. Though I had never cooked with it before Sunday, the beautiful Arctic Char fillets that were on special caught my eye, so I picked one up. Arctic Char is a good choice as far as sustainability goes, and with salmon stocks in such peril, this seemed like a good opportunity to try an alternative.

I went fairly simple with the preparation, seasoning the fillets with sea salt and olive oil and searing them in a hot pan until they were just cooked through. I made a pesto of sorts with a big bunch of spring onions from the farmers’ market and a healthy amount of Meyer lemon juice, and served the fish on a bed of creme fraiche-enriched mashed new potatoes, finishing with a dollop of the spring onion pesto. The flesh of the char is very mild and buttery tasting, and the brightness of the pesto was a nice contrast.

It’s always a drag getting caught up at work after time away, but we got a bit of good news yesterday which melted my stress right away. I didn’t have anything specific planned for dinner, so when I swung through the market at Grand Central to pick up provisions, I decided to splurge a bit. I picked up a pound of lump crab meat and a container of crème fraiche at Wild Edibles, remembering the box of frozen artichoke hearts at home in the freezer, with thoughts of combining them in a rich and creamy gratin. I took the ‘chokes out to thaw when I arrived home and got to work on the rest of the dish. I spooned the crème fraiche into a large bowl and lightened it with the juice of half a Meyer lemon. I seasoned it with a bit of kosher salt and added a copious amount of chopped fresh herbs – thyme, chervil and chives. I picked through the crab meat and added that to the bowl, then added my thawed, drained artichoke hearts, folding the mixture gently. I divided it into two buttered baking dishes and topped each serving with some grated Fontina cheese, then baked them in a 400 degree oven until they were browned and bubbly – about 25 minutes or so. This gratin was definitely luxurious and very good, though next time I think I’ll go a little heavier on the lemon juice to balance out the creaminess of the crab.

This time of the year, it’s difficult not to be an impulse buyer when visiting the Greenmarket. I loaded up on artichokes at Union Square over the weekend - I had no idea how I was going to use them, but it’s such a treat to get them grown locally.

The heat and humidity were pretty oppressive yesterday, so I wanted to fix something fast. Doing a quick mental inventory of the fridge and cupboards, I decided to combine the artichokes with pancetta and bucatini pasta.

My artichokes were small, so trimming them down was a breeze. While the halved hearts sat in acidulated water, I got my pasta water going and chopped up half a pound of thickly sliced pancetta. I sautéed the pancetta in a bit of olive oil until crisp, then added the artichokes, salt, a pinch of chile flakes and a splash of white vermouth. I let this continue cooking until the artichokes were tender, then finished the bucatini in the sauce, adding a couple of ladles of the pasta water. I stirred a handful of grated Pecorino Romano in off the heat, and finished the pasta with plenty of black pepper and a bit more cheese.

Wine Pairing: I’m always a little wary of trying to pair wine with artichoke dishes, and my original thought was to buy a Prosecco to go with our meal. We ended up going with this Dolcetto d’Alba recommended to us by Dan at Uva Wines (who moved into their big, bright new space just last week), and once again, he picked us a winner. It was bright and juicy and went beautifully with our pasta.

I’m loving the warmer weather, but yesterday was oppressively sticky. Even with a window, our kitchen tends to trap heat, so I didn’t want to spend any more time over a hot stove than was absolutely necessary. Luckily, we had all of the necessary ingredients on hand for me to throw together one of my favorite assembled meals – Salad Nicoise.

When I’m blanching vegetables for a dish, I like to do more than I’ll need, dry the extras well and freeze them. I had a little bag of haricots verts in the freezer from this dish, and when I got home from work I placed them into a bowl of warm water to thaw.

The extent of my actual cooking was boiling about a dozen small fingerling potatoes until tender, and hard boiling a couple of eggs; of course, if you have leftover boiled potatoes and/or hard boiled eggs on hand, you’ve got that much less to do.

While my two small pots boiled away, I washed and spun dry a mixture of young lettuces from Yuno’s Farm and set them aside while I prepared a super easy garlicky vinaigrette: mash one clove of garlic into a paste and place it into a mason jar; add 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, about 1/4 cup of champagne vinegar, salt and pepper, then screw on the lid and shake. Add 1 tablespoon each chopped fresh parsley and tarragon and 1-2 tablespoons of small capers, and shake again. Add 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil and shake for a final time.

When the potatoes are fork-tender, drain them, cut them in half and set them in a small bowl. Pour about 1/3 of the dressing over them and gently toss. Pour the remaining dressing into the bottom of a large salad bowl, place your salad greens on top and toss gently with your (clean!) hands.

Mound the dressed greens on dinner plates; top each with a handful of the dressed potatoes, 8 oz. of good-quality oil-packed tuna (drained), a few anchovy filets, haricots verts, marinated artichoke hearts, olives, tomato wedges, and a halved or quartered hard boiled egg. Pour yourself a lightly chilled glass of rose, and enjoy.

I try to make our meals as visually appealing as they are tasty, but sometimes things just don’t work out as I had hoped they would. On those occasions, I usually just don’t write up the meal or post the photos, but Mike has encouraged me to do so – it’s a truer representation of what really goes on in our kitchen, and putting it out there is a good way for me to talk about what worked and what didn’t, as well as to work out what to do differently next time.

When I was surfing around yesterday trying to gain some new ideas for the black sea bass we would be having for dinner, I came across this recipe for Black Sea Bass en Papillote on Leite’s Culinaria. We had leeks and some gorgeous heads of baby cauliflower at home, so I decided to use those along with some artichokes to accompany the fish.

I decided against packeting the fish and vegetables; I love the skin of black sea bass, and I wanted to get it really crispy, so cooking it in a really hot pan was the way to go. Our filets were on the small side, so I decided to give them a very light dusting of flour before putting them into the hot pan, hoping this would help them hold together better. I scored the skin, seasoned the filets on both sides with kosher salt and black pepper, and set them aside for a bit while I worked with the veggies.

I sliced and cleaned two leeks and placed them on a foil-lined baking sheet. I quartered three of the heads of assorted baby cauliflower (leaving the outer leaves attached), and added a box of thawed frozen artichoke hearts (next time I am definitely using fresh ones, but we can’t get them in our neighborhood, and I had these on hand). I seasoned the vegetables with salt and pepper, tossed them with a bit of olive oil, and placed them into the oven to roast – 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

We generally use our cast iron skillet for searing just about any sort of meat, fish or fowl, but I decided to try searing the fish filets in our nonstick skillet instead. I got it really hot, added a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and added the fish filets (which were lightly coated with flour) skin-side down. The fish cooked for about 3-4 minutes on the first side, then for another minute or two on the second side, and they did get gorgeously crispy.

I drained the excess oil from the pan and deglazed it with a cup or so of white wine and a blob of Dijon mustard; I added a couple of tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves and whisked in a tablespoon of butter off the heat. I plated the black sea bass filets on a bed of the roasted veggies and spooned the sauce on top. I was incredibly pleased with the flavors and textures here, but unfortunately, everything looked sort of… brown.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of boiled or steamed vegetables, but I think one of those methods might have been the best way to keep the vibrant colors of the cauliflower intact. However, I was so happy with how the fish turned out that I will probably use this method for cooking delicate filets going forward; and though the little mustard-wine pan sauce I made was tasty, I’m not convinced the fish needed it – perhaps just a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some chopped fresh herbs will work better. Live and learn!

It has been a long and difficult week for many of us, I think. This was the meal I had originally lined up for last Monday night, but as it turned out we didn’t end up eating in that night. Still, the idea was in my head, the ingredients were in the fridge, and I still wanted to try this recipe out.

I stayed home from work yesterday and had some time to decompress, relax with the cats and get into a better headspace, and I finally felt ready to cook something again by the time the evening rolled around. I wasn’t sure how this would turn out – I love artichokes but I’m still getting the hang of working with them. I’m happy to say this was one experiment that ended well. The slices of artichoke were velvety but still had a bit of bite, the pasta was tender and delicious, and the fresh ricotta we got from Anne was the perfect finishing touch.

Artichoke Tortellini with Artichoke & Lemon Butter

1 lb. artichoke tortelloni (ours was from Bertagni, which is available via FreshDirect and at Garden of Eden)
4 lemons
5 baby artichokes, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Fresh ricotta

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a generous amount of salt.

Cut two of the lemons in half and squeeze their juices into a bowl of water; toss the lemon halves in as well. While the water comes to a boil, trim and slice the baby artichokes and place them into the lemon water.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with the olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and sauté until golden and fragrant. Using a slotted spoon or spider, remove the sliced artichokes from the water and add to the sauté pan. Add the juice of the remaining two lemons, the remaining two tablespoons of butter, and season with salt.

Add the tortelloni to the boiling water and cook for just a few minutes, until the pasta floats to the top of the pot. Remove the tortelloni using a slotted spoon or spider and add it to the sauce along with a little bit of the starchy pasta water. Add half of the parsley, toss gently, allow to cook for a few more minutes until the sauce is reduced and just coats the pasta. Spoon into shallow bowls and top with a spoonful of ricotta and additional chopped parsley.

Wine Pairing: Artichokes are notoriously difficult to pair wines with, and we are certainly no experts, but I figured we’d give it a shot anyway. We drank a bottle of 2005 Paumanok Sauvignon Blanc with this, a light wine with a lot of zing – the bright citrus notes in the bottle worked really well with the lemony sauce.

Mike and I started our last meal at Dressler with a delicious warm artichoke salad, and since that night I have wanted to try to recreate it at home. I love the combination of crab and artichokes, so I thought the salad would make a nice accompaniment to crabcakes. My version of the salad wasn’t quite as good as the original - one of my artichoke bottoms broke in half and the dressing needed a little more zip - but it was good enough that I’ll attempt it again.

Artichoke and White Bean Salad

2 artichokes
2 lemons
1 can cannellini or great northern beans
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup tiny greens

Trim the artichokes down and remove the choke - you want to be left with a little bowl-shaped piece of the bottom/heart for each one. Cut one lemon in half and squeeze it into a pot of water, then throw the halves in. Place the artichokes into the pot, cover and bring to a boil. Cook the artichokes until they are tender, then drain them and set them aside.

Halve and juice the remaining lemon, add salt and pepper and whisk in the olive oil. Drain and rinse the beans and toss them with the dressing. Mound beans on top of the artichokes, top with greens and drizzle a little bit of remaining dressing over the top.

Crab Cakes

1 lb. crab meat
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup shallot, diced
3 eggs
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Several dashes of hot pepper sauce
1/2 to 1 cup panko, plus additional for coating
Oil for frying

Beat eggs in a large bowl, then mix in mustard, Old Bay, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Add crab meat, bell pepper and shallot and gently combine. Add as much panko as you need to the mixture so that it holds together when formed. Form into six cakes and coat the outsides of each with panko, gently pressing it in. Fry cakes in batches in hot oil, then drain on paper towels.