Fresh Tart

Rishia & Andrew Zimmern brought us an incredible dinner tonight.  Chinese drunken chicken - fragrant, sticky, tender, and sweet - with rice to soak up the insanely addictive sauce.  (The pic doesn't do it justice, sorry, lost my light...)  We four put away an impressive amount of rice, blame that damn sauce.  I'm going to wake up in the morning craving it.  And you know what?  I'll indulge my craving, because what precious little remains is in our fridge.  My fridge.  Yes indeed.

I roasted some crispy kale to snack on while Andrew cooked.  (I LOVE having someone else cook in my kitchen.  While I munch and chat.  So relaxing!  I really should have myself over sometime.)  I sprinkled the kale with some black sesame seed salt that Andrew gave me - delicious together.

I also made a pineapple upside down cake for dessert, which we were all too full to really appreciate.  I suspect it will be better loved tomorrow.  I'll pop the recipes in later, so tired.  For now, sleep tight!

OK, back with recipe for kale, below.  The pineapple upside down cake recipe I'll put in my next post.  I'll double-check with Andrew on the recipe for drunken chicken and post if it's cool.  Apparently still a post-in-progress...

Crispy Kale

Adapted from www.steamykitchen.com and www.kalynskitchen.com

4 giant handfuls of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces and tough stems removed (about 1/3 lb.)

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

sea salt or kosher salt (optional: toasted sesame seeds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Dry kale thoroughly in a salad spinner and/or on paper towels - moisture will cause the kale to steam and not crisp.  Put kale in a large ziploc bag and drizzle with the oil. Close the bag and gently rub the oil into the kale leaves, coating them thoroughly.  Spread leaves evenly on the baking sheet (make sure they're not piled on top of each other).  Bake for 12-20 minutes (15 min was the mark for me).  When the leaves are dried and crackly, but not browned, the kale is done.  If the leaves are still a bit soft, leave them in for another 2 minutes.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with salt (and sesame seeds, if desired).

I mentioned below that part of the dinner we made for Rishia & Andrew Zimmern was an endive gratin.  Several years ago, we had the Zimmerns over for dinner and I'm not sure why, but I had several heads of endive in the cooler.  I also had half of a loaf of challah bread, and somehow I decided that an endive gratin, topped with challah crumbs, would be a great side dish to whatever I was serving (I'm thinking it was lamb).  It was apparently a good choice, because Andrew has reminisced about the gratin a few times since and even requested it for dinner last week, so here it is, with a brand-new name - Andrew's Endive & Leek Gratin.

Most people know endive (ahn-deev or en-dyv, you choose, or you could use both, randomly, as I do, perhaps because I feel a little dramatic saying ahn-deev) in its raw state and as such - with pretty, sturdy leaves perfect for dipping, or in salads where it lends a pleasant bitterness and good crunch - it's completely delicious.

But endive also makes a beautiful gratin, especially in contrast with sweet leeks.  From under buttery breadcrumbs, endive emerges surprisingly silky and savory, a perfect complement to a roast or even fabulous on its own for a light supper.

Do not skip the drizzle of cream (a general rule to live by, now that I see it written here).

Stay tuned for Part III: Molten Chocolate Cakes.  Andrew shared his recipe, so now you too can hurt yourself a little bit with melting chocolate-y insanity, uff (so good).  Moderation, wherefore art thou?

Andrew's Endive & Leek Gratin

Serves 6

1 Tbsp. soft butter for the pan

juice of one lemon

salt and freshly ground pepper

10 whole endives, bottoms trimmed, outermost leaves discarded, cut in half, washed and dried

1 Tbsp. butter

2 leeks, washed carefully, white part only, halved and sliced thinly

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/3 c. chicken broth

1/3 c. heavy cream

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 c. challah bread crumbs

1 Tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Coat a 9x13 baking pan or casserole dish with butter.  Fill a very large skillet with about 1/2-inch of water, the lemon juice, garlic clove, 1 tsp. of salt, and bring water to a simmer.  Lay the endive cut-side down into the water and cover the pan.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the endive base is very tender when pierced with a fork.  Using tongs, remove endive from the pan and lay cut side up into the buttered baking pan.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Discard endive-cooking water.  Return pan to medium heat and add 1 Tbsp. of butter.  When it's melted, stir in the leeks, garlic, and a little pinch of salt and saute until the leeks are quite soft but not browned, about 10 minutes.  Distribute leeks over the endive.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the chicken broth, cream, a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.  Pour over the endive and leeks.  Use the same bowl to toss together the challah crumbs and 1 Tbsp. of melted butter.  Distribute bread crumbs over the endive and leeks.  Put pan in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until nicely browned and bubbly.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

It might be warming up outside, but I'm still in comfort-food mode, all the way.  Apparently so are our friends Rishia & Andrew Zimmern, because when we decided to have dinner together last night, Andrew's mind was on braised pork with gravy and an endive gratin (more on the gratin later).  Thank goodness, since as everyone knows, Friends that Braise Together Stay Together, and we don't get to see the Zimmern family as often as we'd like these busy days.

Plus, since I've braised beef and lamb aplenty this season, a turn with succulent pork (shoulder) sounded ridiculously good, especially a falling-off-the-bone, crispy-at-the-edges version, smothered in caramelized onion gravy.  Hey, if you're going there, might as well go there, right? That sun feels warm, but it's still February.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Minnesota.

In case you forgot.

(I just poured the glass of wine for the photo...?)

I do have to admit that the pork and gratin, combined with the beautiful tomato-feta salad, and deadly, deadly molten chocolate cakes (more on the molten cakes later) that Andrew whipped up, put me a bit over the top.  It could be that I talk a good game but in the end, I can't really eat pork and butter and cream and chocolate all in the same meal without hurting myself a little bit.

Or maybe I just couldn't yesterday.  I'll certainly try again another day and let you know.

Braised Crispy Pork with Caramelized Onion Gravy

Serves 6

4 lb. pork shoulder roast

coarse salt

1 Tbsp. peanut or safflower oil (or any high-heat oil)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1 bay leaf

2 c. dry white wine

1 c. chicken broth

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Pat pork roast dry with paper towels, then sprinkle all sides with coarse salt.  Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add oil and when it's hot, add the pork shoulder.  Brown the pork thoroughly on all sides.  Using tongs, remove the pork to a plate and set it aside.  Drain all but 1 Tbsp. of fat from the pan, return the pan to the heat, and add the onions.  Sprinkle the onions lightly with a little salt, stir them around to coat them with oil, then turn the heat to low and saute slowly, until the onions soften and then gradually become golden brown, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes.  Stir the thyme, sage, and bay leaf into the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the white wine and chicken broth, then nestle the pork back into the pan.  Cover tightly and bring to a simmer, then transfer the pan to the oven.  Braise in the oven for 3 hours, or until pork is very tender, even falling off the bone.

To finish, remove the pork to a cutting board.  Turn the oven up to 450 degrees F.  Slice the pork into 1-inch thick pieces, discarding extra fat as you go.  Lay the pieces out on a baking sheet and drizzle a bit of the pan juices over the slices.  Place the pan in the hot oven and roast for 15 minutes, or until pork is sizzling and browning on the bottom and at the edges.  While the pork roasts, skim any fat off of the pan juices, then taste and correct seasoning.  Serve pork with sauce.

Geez (OMG, John just said the word 'geez' right while I typed that - perhaps coincidence, or as he cracked, because we're 'yoked', ha), I really need to pull out my damn cam when we socialize. Argh! Last night we had dinner at Morton's, with Mack's and Zimmern's, to celebrate Aaron's birthday. No pic, unless Aaron scans and sends me the picture the maitre d' took (hint). Lovely salads, steaks, scallops, crab cakes, broccoli, and hash browns floated by and disappeared with nary a record of their greatness, other than the shadow of flavor on our palates, swallow. Or perhaps a bit of creamed spinach in our teeth. Shame, really, I'm all about the pic. All I can say is good times, as always, good times.

Tonight, we hosted Sheri and Darin Lynch for dinner - man did we luck out not only with cool guests but with the cool breeze that blew through around 5:00 pm, whoooo, effectively removing all humidity from the sultry air and thus creating a damn-near perfect July's eve. NICE. We noshed pre-dinner on grilled bread, grilled tomatoes and red onions, and paper-thin slices of Molinari dry salami. For din - al fresco, baby,due to that fabulous breeze - a beef tenderloin roast, smeared with garlic and herbs, then seared on the grill, served alongside crushed new potatoes topped with creme fraiche, mushrooms sauteed with garlic and lemon, and sugar snap peas sauteed in a bit of butter. With warm fruit crisp (peach, plum, blueberry) for dessert, we polished off a pretty sweet evening of summer chat, if I do say so myself - again, good times, good times. (And again, no pic, argh! However, recipe for fruit crisp posted in comments, below.)

Tomorrow, a little baseball, a splash of swimming, dinner a la Chinois, and Batman, baby. Bat. Man. Yep, once again - good times, good times. Happy Summer!

Moderate it: as I mentioned below, I knew I was making steak for din tonight, so I passed on the steak at Morton's on Thursday. Grilled scallops wrapped in bacon fit the bill nicely. The broccoli with Bearnaise was delicious. But I did not get away before the hash browns - or even tastier, and just as rich, the potatoes Lyonnaise - arrived. Ah well.

Over this past Date Weekend, great biking (a correctly tuned bike! I'm so into it!) with John and a couple of lovely meals out to boot. As I mentioned below, we kicked off a long weekend together last Thursday, in the uber-romantic bar at Cafe Lurcat (twinkly chandeliers everywhere, pic from their website). No frites this trip - moderation, natch - but when I head back next Thursday, with my minxes, we're all over the frites, oh yeah. Can't wait!

Then Sunday night, pre-Neil Diamond (we were invited by John's client Frank and his wife Christine, total blast, thank you), we had a fabulous dinner at Heartland - yes, the Heartland of our Bizarre Foods Minnesota adventure - in St. Paul. I love everything about Heartland, from Chef Lenny Russo to the Mission-style dining room to the genius wine list to the beautiful, fresh, locally-sourced food. I had two appetizers - the house-smoked bacon-pinto bean soup with tomato concassee and fresh summer herbs, followed by the fried zucchini blossoms with fava bean mousse filling, kohlrabi-dill slaw, and cucumber-walnut vinaigrette. I just...lurved them both, especially the squash blossoms, so crispy and salty, perfectly set off by the tangy slaw and vinaigrette. I kept saying, this is my kind of dish, oh yeah, I love this food, it's all about the contrast, this is so me...blah, blah, blah. John was too polite to not listen, but I realize (um, in retrospect) that I was perhaps a bit monotonous. What can I say? I completely enjoyed every bite, and yes, it was my kind of dish. (No pic, damn it, forgot my camera. Needless to say, pretty, pretty.)

This week I'm mining the riches of my LaFinca veggie share - salad greens, broccoli (to be stir-fried with sugar snap peas tomorrow night), kohlrabi (great sliced thin for dipping in yummy things like olive tapenade), strawberries (which I finished, en pint, after a long bike ride last Friday, OMG good), and kale, which I'll saute for lunch tomorrow for myself and my sis, Stacey. I'm pretty much obsessed with kale sauteed with garlic and finished with lots of salt and lemon or balsamic. Crave-worthy, even in the summer.

This Thursday night, a beefy din at Morton's with the Mack's and Zimmern's, coming right up (pedal, pedal, pedal). Friday, dinner here with the Lynch's (more pedaling or walking or something, Lord help my butt). Not sure how we're fitting in a little post-season baseball tourney as well, but you know, somehow it all works. Nathan's playing tennis, golf, basketball, and now baseball again for a few days, but it's summer in Minnesota, baby, we'll take whatever comes our way. How pretty has this weather been? Ah, these are the days to remember in the depths of winter, as rockin' as those fried squash blossoms filled with fava puree... Just beautiful (the pic is of lovely Maud arranging flowers in Sag Harbor, summer in a pic, as it were). Splash!

Moderate it: it's worth filling out restaurant meals with vegetables. Certainly no guarantee for low calories - restaurants use fat liberally to make veggies tasty, even the steamed, roasted, and grilled versions - but better than starch dishes (like, oh, frites, mashed potatoes, risotto, pasta, bread stuffings), which were practically invented to absorb an insane amount of oil and cream.

Ahhh,Happy Mother's Day! I hope you're all enjoying a lovely day! I sure am - John's doing the dishes from last night's dinner party - now that's a gift. (As you can see in the pic, we put a fair amount of tableware through its paces.)

So, last night's dinner menu (recipes posted in comments, below). I leaned pretty heavily on one of my favorite cookbooks, Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin. The book is broken down into seasonal menus, eight/season - I didn't follow any one menu to the letter, but pulled favorite little gems from here and there, all spring-y, all tasty. Stu and Rudy brought fabulous wines to taste and share, also listed below.

Swiss Chard Tart with Goat Cheese, Currants, and Pine Nuts
Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Champagne, Reims (France)
Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc 2006, Sonoma County
McGrath Farms' Watercress Soup with Gentleman's Relish Toast
Adrian Fog Pinot Noir 2003, Anderson Valley, Savoy Vineyard (brought by Stu)
Chambolle-Musigny Clos du Village Monopole 1999, Domaine Antonin Guyon, Cote d'Or (France;
brought by Rudy)
Grilled Lamb Chops with Garlic & Herbs (my recipe)
Artichoke-Potato Hash with Black Olive Aioli (because there were no artichokes available at Byerly's - very odd - we instead had Asparagus-Morel-Potato Hash, worked quite nicely)
Faiveley Echezeaux Grand Cru 1992, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Cote d'Or (France; brought by Rudy)
Cain Five 2003, Napa Valley
Buttermilk Lemon Tart (the almond crust is via Sunday Suppers, from the cherry tart recipe; lemon filling is mine)

Despite being pretty wiped out from his birthday party the night before, Nathan was able to join us for (most of) dinner (he's a BIG fan of Bizarre Foods). Man, it was great to finally pull this party together, I'm kinda bummed that it's over. We've had good intentions, but getting Zim and Rudy in the same room, in the same city, at the same time, is a bit of a challenge - how crazy we pulled it off twice in one week! I particularly had a blast cooking all day, I don't get to do that very often these busy days. The only thing that could have made the day better was a lot less rain, and just a bit of warmth, for appetizers on the deck. But whatevs, we have all summer for outside fun (listen to me, so nonchalant about summer, ha), and having everyone in the kitchen with me while I cook is pretty damn sweet.

Today, leftovers baby! Already had some soup for lunch, nice. Perhaps a bite of a lamb chop in a bit. Dinner tonight a laLucia's, with Mom and Stacey, to celebrate Mother's Day (natch) and Stacey's Birthday - Happy Belated Birthday Stacey Pooh (here with Cooper; I know she's having a Happy Mother's Day, ha.)

Moderate it: Stace, you may feel older, but you're never as old as me. After party - enjoy the party leftovers! It's too much work for just one meal - just be ready to pare back to normal. Er, tomorrow.

OK, here's the deal. It's just about midnight (which makes it Sunday, Mother's Day, Happy Such to all you Madres out there)... I got oh, about five hours of sleep last night due to Nathan's Boy Soup birthday sleepover... I have a cold... I just spent the entire day prepping a three-course dinner for nine (John & moi, Nathan, Rishia & Andrew Zimmern, Rudy Maxa& Ana Scofield, and Debbie & Stu The Wine Genius Williams)... Aaaaand I therefore have pretty much no right to be sitting here on the computer writing about said (fun!) exertions. That said, a quick overview of this weekend's kitchen kitsches (menu/recipes to follow tomorrow; er, make that later today):

• I love watercress soup.
  
• If your grill isn't firing perfectly evenly, monitor your lovely lamb chops carefully. (Smoke=fire, well, always.)
  
• If Stu Williams and Rudy Maxa bring wine to your dinner, drink it.
  
• Potatoes taste good with almost anything.
• Dinner by candlelight and flowers tastes better.
• Grilling meat in high heels rather sucks.
• Drinking champagne in high heels rather rocks.
• I must go to bed.

And with that, having experienced a lovely night, I bid you a fond farewell (of the goodnight variety). Sleep tight....

Moderate it: if you cook in heels - and who doesn't? - I suggest a bit of a platform sole. Easier on the ball of the foot; plus, a wider heel is more stable. Especially when grilling on a rainy, slippery deck.