I was going to write about some sushi, but it’s raining so I think I’ll go with some better wet-weather fare. I finally gave up and came in from planting various fruit in beds I’ve been working on, and when they’re done I’ll put up a post about them too. In the meantime, remember that grilled lamb from the other night? I mentioned that we also picked up some meaty lamb bones as well and…
Month: May 2010
The wife, she was out for dinner with a friend, leaving me and the boy to fend for ourselves. We took a walk, did some gardening, folded approximately one million more paper airplanes, and made dinner. When it comes to prep, rolling out pasta is his A subject. We mixed up a nice whole wheat/rye dough (about two cups of flour and two eggs, with a drop of water and salt) and let it sit in the fridge to relax for half an hour while we test-flew many planes off the balcony upstairs. Paper airplanes are as complex and frustrating a craft as any other once you move beyond the simple paper dart. There’s a lesson in there, along with bags and bags of recycling.
What a perfect day. Sunny, breezy, in the low 70s, and smelling of high spring. We went out for most of the day. First, a short detour to look for arrowheads in a spot a neighbor told us has a good reputation. No luck. Then, lunch in Rhinebeck at Gigi, which is a perfectly nice place for lunch. Onward then to a nearby nursery, looking for thornless blackberries. They wanted the utterly ridiculous amount of $25 each for small, scrawny plants, so we left. Dutchess county kind of sucks that way sometimes.
Then, a lovely stroll at the Poets’ Walk, where we got lots of sun and caught the breeze off the river. And last, a stop in Kingston to grab some grub for dinner. In this case, local lamb stew meat and bones. Once home, I roasted the bones and put them to cook with a carrot, a charred onion, a clove, a star anise pod, some parsley, a few peppercorns, and half a cinnamon stick. I also trimmed the stew meat and tossed it in a marinade of wine and coriander, cumin, fennel, and mustard seeds that I ground up with garlic, salt and pepper and mixed in. I did some gardening while the stock simmered, then came in with a handful of mixed herbs and greens to make pesto: radicchio, arugula, dandelion, chives, rosemary, oregano, peppermint, spearmint, thyme, and chrvil. I puréed it all with garlic and lots of olive oil to make a smooth, dark green paste.
There are worse things in the world than roasting a chicken once a week. Of course given my lack of organization and general allergy to schedules, it never works out to be a regular, say, Sunday night thing for us. But we do it often enough, and now that it’s warm the grill can step in to replace the oven. Whichever method you use, it is vitally important to save all the bones, even if you have guests; if they think it’s weird, tell them to get over it. You boil them again, so what’s the problem? Throwing bones away before using them for stock is a crime, plain and simple.
Lately there are lots of meals for which I don’t open wine–it’s expensive to drink all the time and takes a toll physically–but for a roast chicken I almost always pop a friendly, mid-weight red–lately Borgueuils and Chinons have been really doing it for me, but with a few more degrees on the thermometer, this is a meal designed for rosé. Speaking of which, it’s back to utterly gorgeous outside (I’m drinking rosé now) but we went through a pretty chilly spell a few days ago. In response (and lately I’ve been thinking about how much the weather influences my cooking every day), I made sort of summer picnic food but with all of the cold-weather comfort quotient we needed on the evening in question.
There are several versions of this dish on my blog alone, but with good reason. Carciofi alla Romana were one of the first authentic Italian dishes I really mastered, having had much exposure to them from all my time in Rome–in particular, the little restaurant we called “The Green Door” that was around the corner from Palazzo Cenci where school was. Open only for lunch, with no sign, newsprint tablecloths, and presided over by a…
Upon return home, it was decreed by those who had languished for a week without being properly cooked for that were would be having barbecued chicken. And me? I’m not one to argue. I’m a lover, not a fighter. Everyone knows that. Thus, sustainably raised and then killed for our sustenance chicken legs found their way onto our grill (which, since we were out of charcoal, I had to fuel with foraged fallen maple branches, taking this fully into the realm of the old school). I made BBQ sauce with tomato paste, red wine, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, coffee, balsamic vinegar, and passion fruit juice, and also brown rice and a salad of greens from the garden. No pictures. Settle down.
There’s nothing like a series of splendid dinners to make a week of menial labor into an altogether pleasant experience. Using the wonders of technology, I was able to get in touch with some friends beforehand, and line up some highly enjoyable soirées. Here’s a brief rundown:
So before I get to the Brooklyn post, I want to put up a little palate-cleanser. Today my lovely wife hurt her back choreographing a piece for an upcoming performance, and after suffering through the afternoon and a comforting dinner (to be featured shortly) she intimated that something sweet sure would hit the spot. So I suggested that maybe I might sort of be able to wrangle something along those lines while she put the…
Well, that was fun. I spent a week in an unfurnished Brooklyn apartment, updating the kitchen (because I can’t get enough, and the components I used here at home were sorely lacking in umlauts) and painting most of it. Also, I ordered new windows! So there was no end to the excitement. But it paid off; today I got a deposit from a lovely couple and the stress of finding tenants has abated for a…