Last Night’s Dinner

Barbecue and Iron Man with friends on Friday, a trip to the farmers’ market and the newest Farmstead outpost on Saturday, wandering Federal Hill on Sunday… yeah, despite the cold and rain, we had another great weekend in our new city.

We’re trying to be frugal these days, but I couldn’t resist picking up a package of lobster tortelloni at Venda Ravioli yesterday. Tossed with thinly sliced asparagus, a bit of creme fraiche, and the remainder of the spring onion pesto I made last week, it was sinfully good (and totally worth the splurge).

I don’t usually talk about breakfast here, but this morning’s meal was worth mentioning. I had some Black Valentine beans left in the fridge from a previous dinner, which I reheated and mashed with a little bit of bacon fat until creamy. Add to that a couple of fried tortillas, chipotle salsa, cheese and chopped radish and cilantro left over from that same dinner, top with fried egg, and voila - huevos rancheros.

Not a bad way to kick off another week of good eating, I’d say.

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.

Whew! I am bruised, scraped, and generally banged up from packing and shifting boxes around the apartment. I think I broke every fingernail (not that they were long to begin with). We accomplished a lot over the weekend, but we also made time to eat well. Here are a few photos:

So did I mention I sent my husband to a butchering demo at the Brooklyn Kitchen last week? And that he got to bring home some amazing pork?

Oh, yes. (You can read his thoughts on it here.)

We spent a nice block of time on Saturday enjoying the 76 degree weather, hanging out with the outdoor kitties and slow smoking the beautiful pork shoulder he brought home. We ate a good chunk of it for dinner that night, simply sliced and served with my first potato salad of the season.

I turned the rest of it into Sunday brunch, browning it in our cast iron skillet with onions, potatoes and red bell peppers, and serving this smoky pork hash with a couple of fried eggs alongside.

We went for a lighter dinner on Sunday night to balance out our rich morning meal: wild Alaskan salmon, quickly seared in a hot pan and served over a salad of mixed baby greens and thinly sliced cucumbers and radishes. I had the rest of a container of Greek yogurt in the fridge, as well as more fresh dill, so I combined them with some minced shallot, lemon juice and zest to make a tangy sauce for the fish.

As much as we got done over the weekend, we still have a lot to do, and I’m trying hard not to feel overwhelmed. I can’t promise consistent posting until after the move, but I’ll do my best. Cheers!

We’re heading up to Providence tomorrow to drop off a check and pick up our keys to our new home. We had (and still have) a lot to do to prepare for the trip, but I still made time for food safari and cooking over the weekend. To start off, Mike and I headed to Moto for brunch on Saturday morning.

Moto’s pretty special to us - we had brunch there the morning after we moved into our Bushwick apartment, and we’ve had many great meals there since. Hopefully we can squeeze one more dinner in before the 22nd.

We split up after brunch, as Mike had a lot of editing to do at home, and I continued into the city to shop. I made the usual rounds: Essex Street Market to hit Saxelby’s and Formaggio, then to Union Square Greenmarket, then home with all of my goodies.

After a bit of a rest, I put a big pot of chicken stock on the stove and pulled a few things out of the freezer to thaw for later. At Mike’s request, I had purchased a couple of Cornish game hens from Quattro’s for Saturday dinner, which were so huge we ended up roasting just one; the other is in the freezer for a future meal. The bird was delicious roasted with butter and herbs, and served with creamy buttermilk mashed potatoes and a simple pan sauce.

Sunday was another busy day of packing, punctuated by a longer-than-anticipated visit to the hair salon, so I changed up our dinner plans just a bit. I had pulled a duck breast out to thaw, which I was going to sear and serve with a flageolet gratin from Sunday Suppers at Lucques, but in the end I decided to go with something less time-intensive. I had a couple of little stem tomatoes left from stock-making, and I had thawed the remaining Ventreche from Mike’s last cassoulet, so I decided to use the two to flavor a pot of lentils.

I carved off about two half-inch slices of Ventreche and cut them into chunks, then browned them in a bit of olive oil. I cored and chopped the tomatoes and placed them in a bowl with one large shallot, chopped, a good pinch of kosher salt and some Herbes de Provence. When the Ventreche was browned I added the tomato and shallot mixture to the pan, letting the tomatoes cook down a bit, then I splashed in a tablespoon or two of Sherry vinegar. I added a couple of minced garlic cloves next, and when they were fragrant I added a cup of lentils and two cups of our fresh chicken stock. I covered the pan and cooked the lentils until tender, about 20 minutes or so, stirred in one bunch of red chard (thinly sliced), then spooned the lentils into bowls and topped them with slices of our seared duck breast. The stewed lentils were so good I could have made a meal out of them alone - I’m sure the leftovers are going to make a great lunch.

Posting will be light this week with our packing and traveling, but I’ll catch up with you again in a few days. Happy April!

Our long weekend was packed with so much delicious it would take me a week to write it up properly, so again, I give you our weekend in photos:

We started off with a bang: a round of cocktails then a fantastic meal at Diner. I had the perfectly cooked grass-fed sirloin while Mike had goat two ways (roasted leg and seared loin), both forms prepared beautifully and both of them a revelation. The texture and flavor of the leg reminded me quite a bit of the veal chops we had last week, while the loin was delicate and super tender. As an added bonus, we got a tour of the (fairly) new butcher station courtesy of the man himself, Grocery Guy Tom Mylan.

Mike’s juggling a few freelance projects, so we planned to spend a lazy Saturday at home. We woke early and while he got right to work on editing, I got to work on breakfast: pork hash made with Flying Pigs’ apple and sage farmhouse sausage, fried eggs, and rye toast.

Later in the day, I made a little something to nosh on while watching the NCAA basketball tournament (him) or DVR’ed cooking shows (me): Prosciutto, Genoa salami, Sopressata, fresh mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, romaine, and a sherry and herb vinaigrette on ciabatta.

Since we missed our traditional fizzy on Friday, we had a little pre-dinner Prosecco on Saturday, along with some raw almonds sprinkled with sea salt.

Saturday dinner was a really simple affair: the last of my ragu Bolognese pulled from the freezer, cooked up with a little extra milk and tomato, and tossed with Rustichella linguine, plus a big bowl of Caesar salad. The dressing is a variation of the formula my former mother-in-law taught me, and when the ingredients are whizzed up in the mini chopper it takes almost zero time and effort to prepare.

Finally, Sunday. When we parted ways with Tom on Friday, he was kind enough to extend an invitation to join him, his lovely fiancé Annaliese and a roomful of their friends for their Feaster celebration. I have no photos because frankly, I was too busy enjoying myself, but trust me when I say the booze was flowing, the company was fantastic, and the food was bountiful and really, really delicious. We had to cut our stay a bit short because Mike had more work to do, but we headed home with full bellies and big smiles – it was a great end to our weekend.

Our weekend in photos:

I was inspired by Lydia at The Perfect Pantry to pull out the bag of Fregula Sarda I bought recently and have another go at recreating a dish we had at Marlow and Sons last year. This time around, I made my meatballs using only veal rather than a mixture of meats, I used shallot in place of onion, I upped the proportion of breadcrumbs and I made the meatballs a little smaller. I placed a big spoonful of cooked Fregula in our bowls, added a few meatballs, and ladled over some hot chicken stock to which I had added an abundant amount of fresh herbs just at the last minute. I finished each serving with a grating of Ricotta Salata.

Though we are really trying to work through as much of the stuff in our freezer as possible leading up to our move, we did hit the Greenmarket in Union Square on Saturday morning, where we brought home a lovely guinea hen from Violet Hill. Mike took the bird apart and I later braised it in a mixture of red wine, balsamic vinegar and aromatics.

Sunday was crummy and we both felt like hibernating so a comfort food breakfast was in order: Anson Mills grits with cheddar and parm, fried egg and Tamarack Hollow bacon.

After breakfast, I sat down with our freezer inventory, a stack of cookbooks and my little red meal planner, while Mike did some work on his post for the latest Mixology Monday. He mixed up a round so I could take advantage of the late afternoon light for taking photos, and of course we couldn’t let the drinks go to waste.

I served them with a little cheese and baguette to help counteract the cocktail’s high octane level.

Finally, dinner. We had also brought home a package of grass-fed Angus short ribs from Elk Trails on Saturday, so we thawed them overnight and Mike braised them, using recipes from John Besh, Mario Batali and Suzanne Goin as inspiration. We had four flanken-style ribs which came in at just under 2.5 pounds, and after he browned them, he softened chopped onion, carrots and celery in the remaining fat in the Le Creuset, caramelized a blob of tomato paste, then added a cup of veal stock, 1.5 cups of red wine, one smashed garlic clove, some thyme, a bay leaf, and about a cup and a half of chopped tomatoes. The ribs went back into the pot, he sealed it up and chucked it into the oven for about 3 hours. When the ribs were tender, he stirred in some chopped chard until it was just wilted, and we served it with my sides: creamy mashed potatoes and a horseradish-spiked crème fraiche.

So remember last month when you were all clamoring for Mike’s cast iron skillet pizza recipe? Here it is in all its glory, brought to you by the man himself. Enjoy!

Cast Iron Skillet Pizza

NOTE: The original recipe says this makes two 9-inch pizzas. We have a used a modification of this recipe several times in a 12-inch iron skillet and have finally decided that it’s too much dough, even for a 12-incher. When next we make this, we’ll reduce the flour from 4 cups to 3, and we’ll reduce the amounts of other ingredients accordingly. When we do, we’ll post the revised recipe. For now, though, our original version:

Crust:

1 package (1/4-ounce) active yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (about 110°F)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for oiling the bowl and skillet, divided

Toppings:

1 recipe Mike’s Pizza Sauce
1 lb. hot Italian sausage
1/2 to 1 ball fresh mozzarella
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmagiano Reggiano
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the yeast, sugar and water and let stand 5 minutes until foamy. Add the butter, flour and salt and combine well, using the paddle attachment. Knead, using a dough hook, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and crawls up the dough hook. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water if dough is dry and not coming together. If dough is too wet, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour. Remove the dough from the bowl. Grease the bowl with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover and let the dough rise until it doubles in bulk, about an hour. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide in half. Shape the dough into two balls, cover and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.

(This recipe calls for letting the dough rise at room temp for about an hour. For this latest pizza, however, we made the dough a day before and allowed it to rise overnight. Heidi Swanson has a great explanation of this process, if you want to know more. We did find that it makes a better crust.)

Heat a cast-iron skillet on the stove top over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil; crumble 1 pound of Italian sausage into the skillet and brown. Remove the sausage to a plate lined with paper towels. Do not remove the oil and fat from the iron skillet. (If your sausage is on the fatty side, you might remove some of the fat, but be sure to leave the skillet well greased.)
Preheat oven to 400°F. Pat or roll dough into a circle and transfer it to the skillet. Press dough down into bottom of skillets and up the sides. Drizzle a little olive oil over the crust then layer the sauce, sausage and mozzarella. Bake on bottom rack of oven for 30 minutes. Start checking the pizza for doneness; you’ll want the pizza crust to be golden brown, and the toppings to be just starting to brown. Remove pizza from oven and top with grated parm and basil.

Mike’s Pizza Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
Half of a 28 oz. can of imported San Marzano tomatoes (tomatoes and juice)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Add olive oil to a small saucepan and warm over medium heat. Chop garlic and add to the pan, sautéing until golden and fragrant. Add the tomatoes with their juice, crushing lightly. Add salt, oregano and chile flakes, stirring well. Make a hot spot in the bottom of the pan and add tomato paste, allowing it to caramelize a bit before stirring through. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, until the sauce thickens.

I forgot to mention it, but we went away again this weekend. I’m a little distracted and in the process of digging out, but I’ll leave you with a few photos:

A delicious salad of roasted beets, beet greens, quinoa and cornichons with guanciale vinaigrette.

It’s a waffle. With foie gras. And maple syrup. Oh yes.

Tasty little sandwiches. We had one of each.

The best cocktail we had all weekend. Which sadly, isn’t saying much.

Home again, and dinner was a very uncomplicated affair: black-eyed peas, collards with smoked paprika and sherry vinegar, and a poached egg. Nothing fancy, just good, satisfying food.

I’m slowly getting back in the swing of things and hope to resume regular posting tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend!

I had hoped to give my system a bit of a break after our Valentine’s Day gut-buster of a meal, but I ended up doing quite the opposite. I kicked off my long weekend early, taking Friday afternoon off to enjoy a long, leisurely lunch with the lovely and delightful claudia of cook eat FRET fame. We met at A Voce, and bonded over two glasses of wine each and a steady flow of excellent plates – three appetizers, two pastas, and a positively swoon-worthy dessert. The food was fantastic, and I’d highly recommend A Voce to anyone looking for a nice place to dine in the city, but really, my dining companion was my favorite part of lunch. I haven’t smiled and laughed like that in far too long, and I look forward to the next time claudia and I can share a meal.

Since Mike and I had both had lunch dates on Friday, we did go a little light on dinner, nibbling on wild Portuguese sardines in piri piri, crackers, olives, good bread and a bit of cheese. We had a full day of running around ahead on Saturday, starting with a visit to Anne for our bread, eggs, milk and cheese for the week, and we ended up ferrying half a wheel of Bartlett Blue up to Karen at Union Square as a favor. In return, we got free cheese from Anne and the lamb kidneys we planned to purchase from Karen were comped as well. Nice. We had plans Saturday night but ended up staying in, too wiped out from the day’s activities, both of us feeling a bit under the weather. I whipped up a quick pasta toss, melting a little butter into some olive oil, sizzling garlic in it until golden, then adding chopped anchovies and capers to the mix. I tossed the sauce with some hot cooked linguine and topped the dressed pasta with coarse toasted breadcrumbs spiked with hot Dijon mustard.

On Sunday we picked up a Zipcar for the day, made a Target run, then headed down to Red Hook to stock up on some much needed provisions at LeNell’s and grab dinner at The Good Fork. No photos, but our appetizers and entrees were excellent across the board. If there was an easier way for us to get down there I think we’d be there all the time.

We woke early on Monday to ferry a few things over to the Salvation Army in Williamsburg, then enjoyed a big breakfast at egg and headed home to work on our remaining projects for the weekend. Mike returned the car and did some work on our computer setup, while I cleaned, culled and reorganized around the apartment. The day was unseasonably warm, so we opened windows and our back door to let in the fresh air while we worked. We were hungry again by mid-afternoon, so I put together some sandwiches using the last bits of tapenade we had in the fridge, some lightly pickled red onions, and some fontina, mortadella and sopressata we picked up over the weekend.

I had planned to make some gooey, cheesy enchiladas for dinner on Monday night, but when a delivery man arrived at our door bearing a shipment of Rancho Gordo beans, I veered in a different direction. The warmth of the day was fading and rains were moving in, so a big pot of beefy chili felt like just the thing. Chili is one of those things that I never make quite the same way twice, but I was so pleased with how this batch turned out I decided to take notes. It’s a bit time-intensive what with the use of the dried beans, but I think the flavor and texture are well worth it.

Before I get to the recipe, let me just say hello and welcome to any of you who have wandered over here from REAL SIMPLE. What a nice surprise to be mentioned and what an honor to be in such great company. I hope you like what you see here!

Beef and Black Bean Chili

1/2 lb. dried black beans (I used Rancho Gordo’s Black Valentine)
Cold water
1 bay leaf
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2 tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
1 red onion, peeled and diced
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Kosher salt
1 lb. ground beef (I used grass-fed ground beef from Hardwick)
3 tablespoons good-quality chile powder (I used Mike’s homemade blend, based on Alton Brown’s version)
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2-1 teaspoon ground chipotle powder
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 28 oz. can fire-roasted whole tomatoes with juice
1 bottle amber ale (I used Abita)
2 tablespoons canned green chiles, chopped
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Shredded cheese, sour cream and scallions for serving

Place beans in a pot, add the bay leaf and a generous amount of cold water. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to the lowest temperature possible and continue cooking the beans until they are very tender. Discard bay leaf.

Add the oil to a deep, heavy-bottomed soup pot and add the onion, seasoning with salt and cooking until softened. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, then add the ground beef, breaking it up with a spoon. Add a bit more salt and cook the meat until it loses its raw red color, then add the chile powder, cumin, oregano and chipotle powder, stirring through to coat the meat. Let cook over medium heat a few minutes longer, then make a hot spot and add the tomato paste, allowing it to toast before stirring it through. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon, then add the beer and chiles. Drain the beans and add them to the pot, stirring well. Cover and simmer over low heat for an hour or more. Serve with your favorite sharp cheese, sour cream, and sliced scallions – a squeeze of fresh lime juice would also be good but we were out of limes.

I’m still trying to recover from what was a very long, busy weekend for us. With the help of friends at the BARC shelter in nearby Williamsburg, we were able to trap five of the nine cats who regularly visit our back yard and get them over to the ASPCA’s spay/neuter truck. We had been hoping to do this for some time but were always faced with logistical challenges; this time, though, the stars were in alignment and we got it done.

Funny Face, the matriarch of the group, was the last to enter a carrier and she made it quite clear she would do it on her own terms, but I’m grateful she trusted us enough to go along with our plan in the end. We were only able to capture one of her four newest kittens, but the remaining three seem to be doing okay on their own. We saw them this morning and fed them, and we can hopefully catch them for our next round of TNR.

The kitty-herding took up the bulk of our time and energy, so I didn’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I did whip up a fresh batch of chicken stock yesterday afternoon while I did my periodic freezer inventory, and Mike and I joined forces to produce an easy dinner of steak frites and salad which we ate while watching the Super Bowl. (We’re not really pro football fans, but the commercials are always fun.) As a bit of a reward to ourselves for our cat-trapping successes, we picked up a case of Kermit Lynch’s 2006 Vaucluse. Our feline sommelier apparently approves.