Is there anything in this world that makes a better breakfast on a chilly spring morning than fingerling potatoes sautéed with home-cured guanciale, wilted fresh-picked garlic mustard, ramp pesto-crepinette gravy reheated with lamb pho to thin it back to liquid, and a couple of fresh local eggs on top, baked until set, and garnished with parsley from the garden?
Year: 2009
I have never been much of a fan of the greeting-card industry’s manufactured holidays, though I have always understood that other people feel differently and thus tried to act accordingly. But Mothers’ day sucks. All of you who have living Mothers should feel free to celebrate, or not, as you choose. But for those of us who do not, it’s a great big thumb in the eye and I hate it. Even though my wife,…
What a difference a couple of weeks make. Having fully pivoted into high spring, we have shifted away from storage crops and braises towards just-picked salads and herb-heavy sauces or garnishes. Everything is so perfect and new that a little goes a long way, allowing for the much subtler warm-weather eating that those of us with seasons have been pining for so ferociously for so long. For example, here’s something from a while back, and…
I do so love having a pressure cooker. Apart from all the exotic things it can do (peppercorn purée, caramelized condensed milk) it also makes it easy to enjoy perfect beans with little more than 30 minutes of lead time- even if, say, those beans went unsoaked all day because I had other things to do and I can’t do everything, can I? But what I did manage to remember were the chicken bones in…
Another blast from the past, this is bison hanger steak (that’s hangER; we’re not writing about airplane food, people) sous-vided for an hour or so at 52˚ C and then seared in smoked duck fat and served with the following goodness: 1. Green mash of overwintered pan di zucchero and curly endive plus ume plum with lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. 2. Our amazing Purple Passion® asparagus- these three were the very first spears,…
My article on Molecular Gastronomy in this month’s Chronogram is up on their site. Many thanks to Linda for her inspiration and hard work. If you are not familiar with her blog, you should be.
Sometime last week, before the heat wave, we had one of those perfect spring days that just makes one all giddy, what with all the fecundity and the burgeoning and the blooming and the sweet breezes and such. There was still a chill in the shade, though, so something roasty seemed appropriate, and firing up the grill to celebrate the season seemed pretty mandatory. I spatchcocked a good chicken and gave it a rub of…
This will be a quick one, since I’m completely knackered from the continuing herb (now technically herb and fruit) garden which I’ll take pics of when it’s done. Until then, I’m going to try to make some progress posting some of the backlog of meals that lurk on my desktop, mocking me. Since I’m too tired to cook tonight, it’s nice to have some things on hand. A couple of weeks ago, we went to…
On a recent trip to a local market, and thanks in no small part to the random peregrinations through the store which the company of a small boy can engender, I happened upon a certain freezer compartment stuffed full of various exotic game meats- many of which are responsibly farm-raised in the vicinity. I was pretty excited, and loaded up our basket with several different cuts from several different beasts: venison, elk, bison, and quail-…
I’m so heinously behind on posting- there’s just too much other work in the studio and garden (I’m redoing the herb garden right now, to make it extra elegant and much lower maintenance) and I can’t seem to deal with the computer a whole lot. But, since I did recently write the Reuben thing for TNS, here’s a follow-up that shows the final destination of that glorious, smoky hunk o’ cow after some parts were…