Veg

I plan on always eating meat, but I wouldn’t mind eating less of it for many reasons. After my success with the book, Jerusalem, one of the author's earlier books, Plenty, seemed to fit the bill as a contemporary vegetarian bible. Though a few recipes happen to be über healthy and/or vegan, that is not the aim. Many call for lots of egg, cheese, butter, and cream, and some even suggest meat pairings. But they’re all very bold and complex, with a clear focus on veg and unique stand-out flavor combinations.

Here’s my first set of dishes from the past few days:

Beet, Orange, and Black Olive Salad

Citrus and beets go great together- I like to make smoothies with the two. This salad also has radicchio, red onions, parsley, and a nice vinaigrette, but it’s the salty olives that set it off. They’re hard to spot in the picture because beets turn everything they touch vibrant magenta, but there are Greek Kalamata olive halves throughout.

 

 

Marinated Pepper Salad with Pecorino

Roasted red and yellow bell peppers marinated in a sweet Balsamic dressing, tossed with watercress, basil, and parsley, and lots of shaved pecorino cheese and capers. Very sharp, loaded with herbaceous flavor, and still refreshing.

 

Mushroom and Herb Polenta

For something that sounds potentially healthy, my God, it was sinful. Parmesan and rosemary butter in the polenta. Topped with Taleggio cheese, pungent and melty. The mushrooms were coated with truffle oil and tossed with crushed garlic, tarragon, and chervil. Every bite makes you melt. It was too rich to finish in one sitting but leftovers warmed up perfectly.

Stuffed Portobello with Melting Taleggio

Here’s what to do with the fancy cheese left over from the polenta. Mushrooms stuffed with celery, onion, sun dried tomatoes, and Parmesan and topped with Taleggio. Kara said the flavor reminded her of spaghetti (in a good way). Tarragon and sun dried tomatoes shined. Might be fun to do in smaller bite-sized mushrooms.

Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad

Penne tossed with fried zucchini slices and edamame in a bright basil-parsley sauce topped with lemon zest, capers, and torn fresh water mozzarella. Very delicious and perfectly balanced. Though I served it as a main following the stuffed portobellos, it’s also suggested as the perfect picnic fare, and I think that would work well, too.

 

 

Roasted Chicken with Clementines and Arak

This wasn't a mass email, but it was a pretty dish. It’s as the title says, from my Jerusalem book. Arak is a Middle Eastern aniseed liquor, like Pernod or ouzo. The dish also had fennel in it and I served over bulgar. Very delicious; even Kara liked it. It’s also REALLY easy. In case you want to try it, the recipe is online, too (I halved it and used two large chicken thighs, skipped reducing the sauce, and it came out perfect for 2 people): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/roasted-chicken-with-clementines-arak-51179661

Also, on Saturday we had my sister and her family over and I made diner food from scratch. Burgers, fries, lemonade, and ice cream sandwiches. But I mean everything was from scratch- ground my own beef, baked the buns, peeled the potatoes, squeezed the lemons, churned the ice cream, and baked the chocolate crust for the sandwiches. Yummy.

Oh, and finally, Kara and I will be unloading a moving truck in Little Forest Hills on July 1st. Other than that, very much is up in the air.

We’ll be seeing you soon.

-X

Culinary Bachelor Party

Like they always say, "When the cat’s away, the mouse cooks some tasty food, Willie!!"

Jonathan was in LA while Kara was on Spring Break in Dallas, so we had fun in the kitchen. Here’s what we made:

Italian Beef Sandwich

Classic Chicago-style, slow-cooked, thinly-sliced beef with homemade giardiniera, on a toasted roll. Served with microwave potato chips. (see bottom of email for chips recipe)

Pizza

Italian Stallion- slow-cooked ITALIAN beef, cream cheese with HORSEradish, mozzarella, provolone, homemade sausage, peppadew peppers, dusted with chives and pecorino romano

Cal-Italia- shaved asiago, mozzarella, gorgonzola, prosciutto, fig jam, and balsamic glaze drizzled on top. As hard to photograph as it was tasty.

 

Slow-Cooked Duck with Green Olives and Herbes de Provence + Ratatouille

I split a whole duck and slowly roasted it on a bed of aromatics. This came out like a light duck confit, with olives as a side in the pan sauce. Jonathan had never had ratatouille and I have a favorite slow-cooked recipe, so that's what I served on the side.

Poutine

I'd never had nor made, poutine, but had been wanting to for a long time. It's a Canadian classic dish of French fries, gravy, and cheese curds (unique, but pretty similar to mozzarella) traditionally served at places like truck stops and greasy spoon diners, but now gourmet versions are popping up all over. I stuck to tradition. All I will say is that it is exactly as expected.

Memphis Style BBQ — Pork Ribs + Beef Ribs + Two Potato Salad with Creole Mustard and Arugula

I let the ribs sit in a rub all day and made BBQ sauce from scratch. We cooked 'em over a fire pit on the beach at the end of the LAX runway. Held up the grates with cans of Coors. The potato salad was made ahead and was great, too. Rugged, but with mouths full of sand, we did it.

Beer-Braised Rabbit with Jalapeño and Bacon + Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Risotto

Exactly how it sounds, this may have been the favorite dish of the week. Bold, but allowed you to taste the rabbit. Jeremy joined us for this one and loved it too. The risotto paired perfectly.

Vietnamese Surf + Turf — Dungeness Crab and Cellophane Noodles + Shaking Beef + Caramelized Green Beans

A few of the recipes from The Slanted Door that I have come to love. Especially the crab one. It's amazing how much crab flavor you can get into those noodles by undercooking them and finishing them with just a couple ounces of $50/lb crab. Genius recipe.

Grapefruit Sorbet

It tastes just like you'd think. We finished off every meal with this. Awesome.

Lamb Rib and Shoulder Chops + Roasted Artichoke + Roasted Potato and Leek Salad

Spring has sprung. I marinated the lamb in lemon juice and rosemary from our garden. Artichoke dipped in lemon-butter is Heaven to me and roasting it brings out a little more flavor than the usual steaming or boiling.

Microwaved Potato Chips Recipe

Slice a potato paper thin on a mandoline, rub a tiny bit of olive oil and salt and pepper on a piece of parchment paper on a plate and lay out the potato slices, NOT overlapping. Drizzle with a tiny bit more oil, salt and pepper, and microwave for about 3 minutes. Watch it- brown is good, black is like burned popcorn. Voila. You'll never buy Lay's again.