Month: February 2006

February 27, 2006

I like to have a variety of curry pastes and powders around, as well as the individual components; it allows for fine-tuning flavor without having to grind your own from scratch every time. In this case, it was onions, chick peas, sweet potato and cauliflower with one small can of coconut milk and a dab of tomato paste, mixed with some curry powder, some vindaloo paste, and a few fenugreek and cumin seeds, then left…

February 26, 2006

Another perennial comfort food, and to me further proof that one should go for either the best or the cheapest cuts; the best can be barely seared and are tender as can be, while the cheap cuts with proper slow cooking are magic. The key is a good braise with good ingredients. In this case, adzuki beans (dried, which cooked up perfectly and soaked up all the excess liquid,) mirepoix, porcini, garlic, fresh rosemary, bay,…

February 24, 2006

This one has been a staple since I first learned to make it in Rome as a student 17 years ago. It’s essentially a perfect plate of pasta, balancing the sweetness of tomatoes with the heat of pepperoncini and the depth of garlic. The key is to cook the peppers and garlic until the garlic JUST colors, then dump in the tomatoes. I always use whole peeled organic; the purées and “sauces” have the wrong…

February 22, 2006

Rubbed some legs and thighs with remaining pesto, plus the chardonnay smoked salt and herbes de provence and threw them in the oven with onions, garlic, olives, and cherry tomatoes. Once they were close to done I switched the oven to broil and got them all crispy. Poured off the excess fat and quickly cooked some shredded kale in there, then warmed up the half a baked kabocha we still had. I poured some wine…

February 20, 2006

A couple friends joined us last night, so as an appetizer I made a galangal-blood orange sauce and poured it over some sautéed shrimp. For the main dish, I made kabocha-pine nut wontons and spicy pork meatballs and served them in a soup made from the liquid I saved from the Moroccan chicken stew from a few nights earlier (about which I didn’t write, but see below) to which I added thai curry paste, tomato…

February 16, 2006

Our local grocery sells pretty good frozen pizza dough, which on principal I’m against yet in practice find myself buying occasionally since it’s so damn easy and rolled out super thin tastes good too. (Thick it just turns to ghastly white bread.) But for times like this, when reaching the bottom of the fridge, and with the regular rhythm interrupted by a fancy meal out, it’s a perfect time to bust out the calzone. In…

February 15, 2006

Andrew & Ryan are in town, so last night we had the Valentine’s prix fixe dinner at Jean-Georges, along with the wine pairings that came with (which, in retrospect, I would have skipped in favor of a great Burgundy that would have worked beautifully with most of the courses.) 1. Amuse bouche of shrimp and salsa with truffled potato soup2. Tuna tartare with avocado and sort of a ponzu sauce3. Foie gras on brioche with…

February 13, 2006

By request from a still sniffly wife, after shoveling the sidewalk I went and got a bunch of big yellow onions. Caramelized to a dark near-sludge, then added some dried porcini, herbs, a glug of wine from last night, soy sauce, sesame oil, and then water to cover the onions. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes, salted to taste and served with chopped scallions and a drop of truffle oil. Wicked. You don’t need…

February 12, 2006

Got some beautiful tuna belly yesterday from the place in the Chelsea market, where it’s only $10 a pound. Trimmed off the best part and made some spicy tuna maki using the risotto and a sriracha/mayo sauce. Cut the rest of the fish into fat strips, then salt and pepper, then into the hot cast iron for about 30 seconds per side. Pulled out the fish and deglazed with Marietta Old Vine Red (an awesome…

February 11, 2006

So given Christine’s cold I took some chicken thighs and made broth out of them and added the very last of the enhanced duck broth so she could have soup for lunch. Milo had some of the chicken for dinner with sautéed zucchini which he loves. The remaining soup went into a brown rice risotto with dried porcini and the left over parsnip/celeriac purée (the truffle oil was perfect with the dried mushrooms.) Being brown…