lotte cigare
(Monkfish cigars)
serves 4
what you need:
2 beautiful Monkfish fillets (approximately ½ pound each)
8 slices of prosciutto (Prosciutto di Parma)
kosher salt (as needed)
freshly ground black pepper (as needed)
olive oil (as needed)
fresh minced Italian parsley (optional for garnish) Read the rest of this entry »
spring carrot purée
serves 4
what you need:
1 pound diced orange carrots (trimmed not peeled)
2 cups (16 ounces) water
3-4 ounces olive oil
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon piment d’espelette (optional)
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (as needed) Read the rest of this entry »
zucchini and sorrel velouté
yields 16 ounces (4 cup servings)
what you need:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound chopped zucchini, trimmed
2 cups water
2 handfuls sorrel, stems removed
1-2 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bouquet garni (fresh Italian parsley, thyme, 1 bay leaf)
½ teaspoon kosher salt (and to taste)
4 turns on a pepper mill (and to taste) Read the rest of this entry »
hungry no more: The Hunger Games Menu
Peeta’s nut and raisin bread with Prim goat cheese
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Rue dandelion salad with tracker jacker dressing
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Katniss’s rabbit (or chicken) chasseur
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Roasted blackberries on a vanilla pod bow with vanilla seed ice cream
and fresh violets for Gale
Impossible for me to resist. I love food. I love books. The title is The Hunger Games. Coincidentally the book (part of a trilogy by Suzanne Collins) is a fad among tweens and teens and it was race with my eldest daughter to see who could finish the book first. She won. We both loved the book and the food references throughout sent my creativity into orbit. However, the power of this book goes beyond the ability to encourage a child’s love of literature, it can also encourage them to eat good food (unbeknownst to them), and as I quickly turned the pages, this week’s simple pleasure, a Hunger Games menu, was born.
“Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor.”
“Gale holds up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it, and I laugh. It’s real bakery bread, not the flat dense loaves we make from our grain rations.” (page 7)
Katniss’s rabbit (or chicken) chasseur
serves 4-6
what you need:
meat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 rabbit (jointed into two front legs, two hind legs, two halves of saddle)
(or)
3 pound broiler chicken (cut into 2 legs, 2 breasts, 2 thighs)
It is just the way I see things; baby spring vegetable
and Puy lentil salad
Spring is my favorite season. Budding bulbs and blossoming trees bring a sense of renewal and the promise of a fresh start. Returning to my apartment from my baguette run, I was filled with anticipation. Partly, because I could not wait to slather apricot jam on this airy piece of crispy goodness I clutched in my hand, but also because the morning air was filled with the smell of narcissus, daffodils, and hyacinths. The corner florist had opened their doors. Spring has sprung and the evidence was artfully presented in round baskets for shoppers to take home and bring a little bit of spring indoors (even if the radiators were still turned on). I stopped and as I looked at the displays this week’s simple pleasure was born: baby spring vegetable and Puy lentil salad. Read the rest of this entry »
out of the salad bowl and turning up the heat:
Belgium endive au gratin
Rarely do Americans cook endives. Rather, we consume them raw, usually in a salad or as a passed hors d’œurves. However, sometimes you just have take things out of the salad bowl. I say that with great affection thinking of someone I met who primarily eats salads and rarely ventures out culinarily (at least on his own). This week’s simple pleasure goes outside the endive salad bowl and turns up the heat with a Belgium endive au gratin. Read the rest of this entry »
hungry in love: a Valentine’s Day menu to make your heart skip a beat
I often say that I know I am in love if the thought or sight of that person inspires moments of complete abandon of time and self. I use the example that if I were greeted at the airport by that person, even if the separation was brief, I would instinctively, and without hesitation, run to him, forgetting my surroundings, and the moment would only be interrupted by TSA asking me if the bags scattered twenty feet behind me, are mine. I tell my children that if you do not instinctively feel that way about the person with whom you have chosen to spend your time, then you did not choose correctly because anything less is existing; not living. I have done both. There is something to be said for following your instincts.
Harriet Van Horne wisely said that “cooking is like love [and that] [i]t should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” I agree and Saint Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to reinforce that notion. Inspired by thoughts of culinary seduction, the desire to spoil those we care for in a thoughtful, sincere way yet keeping in mind the practical demands of a mid-week busy schedule, this week’s simple pleasure is a Valentine’s Day menu that has a little something for everyone. Read the rest of this entry »
green salad with mustard frill, watercress and pea tendrils
serves 4-6
what you need:
1 handful red mustard frill
1 handful green mustard frill2 handfuls mesclun
½ cup watercress, stems removed
1 handful trimmed pea tendrils
duck bacon and praline tenderloin roulade with whipped
crème fraîche horseradish
serves 2-4
what you need:
1 ½-2 pounds beef tenderloin, centercut
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
praline crust
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
⅓ cup granulated sugarwater (as needed)
1 ½ teaspoon fleur de sel
½ cup chopped duck bacon (or applewood bacon, trimmed)
2 teaspoons minced Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced chives
1 tablespoon olive oil
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