Tomato Kumato

February 24, 2010

Almost-Spring

Filed under: Appetizers, Side Dishes — Tags: , , , — emiglia @ 12:47 pm

Almost-Spring is in the air.

If you’ve lived in cold-weather climates (I’m looking at you Canadians… and you, too, New-Englanders), then you know what I’m talking about: it’s not warm–far from it. In fact, everyone is still bundled up as they hurry down the street, bemoaning the rain and slush… and then you realize: the ice and snow has been replaced by its wetter, warmer cousin! Almost-Spring is in the air! It’s almost enough to make you take off your second pair of long underwear.

Almost.

I don’t remember this season in New York–I first glimpsed it at Andover, when, after months and months of trekking through snow (and black ice, and snow that sort of melts from salting and then refreezes, and more snow, and sand…), the ground was visible again. You could smell mud and grass, and even if there was no floral evidence quite yet, it was coming. I could feel it as I inhaled the smell of mulch, looking forward to days when we would be able to sit on the lawn in the sun and pretend that we weren’t shivering beneath our thin sweatshirts…

This winter has been especially harsh, as far as New York winters go. Personally, I don’t mind snow every week and negative temperatures, but then again, I voluntarily spent three winters in Massachusetts and two in Ontario, so who am I to talk? It’s better than the wind off the Seine in Paris winters, which don’t have the added bonus of snowman-making material in the park or the snow days that permit middle-of-the-afternoon weekday treks to said park, where you can construct avant-garde representations of gangster snowmen in Liliput that would rival similar sculptures by a certain six-year-old and his stuffed tiger.

Still… Almost-Spring in Paris is beautiful. Without the snow and ice, the flowers bloom earlier. The sidewalks aren’t quite as damp; there’s no need to pick your way precariously over three-foot trenches of ice and ditchwater. And maybe the mud in the parks grasps your shoes a bit too harshly, it’s this time of year (OK… all times of year) that really get me thinking about Paris.

So, in honor of Almost-Spring, I offer you an Almost-Spring recipe. Pencil-thin asparagus will soon be plentiful–in Paris, they favor the fat white ones, but I was always partial to these. Last year, I found some at my local market and, on a whim, wrapped them in prosciutto. Since then, this has become a standby vegetable side dish when I want a weekday to feel a little special.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

1 lb. asparagus, washed and dried, ends trimmed
about 8 slices prosciutto
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Coat a baking dish with the olive oil.

Split the slices of prosciutto in half lengthwise, so you get two long, thin strips. Carefully wrap each asparagus spear in prosciutto, and lay them in the baking dish with the seam-side down.

Roast 15-20 minutes, until the prosciutto is crisp and the ends of the asparagus have withered and colored a bit. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.


April 30, 2009

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Cucumber and Mint

Filed under: Appetizers, Side Dishes — Tags: , , , , — emiglia @ 8:32 pm

One summer, a few years back, some family friends came to stay with us on our house on Long Island.

I was pickier then: still not picky, but definitely not the adventurous eater I am now. A salad much like this one appeared on our table one afternoon while we BBQed: watermelon, scallions, cheese, lettuce… a mix of very strange ingredients, and not one that I was intrigued to try. I was just about to pass over it, when Celeste–the woman who had made it and who had served as a second mother for me the entire time we lived in the same building and her son and I were playmates–heaped a spoonful on my plate.

At this point in my life, I was quite opposed to the idea of mixing sweet with savory, especially in main dishes (i.e. salted caramel-okay, duck à l’orange-no, thanks.) But it was already on my plate, edging its way over to where my perfect corn on the cob was, and so I took a bite.

It was heavenly: I never imagined that salty feta and sweet watermelon could ever produce such a harmonious mix, but they did. I ate every bit of that salad, going back for more two or three times.

I asked my mother time and time again to get me the recipe. For years, I waited, requesting it as my “coming home” meal when I arrived on Long Island each summer. But alas, each year my prayers went unanswered, and each year, I ended up heading back to school without having had my fill of that salad.

A few days ago, as I perused the market at Bercy right before it closed, I had a watermelon nearly handed to me. A woman, ready to rid her stall of the last few things so she could pack up and go home, was offering a few 500 gram barquettes of strawberries, bananas or kiwis and quarters of massive red watermelons for one euro apiece. I try very had not to succumb to the urge to take advantage of deals at the market–I end up with more produce than I know what to do with–but this deal was too good to pass up. I settled on strawberries and watermelon, and as I carried them back home, it took all my willpower not to devour them there in the street.

I had already been at my favorite cheesemonger earlier (remind me to tell you about him soon… he’s my new favorite person in the world, this week), and amongst my selection of cheeses sat a block of feta, wrapped first in plastic and then in paper to keep it from dripping all over the rest of my cheeses. I knew immediately when I tucked the watermelon and strawberries into my bag what I would be making for lunch.

I still never received the recipe from my mother. I had searched in vain for the same recipe online, but none of them had the same ingredients, the same combination I remembered. I decided to wing it, and what I ended up with is even better than the salad I remember.

I got rid of the onions and lettuce: all they did was get in the way. I made a simple dressing from the juice of a lime and a bit of extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff for a salad like this), seasoned simply with salt and pepper. The market had also provided me with a fresh mint plant, and so that was put to good use too: a generous chiffonade sprinkled over the top. I knew that I would need something else: something neutral to play off the sweetness of the watermelon and the tangy saltiness of the feta. Cucumber seemed to be the perfect foil, and so in it went.

The result is the perfect summer salad: bright and flavorful with lots of color. It’s great as I first had it: a side dish at a summer BBQ, but for me, it also makes the perfect stand-alone lunch, a great way to ring in the spring and hope for summer’s swift arrival.

This is my entry for this month’s FIC: Red and Green. I’m slipping in just under the deadline, but if you want to contribute your own post, you have until the end of today!

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Cucumber and Mint

Note: A key element of this salad is fresh herbs: I’m a huge advocate for the ease of dried ones, but it’s definitely not worth it in this case. If you don’t have mint, feel free to use basil instead. If you have neither, you can use mint oil. If you have none of the above, omit the ingredient entirely.

1/4 watermelon, diced into bite-sized chunks
1/2 cucumber
2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (I like to leave the feta in rather large chunks: personal preference)
1 lime
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (I beg of you, break out the good stuff: it makes all the difference)
4-5 fresh mint leaves, chiffonade
salt and pepper

Slice the half cucumber down the middle and then cut each half so that you have a pile of half-moons about a half-inch wide. Toss the cucumber and the diced melon in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle the cheese on top, and season with salt and black pepper. Drizzle the olive oil and the juice of the lime over the top. Sprinkle the chiffonade of mint leaves on top of the salad as a garnish.

The colors of the salad look best before tossing, so if you’re making this for company, I recommend serving like this and tossing at the table. Alternatively, you can toss the watermelon and cucumber with the oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and then add the cheese and mint at the end.

April 26, 2009

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Iron Chef

Filed under: 24, Appetizers, Chicken, Pie, Side Dishes — Tags: , , , — emiglia @ 11:29 am

And now for something completely different.

As many of you who read this blog regularly probably know, I am a recent university graduate. I graduated a semester early, which means that most of my friends here in Paris are still in college. There is a stereotype when it comes to college parties: kegs, togas, etc, but that’s not what we typically do for fun around here.

We have Iron Chef competitions.

The contestants are always me and my friend Matt. Katrina is our organizer, but she is a self-proclaimed cook of two things: tortillas and a German dish that I can’t pronounce, much less spell, and so she and Alex are always two of our judges.

We have to find a third for each competition, and this time around, it was Alex’s friend Brigitte, who, along with Alex, helped document the occasion with photos.

Before I continue, I need to make a quick note about the photos. Because I was cooking, I couldn’t very well be taking pictures at the same time, so Alex and Brigitte took care of that. You all remember what it was like when you first started dealing with macros and varying light sources, so please be forgiving of blur and color imbalances. I’ll try to make up for it with my eloquent prose. Or something like that.

The way Iron Chef works is quite simple: each of us puts in a little bit of money, and Katrina goes to the store to get materials: the secret ingredient, as well as a collection of other things we can use. There is always some form of meat (for this round, we each got a whole fryer) as well as a variety of fresh produce, pantry items and dairy products. I always allow the use of my oil, spices, flour and sugar. In addition, Matt and I each select two ingredients in advance that we will have for ourselves and will not share with one another: Matt chose cream and rice noodles, and I had canned peaches and crème fraîche.
And this week’s ingredient was…

Marrons entiers! Whole cooked chestnuts.

From the moment the ingredient is revealed, we each have fifteen minutes to plan out our meals: three courses including an appetizer, a main and a dessert. After the fifteen minutes of planning time, we have an hour and a half to cook under the watchful eye of the judges, who will later judge in five categories: food, costume, kitchen skills, use of the ingredient and x-factor.

Matt washes his hands: points for kitchen skills!

Katrina is camera shy.

Matt and I have very different cooking styles as well as different ways of approaching the contest. I always plan everything out from the very beginning. For this round, I knew that we would each have a whole chicken to work with, so I planned on roasting it and then came up with a chestnut stuffing to go with it. I also knew that I wanted to make a pie, so I was able to make the crust in the beginning and refrigerate it while I worked on other things.


Matt is much more free-form with the way he develops his menu. “I don’t know what I’m doing til it’s done, basically. Every time I do it, it’s like… the secret ingredient is something I don’t know or haven’t worked with before. I write down what I want to do in the beginning, but as I go, it changes.”

Our final menus were:

Emiglia

Potato-Chestnut Soup with Caramelized Onion-Chestnut Garnish and Goat Cheese Croutons

Roasted Chicken with Chestnut Stuffing

Raspberry-Pear Tart with Chestnut Purée


Matt

Goat Cheese and Chestnut Crostini with Dried Cranberries

Chicken Stir Fry with Rice Noodles

Chestnut Rice Pudding

A big part of the competition is the costumes… your costume amounts to one-fifth of your total score. Mostly, our costumes become characters. This time around, Matt was the son of the devil, and I was a hippie. We tried to stay in character while the judges (mostly Katrina) asked us questions as we cooked, much like Alton Brown does in the American version of the television show.

Because you only have a certain amount of time to work, preparation is everything. In my tiny kitchen, this is even more of a challenge. Something like a pie, which I made, is difficult to get right because we only have one oven to share between two people. It’s easier to control the cooking of something like a stir-fry, which Matt chose to make.

While Matt and I cooked, Katrina, Brigitte and Alex watched and drank (it’s dinner theater at home!) Alex and Brigitte also took pictures. I realized that Alex must have been watching me take my food pictures closer than I thought. He, like me, snapped about twenty pictures of each item.

He especially liked to take close-up shots of the chestnuts,

close-ups of Matt expertly butchering the whole chicken,

and close-ups of me chopping things. Basically a lot of close-ups.

I wonder where he gets it?

Half-way through the competition, Matt offers the crowd the leftover topping for his crostini. This gets him a lot of x-factor points.

The pressure is on… time’s nearly up!
When the hour and a half is up, we serve our food to everyone.

After which, the judges have to judge. Katrina liked the soup I made and the rice pudding that Matt made. She also liked the stuffing that came with the chicken. I got points for staying in character while cooking. Verdict: Emiglia

Brigitte liked the soup too (in fact, the soup just got points all around.) She really liked Matt’s presentation of his appetizer: he put lit matches into whole chestnuts when he brought out the dish. Verdict: Matt

Alex liked pretty much everything he ate: he was happy that we both used the goat’s cheese (put cheese on anything and Alex is happy). He liked Matt’s character (the devil’s son). In the end, though, he wasn’t crazy about the stir-fry (some of the rice noodles were uncooked) or the chestnut purée that went on top of the pie that I made. It took him awhile, but he finally made his decision after deciding that he preferred Matt’s crostini topping raw rather than cooked. Verdict: Emiglia

It’s interesting the way that a contest like this changes my approach to cooking. Usually, especially when baking, I make sure to carefully measure everything before starting and to double check my recipes. I realized during this contest that it’s not always necessary: I was able to make pie crust from scratch au feeling just because I’ve made it before and I know what it should look like.

I end up cooking mostly with instinct: I know that chestnuts, chicken and sage go well together, so I build off of that knowledge. I also know that cream and cheese make things better, which is how so much cream made it into my soup (it was delicious, but definitely not the sort of thing I would make for a regular weeknight dinner).

Sometimes, it doesn’t work out: my chestnut purée wasn’t the perfect match with the pie. It may have gone better with something chocolate. A lot of things turn out surprisingly well, and we learn how to use a new ingredient, which is always fun. Because of the free-form way that we cooked, I can’t really offer you any recipes: everything we made was fairly simple. Instead, I can give you basic ingredient lists for the things that were made.

Potato-Chestnut Soup with Caramelized Onion-Chestnut Garnish and Goat Cheese Croutons- onions, potato, salt, pepper, chestnuts, crème fraîche, goat’s cheese (soup), caramelized onions, butter, salt, pepper, chestnuts (garnish)

Roasted Chicken with Chestnut Stuffing- chicken, butter, salt, pepper, herbes de provence (chicken), bread, crème fraîche, milk, sage, salt, pepper, chestnuts, onion

Raspberry-Pear Tart with Chestnut Purée- butter, salt, crème fraîche, flour (crust), raspberries, canned pears, sugar, mascarpone cheese (tart), chestnuts, mascarpone, sugar, crème fraîche (purée)

Goat Cheese and Chestnut Crostini with Dried Cranberries- goat’s cheese, chestnuts, tarragon, salt, pepper, bread, Craisins

Chicken Stir Fry with Rice Noodles- chicken, tarragon, cream, Worcestershire sauce, honey, onions, garlic, mushrooms, leeks, rice noodles

Chestnut Rice Pudding- cooked rice, cream, mascarpone, cinnamon, chestnuts, sugar

At any rate, Iron Chef is a really fun way to get friends together and enjoy a meal. I love being a contestant: this is the second time I’ve been one, and it’s a really fun way to challenge yourself. I know that next time, I’d love to be on the other side, taking the pictures!

March 30, 2009

What’s in a name?

Filed under: Appetizers, Side Dishes — Tags: , , — emiglia @ 7:42 am

When I introduce myself in French, I say that my name is Emilie, which it’s not. It’s Emily (which the French take to pronouncing Hem-lee).

I don’t know why I do it. Alex makes sure that everyone, including his English teacher, knows that his name is Alexandre, not Alexander.

I have never been terribly attached to my own name. It’s very common, the second most popular girls’ name for the year I was born. It’s not my parents’ fault that everyone decided that 1987 was the year to pull what had, until then, been considered an old-fashioned name out of the woodworks.

I much prefer the other versions of my name. Not Emilie, not really. I like Amélie, which is what Alex thought my name was for the first whole year I knew him. I like Emilia, the Spanish version of my name. But I don’t introduce myself as Emiglia in Italy or as Emilia in Spain. I always try to make the locals pronounce my name “Emily,” which never ends up sounding right anyway.

I have a theory that most bilingual people agree with me on: people who speak two languages often feel as though they have two versions of themselves. When they speak one language, they feel like one person, and when they speak the other, they feel as if they take on a different personality. The differences may not be extreme, but they’re there.

Maybe my two names is a version of this, a version that developed long before I became bilingual. Who knows?

I introduce myself as Emilie in French, and I don’t know why.

Children who are raised bilingual have a much easier time with the logic that changing the name of something doesn’t change what it is. The fact that you could, in theory, call a cat a dog and a dog a cat does not pose much of a problem in their logic. Children raised with only one language have a very hard time grasping this fact.

Maybe it’s because I wasn’t raised bilingual, but even though I can grasp the logic of this, I’m not sure I agree, at least when it comes to cross-linguistic borders. The names Emily and Emilie have different connotations in the two languages. Florence and Hortense in French are perfectly normal names to give a child, while their English equivalents are what Emily was in 1987: antiquated.

The zucchini has a similar identity crisis. Sometimes courgette and sometimes zucchini, it masquerades with two names, two names that apparently mean the same thing. But to me, they don’t sound the same. A courgette seems proper, something you could serve at a ladies’ luncheon or as an hors d’oeuvre at a cocktail party. A zucchini seems much more unassuming, like something you could toss in a soup or on the grill.

I don’t know if these are stuffed zucchini or stuffed courgettes. Regardless of the name, they were delicious.

As for me, I’ll content myself with being Emiglia for now: I have been for nearly four years now, and it’s suiting me quite well.

Stuffed Summer Squash of Some Sort (adapted from Almost Turkish)

1 zucchini/courgette
1 oz. feta cheese
1 egg
1 tsp. dried mint
1/4 tsp. black pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry the zucchini and slice it in half, lengthwise. Rub a small amount of olive oil on the cut sides and roast, face down, for 10-15 minutes, until brown.

Meanwhile, combine the feta, egg, mint and pepper in a small bowl with a fork until smooth. (A few chunks of feta is OK.)

Scoop the seeds from the zucchini and dispose of them. Fill each side of the zucchini with the mixture. Return to the oven and bake until the egg is set and the cheese is browned.

March 25, 2009

My Legume Love Affair: Minestrone

Filed under: Appetizers, Beans and Legumes — Tags: , , , , — emiglia @ 7:52 am

When I lived alone, I was all about the legumes.

Canned chickpeas, white beans and brown lentils were the three that most frequently appeared in my pantry, and I never tired of ways of making them.

Now that I’m living with Alex and cooking for both of us, I aim to please, and those of you frequenting this site may have noticed a change from one-pot vegetarian meals to more traditional meat+2veg meals.

The truth is, sometimes I miss my stews, chilis and dals. And so, when Alex is at work, I spend my time putting together big, steamy pots of food that can be eaten out of a bowl with a spoon and hopefully take kindly to a few shakes of Tabasco sauce, which, as most people who have spent any significant amount of time with me know, is my favorite way to enjoy food.

Minestrone fits all three of these categories, and I made a huge pot of it last week to eat as lunch for a few days. Minestrone for me has a few characters that have a command performance: whole canned tomatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, white beans, ditalini and some sort of bacon. After I have assembled these ingredients, all bets are off: if I have extra veggies rolling around in the fridge, I toss them in. If I have a rind of parmesan cheese, that goes in too.

This is my entry for My Legume Love Affair: 9th helping, which is being hosted this month by Laurie at Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska celebrates some of my favorite foods… legumes! The event was started by Susan at the Well-Seasoned Cook, and you can read all about it on her blog.

Unfortunately, this time around, I guess I outdid myself with this version of minestrone: Alex, who always looks for steak for dinner, ended up finishing my pot of minestrone. *Sigh*… guess it’s time to make some more.

Minestrone

Note: I am posting a recipe for the version I made this time around, but really, you can use any combination of vegetables you like.

3-4 ounces (100 g.) bacon, lardons or pancetta, cubed
olive oil
1 branch celery, finely chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
4 carrots, cut into rounds
1 zucchini, cut into half-moons
1/2 green cabbage, chopped
1 28. oz. can tomatoes
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 28 oz. can white beans
ditalini or other small pasta
4-5 leaves basil
salt and pepper

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat the bacon over medium heat until it begins to release grease and brown. Stir in the celery and onions, adding a pinch of salt. When the onions are soft, add the red pepper and carrots and turn the heat up to high. Stirring often, allow the vegetables to take on some color.

Add the zucchini and cabbage and stir. Cook about five minutes, stirring frequently. Add the canned tomatoes and a bit of water to get to the consistency that you like. Add the dried basil and oregano and allow to cook, stirring once in awhile, for a half-hour.

Right before serving, add the beans and a handful of pasta for each person who will be eating. Add a bit of water so that the pasta can cook, and simmer for five minutes, or until the pasta is cooked through. Taste for seasoning and then remove from the heat. Stir in the basil leaves and serve.

This soup keeps well as long as you don’t add the pasta and beans until you are ready to serve. I usually add beans and pasta to my serving and keep the rest of the beans in a tupperware to add as I continue to eat the soup throughout the week.

April 8, 2008

It’s the Simple Things…

Filed under: Appetizers — Tags: , , — emiglia @ 9:28 am

Especially as the weather starts to get warmer, I find myself fantasizing, not about towering baked goods or complicated, long-cooking stews with tons of ingredients, but about the simple things in life.

Lots of people out in the blogosphere have been posting about their crazy post-it notes (I know I just read another one… but I can’t for the life of me remember who it was… if it was you, tell me.) I think all of us crazy food people have them. The scraps of paper that litter my handbag and get tucked into notebooks no longer read “applesauce + mashed potatoes,” “Baked pasta… cinnamon? crème fraîche?” (Yes… I have some weird thoughts when the weather is cold.)

Now, however, my post-its say something more akin to, “corn salad with jalapeño” and “apple coleslaw.” Spring is coming, and spring to me means simple. Produce with just some herbs or spices, showing off their true flavors. A ripe avocado with simple vinaigrette for lunch, just enough acid to set off the sweetness of the fruit (yes… avocado is a fruit).

Or prosciutto e melone for dinner, with one of the real European cantaloupes instead of an American muskmelon, the pure sweetness jumping out with every bite, mixing with the saltiness of the ham. I don’t even mind the juice dripping down my chin… and I hate messy food.

Yes, pleasure is truly in the simple things. Like a blog award. When I told the Canadian that my blog had won an award, he asked what it meant. Did I win money? A prize? No… I tried to explain to him, but he didn’t get it.

Joy at Joy of Desserts has awarded me this Excellent blog award! Joy has only been blogging since March, but her blog is already a hit, so go check it out! The rules of the award require me to find 10 more blogs to award, so here they are…

A Blithe Palate is one of the most beautifully written blogs out there. It may be about food, but Cath has a writer’s soul.

I couldn’t not include Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice. Way back when this was just an ickle baby blog, Ivonne helped me to learn how to come into my own in the blogosphere, not only through her helpful hints, but also by setting an amazing example.

I’m constantly heading over to Culinary Concoctions by Peabody to see what new baked good Pea is cooking up. Everything I’ve tried has been amazing!

As you can tell from my blog, I’m definitely not a vegan, nor do I cook fat-free, but Susan at Fatfree Vegan has made vegan food interesting to me, and her writing makes me want to try even some of the strangest of vegan foods.

I think everyone already knows about Jaden over at Steamy Kitchen, but I couldn’t resist sending out another thank you for her amazing and hilarious writing.

Some of the stories and recipes at Finding La Dolce Vita could be my own… but that’s not the only reason I love this beautiful blog. Venturing through familiar recipes and gorgeous pictures makes me feel at home again.

I have loved The Wednesday Chef ever since I heard the premise, but since then, my love for Luisa’s blog has grown to encompass her writing, her recipes and her beautiful photos.

Simply Recipes is what it promises… and a whole lot more. I find myself adding nearly every one of Elise’s concoctions to my “to try” list.

A fellow cook in France, Lucy at Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook has one of the most beautiful blogs I’ve ever seen. Not only is the actual format gorgeous, but her stories wonderfully woven around her recipes and her life in Lyon.

Chefs Gone Wild is still new on my blogreel, but I nevertheless find myself looking forward to what has happened next on this blog that sometimes reads like a sitcom with haute couture cooking to match.

Thank you so much for brightening my day with your words and your recipes. Now, it’s your turn: go and find ten of your own excellent blogs, and link to them and to me. Then come back here and let me know when you’ve done it, and of course let the people you award know as well!

January 27, 2008

Antipasto Brings Me Crawling Back…

Filed under: Appetizers — Tags: , , , — emiglia @ 6:43 pm

Sorry everyone! I’ve been so bad… I’ve been getting back up to speed reading everyone’s updates (sorry for the lack of comments… I had a lot to read) and I feel badly seeing how busy everyone else has been while I’ve been doing a lot of nothing.

Since I’ve been back, the only things I’ve made have been pasta and fried eggs. The Canadian’s birthday was last week, and I bought a cake! Yes, it was an amazing cake, and yes, it was very French of me to pass off the baking to a professional, but still, it was out of character. You see, I’ve had a very busy few weeks back. Upon arriving in Paris, I hardly had a chance to unpack before I whisked myself off to Paris with Britney to see the Spice Girls! I was in the 6th grade the last time they were popular, and so was everyone else there, apparently. Everyone knew all the words, and it was probably the best concert I’ve ever been to.

We stayed in an amazing hostel, St. Christopher’s, which not only was fun and amazingly clean, but also served up a very good (and very reasonable) hummus with pita appetizer in the bar. I got my hands on a Cornish Pasty this time and we got a decent curry at a chain place (I’m sure to Londoners it was awful, but Britney and I loved it), but I still have to go to Goulder’s Green Chinese food. I also introduced Britney to the wonders of Wagamama, and she has come up with a plan that involves a commuting Londoner bringing her Wagamama for dinner every day to be picked up at Paris Gare du Nord.

I got back to Paris with a terrible cold, but I still set off for the other trip I’d planned: Amsterdam. (This was when I thought the Canadian would be in Amsterdam, not sitting on my couch and boiling the plastic cheese grater to get the Comte off it. Mom, please send me a metal one… the Canadian needs special toys for his special needs.) I went with a friend and took advantage of the loose laws there, and therefore ordered the tray of food you see above. (Applesauce not pictured. Mixed with mashed potatoes=heaven.)
Wow… all this is getting very bloggy. The point of the matter is that I’m back now, and I have an antipasto party to tell you about.

This all began, as so many strange ideas do, in my father’s head. He picked me and my sister up from the city and drove us out to Long Island, where we would be met my my mother, brother and sister the following day. He had decided that “we” would be making a typical Italian antipasto. He gave me a sketchy shopping list… things like “eggplant rollatini-eggplant, cheese.” I knew that he couldn’t do this alone, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to take it myself. Grudgingly, I decided to fulfill his wishes, and asked him exactly what he wanted. Long story short, in the end I made everything, and my father ceremoniously plated the braciole, eggplant rollatini, stuffed green peppers, stuffed mushrooms, and stuffed clams. I stood by the side, saying nothing, but as my brother praised the rollatini and my sister gorged herself on mushrooms, my mother leaned over to me and whispered, “Good job.”

This picture is awful, but it’s the only one I got of everything. From the top right, it’s stuffed mushrooms, baked clams, stuffed green peppers, braciole, and eggplant rollatini. And my father was right about one thing: the key is mixing all the sauces (tomato, braciole au jus, and clam juice) on the plate and sopping it up with good Italian bread. (We get ours from Sullivan Street in the Bronx.) Here are the recipes… they’re approximate, but they work. I cheated on the clams and braciole and got them from the store, but you could just as easily make them yourself as well.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Halve three green peppers and lie them in a baking dish. Stuff with a mixture of one part hot Italian sausage and one part ground beef, Italian breadcrumbs, grated parmegiano reggiano, and an egg. Cover with tomato sauce and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Eggplant Rollatini (the hit of the night)

Slice three eggplants lengthwise into strips about a quarter inch to a half inch thick. Make sure they’re all the same size. Dredge each slice in flour, then beaten egg, then Italian breadcrumbs. Bake for ten minutes on each side at 375 degrees. In a separate bowl, combine equal parts ricotta cheese and grated mozzarella. Add a few tablespoons of parmegiano reggiano to taste, and season with black pepper and a chiffonade of fresh basil. Place about a tablespoon of the cheese mixture at the end of each of the rollatini, and roll. Place them, seam side down, in a baking sheet. When all of the rollatini have been rolled, cover with tomato sauce and bake at 350 until the cheese is melted.

Baked Stuffed Mushrooms

Remove the stems from about twenty stuffing mushrooms (large white mushrooms) and bake the mushrooms on a baking pan for about ten minutes to dehydrate them. Chop the stems finely and sautee in butter and olive oil with one large onion and a few shallots. Turn off the heat and add enough breadcrumbs to soak up the liquid in the pan, about half a cup to a cup. Add parmeggiano reggiano cheese to taste… a couple of tablespoons. Stuff the mushrooms until heaping with the mixture, and bake for about another fifteen to twenty minutes at 350.

November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving

Filed under: Appetizers, Pie, Quickbreads, Side Dishes, potatoes — Tags: , , , , , , — emiglia @ 8:48 am

I know… I know. I’ve been bad. It isn’t even that I haven’t been cooking! I have tons of recipes to share, plus I just got back from England, where I ate at some awesome places. Nope… I just sometimes forget that I’m a student until I suddenly have to be one nonstop for several days. But my paper on Atlas Shrugged has been turned in, so I’m back and ready to tell you about Thanksgiving, yesterday.

Yes… I said yesterday. And yes, I’m well aware that Thanksgiving is actually today. But you see, back to the student thing, my partner in crime, Britney Spears (see Halloween post), was leaving for Madrid on a school trip early this morning, so we decided to have it one day early. I sent out invitations, but because of the strike, we were only able to attract three of the six who RSVPed… and they were all boys. Hmm…

I woke up at 9:00 yesterday to start work. The Canadian slept and shouted what he thought were helpful comments from the living room. He also watched in awe as Britney rolled out a pie crust. “I’ve never been behind the scenes before…”

The menu was as follows…

Roast Turkey Legs
Stuffing
Pumpkin Tarte Tatin
Whole Cranberry Sauce with Orange
Green beans with scallions
Sweet Potato Hash
Mashed Potatoes
Gratin Dauphinoise
Buttermilk Corn Bread
Tarte Tatin
Spiced Pumpkin Pie with Tender Pie Crust

Get ready… this is going to be a long post.

Ok, first of all, the turkey. I couldn’t roast a whole turkey in my dinky little oven, and even though some of the local shops were offering to sell whole roast turkeys, I wanted to do everything myself (not even a frozen pie crust around here). I went with turkey thighs, and I bought four of them. In the end, this was too much: as the Canadian said and Emese agreed, no one really cares about the turkey. It has to be there, in case you want to take a little slice and place it decoratively on your plate, but really, it doesn’t matter.

Well, good. Because I followed my mother’s advice and cooked them for an hour, (rubbed them first with some butter, sage, salt and pepper) but they were still pink inside, so I threw them back in after I had reheated everything else, and the turkey made an appearance on the table during second helpings of everything else. As Emese said, the potatoes are what are important.

Or, if you’re the Canadian, the stuffing. And no, stuffing does not come out of a box here. I called my mother and asked for a recipe, but she infuriatingly gave her “until it’s wet enough… enough to cover the bottom of the pan” directions, so I turned to Ree. To be fair, Mommy, her recipe was pretty much the same as yours… it was just easier to follow. And the stuffing was really, really good. I was going to only make one pan when there were going to be nine of us, but the Canadian thought that was ludicrous, so I made two. We finished one, but there were only six of us, so I suppose he was right.

I tried another new thing, the Pumpkin Tarte Tatin from the Wednesday Chef. I didn’t invert it, because I’m lazy, but it was delicious. I told Britney that I was going to attempt it, but that I wasn’t sure it would work out. She said, “Pumpkin and cheese? How can you go wrong?” Then I told her there was pastry and cream involved. Nuff said.
Cranberry sauce used to be the one thing on the table I sort of ignored. (Actually, make that one of two things. And I still ignore creamed pearl onions, so they didn’t make it onto my table. Sorry, Mommy). But I grew to love it, and now I can’t live without the tangy sweetness. I got my recipe from Finding La Dolce Vita, and it was perfect. As I watched the cranberries floating in the orange juice, I was a little bit skeptical, but then all of a sudden, without warning, it was cranberry sauce. I couldn’t tell you how it happened, but it was gorgeous on the table, and it’s almost gone! (I saved a little to have with my leftovers… Shh…)

Britney told me I didn’t need to have vegetables at Thanksgiving, but I ignored her. Yes, I didn’t make roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta and pistachios… possibly my favorite veggie on the Thanksgiving table, because I know that people are prejudiced against them and will never love them the way I do (*cough*theCanadian*cough*), but my Mommy promised to make them for me at Christmas, even though they’re usually a Thanksgiving fare, so I moved on and went with green beans. Guess what? They’re almost gone. For this, I can only thank Mommy… I used her recipe. You slow cook finely sliced shallots in some olive oil and butter, blanch the green beans (I boil water in my electric kettle, pour it over the beans, and dump it out almost immediately, right after they turn green. Then run them under ice water. You want them to still have some snap.), and then dump them into the pan with the shallots until ready to serve. Just turn the heat up, add a little more oil if you need it, and toss until heated through. So easy… and everyone ate their greens. My god, I am my mother.

We needed sweet potatoes, but I was running out of space in my oven. I made everything ahead of time, but it was all going to have to be reheated, and I’ve never much liked that marshmallow yam thing anyway, so I decided to try an epicurious recipe for Sweet Potato Hash. Because I was making it last minute, it turned into more of a Sweet Potato Mash (haha… rhyming. I’m so clever.), but it was delicious anyway. I also was having a slight problem with my brown sugar… I paid an exorbitant amount for it at the American store, only to learn that it was stale and hard as a rock. I sprinkled it with water and microwaved it, so some of it melted, leaving massive craters, and I was able to make small brown sugar pebbles when I attacked it with a fork. I used the smaller pebbles for pumpkin pie (which turned out creamy and delicious, than you), so I was left with larger pebbles for my potatoes. Thus, I had some trouble getting it to caramelize the potatoes and was happy enough to get it to melt. They were delicious and creamy and there’s very little left, but I’m thinking about saving them and eating them cold tonight.

Kudos to those who are still here. Mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes. I made a huge pot and threw some crème fraiche, heavy cream, butter and milk. They were a little wanting for salt, but there’s not much left, so I guess people were happy with them.

Gratin Dauphinoise is always the most popular dish for Thanksgiving at home. It’s my recipe, and I won’t give it to my mom, because I don’t want her making them without me. I usually make them at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and my aunt refuses to come to our house unless I promise they’ll be on the table. You slice potatoes reeeaaaalllly thin, put a layer in a greased baking pan, top with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and then a layer of grated gruyère cheese. You keep going with these layers, but only peppering the potatoes, no salt or nutmeg, until the last layer. Before putting the last bit of spice and cheese, you mix a cup of cream and a cup of milk and scald it, temper one egg and add it, and pour the mixture all over the gratin. Then add the spice (salt, pepper and nutmeg this time) and a layer of cheese. It’s amazing. I’m currently eating it for breakfast.

Emese made the cornbread from a recipe we got off epicurious. I don’t recommend it, so I won’t post it. It was fine and all, but not nearly moist enough. Emese and I ate quite a bit of it when we were in the picking stages after thirds or fourths, when you don’t want to refill your plate again. I suppose it helped that we were the two who were eating on the floor, right next to the table.

The tarte tatin was the same one I’ve posted about before. Same deliciousness. I won’t go on, as my fingers are starting to hurt and my gratin is getting cold. The pumpkin pie was delicious. It’s almost gone, and everyone was complaining that they didn’t have room for pie. That’s ridiculous. Who doesn’t have room for pie. Now if you’ll excuse me, there are some potatoes calling me. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Canadian just woke up from his nap and told me he could smell pie.

Me: A whole pie, or a slice of pie on a plate?

The Canadian: A whole pie.

He just at the rest of the pie in bed. I have photo evidence.

Place baking sheet in oven and preheat to 450°F. Whisk 2/3 cup golden brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon quatre épices, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg in large bowl to blend. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin and 4 eggs, then 1 cup of heavy cream. Pour mixture into crust. (I used a homemade butter crust.)
 Place pie on preheated baking sheet in oven. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and bake until sides puff and center is just set, about 40 minutes. Cool. Serve at room temperature.

October 17, 2007

Dinner Parties and Tarte Tatin

Filed under: Appetizers, Chicken, Pie, Rice — Tags: , , , , , — emiglia @ 6:58 am

“Festina tarde was a renaissance concept: make haste slowly.”

It’s taken me a long time to get to Under the Tuscan Sun, but it’s not for lack of cooking. On Saturday night, I threw a massive dinner party at my house. I invited ten people, and crafted a perfect menu: apératif of Tomato Bruschetta and Wild Mushroom Crostini, Risotto with Parmeggiano-Reggiano for a starter, and then Under the Tuscan Sun’s Chicken with Lemon and Basil. The dessert was tarte tatin. I spent all day Saturday prepping, making sure that everything would be easy once my guests arrived. I made the tarte dough, precooked my risotto (a restaurant trick I learned while waiting tables), made my salad dressing, tomatoes, and dressing for the chicken, and precooked the mushrooms. I had very little to do once my guests arrived.

… If they arrived. I guess one of the drawbacks of having so many international friends is not being aware of their customs. Example? Apparently, in a lot of South America, it’s considered rude to show up somewhere on time. So while my American friends arrived about ten to fifteen minutes late (like my mother told me, and apparently their mothers told them, you are supposed to do), the others didn’t show up for two hours.

Bear in mind, also, that this is rugby night in France, and France is playing England for a chance in the semifinals. We’ve opened the wine, eaten all the bruschetta, and the five of us have gotten quite tipsy while trying to find a way to watch the game online. When my friends finally arrived, I managed to get everything on the table (I forgot about the salad though), but my chicken didn’t brown the way I wanted to because I’d lost my sense of timing (thank you, Bordeaux), I didn’t have time to take any pictures of the plated dishes, and by the time we’d finished with the risotto and the chicken, we wanted to watch the rugby game, so we abandoned the finished pie in the cold oven and went down to the Champs de Mars.

The French lost, and the next morning I had to wash essentially all the dishes in my house. But later that evening, my friend Emese came by to help me finish the tarte tatin, and as we sat together on my couch, sharing half a pie between us, I realized that this was what I had wanted. Just to haves some friends, even one friend, over to my house, to cook something delicious, and to talk for awhile. I don’t know if I’ve learned how to make haste slowly, but I know that eating that one pie slowly was much more fun than any dinner party could have been.

The Menu:

Tomato Bruschetta

Wild Mushroom Crostini

Risotto with Parmeggiano-Reggiano

Basil and Lemon Chicken

In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup each of chopped spring onions and basil leaves. Add the juice of one lemon, salt, and pepper. Mix and rub onto 6 chicken pieces (I used chicken thighs) and place in a well-oiled baking pan. Dribble with a little olive oil. Roast, uncovered, at 450 for ten minutes and at 350 for about an additional twenty, depending on the size of the chicken. Garnish with more basil leaves and lemon slices.
Tarte Tatin

July 22, 2006

Buffalo Mozzarella

Filed under: Appetizers, cheese — Tags: , — emiglia @ 12:43 am

Today’s post was influenced by my job. I work summers waiting tables, which generally is a bad thing for foodies. I speak from experience when I say that waiting tables can sometimes make you hate food. I watch so many rich and delicious dinners go in and out of the kitchen, but I tend to spend a lot of evenings “eating” a 7-11 slurpee for dinner at 11:30.

Tonight, one of my many tables pointed somewhat guiltily at the Insalata Caprese and asked me what buffalo mozzarella was. As an Italian, I was astonished. I explained as simply as I could, that buffalo mozzarella was mozzarella made from the milk of water buffalos, and while my response probably ended this exchange for my customers, it started me thinking about the differences between what “mozzarella” means to different people.

I was raised in an Italian family, on platters of prosciutto and salami with roasted red peppers, lightly battered and fried zucchini flowers, and bocconcini (small balls of buffalo mozzarella) marinated in olive oil. Larger buffalo mozzarelle was reserved for special occasions, like Christmas, Easter, and my grandmother’s birthday, which, coincidentally, falls tomorrow.
Slices Antipasto

Buffalo mozzarella is the king of mozzarella, made from the rich milk of water buffalos. The best buffalo mozzarelle still come from the area around Naples, where the first mozzarella was invented in the 1600s. The name “mozzarella” comes from the Italian “mozzare” meaning “to cut,” which describes the process of making the cheese: the cheesemaker kneads the cheese until the proper consistency is acheived, at which point the mozzarella is pulled into strands and cut into pieces.
buffalo Mozzarella

With a slightly firm exterior skin covering the incredibly soft, almost spreadable inside and a delicate yet complex milky flavour, buffalo is a far cry from the processed “mozzarella” that most of America is familiar with, and even quite distinct from the “Fior di Latte,” (flower of milk) which is the Italian term for cow’s milk mozzarella.

Buffalo mozzarella is expensive, but is now fairly widely available. It should be used within 24-48 hours of purchase. Although some like to use buffalo mozzarella on pizzas and in pasta dishes, I personally think it is best served alone, or with tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper. However, if you do wish to encorporate it into a dish, this is one I use time and again to use up buffalo mozzarella before it turns.

Mozzarella and Tomato Orecchiete

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add two cups of dry orecchiete. Cook, stirring occasionally, until “al dente,” (about 6 minutes). Drain the pasta and toss lightly with olive oil. Add two ounces of mozzarella, diced, and stir to encorporate. Add two Roma tomatoes, chopped, and a chiffonade of approximately five basil leaves. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

emiglia

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