January 2009 – Page 2 – From My Table…to Yours

Orzo to Make You Say “YES!”

Cheesy Orzo

When RJ proposed to me in June of 2007, I was blown away. Not completely surprised, but quite overcome with the enormity of the step we were taking. He brought me out to the southern most point of the beach in the town where we met. The sun was just beginning to set and the ocean was in our ears when he asked me to be his wife. I just happen to have a painting of the moment (my wedding present to him) if you’d like a visual:

painting

After I said yes and started crying, etc. etc. we went out to dinner. The idea was to enjoy a few moments together before we started calling all of our friends and family. But I was so excited and nervous that it was very difficult for me to concentrate on food. I could barely hold my champagne flute steady! I had ordered the Chicken Statler, and though the chicken was good, I merely picked at it. The orzo on the side, however, was a different story. Despite my shaky mental state, I devoured it! On the menu it was called “Asiago Mac and Cheese” and with those clues, I resolved to recreate the dish in my own kitchen. And every time I do, I am taken back to that wonderful night – and to the memory of the proposal too!

Asiago Mac and Cheese (or Cheesy Orzo Risotto)
Serves 3-4

Toasting orzo 3 c. home-made chicken stock (you can, of course, use the box or can from the grocery, but for the best version of this dish, you have to use the rich, home-made stuff)
2 Tbs. butter
1 large or 2 small shallots, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
2 c. dried orzo pasta
3/4 c. grated asiago cheese (you can substitute parmesan, or a mixture of the two, for a slightly different flavor)

In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a separate medium to large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic, stirring to coat. Cook 3-5 minutes, allowing the shallots to become translucent and fragrant. If they begin to brown, turn down the heat.

Add the pasta and stir to coat with the butter. Allow pasta to toast for about one minute. Pour in the simmering chicken broth, and stir to combine. Over medium high heat, boil the orzo in the chicken broth according to the orzo package’s cooking instructions (usually around 10 minutes). If, after that time, the orzo is tender but the stock has not completely absorbed into the pasta, drain what is left of the liquid from the pot (it doesn’t have to be completely dry, though. I usually just tip the pot and drain the excess – holding the pasta back with a slotted spoon – rather than using a colander). Stir in the grated cheese, 1/4 cup at a time, until you have reached a taste and consistency that works for you.

Fun Veggie Alert – Sauteed Escarole

Escarole

As many of you know, when I cook vegetables, I am cooking for one. RJ doesn’t eat vegetables or fruit – green, orange, red or otherwise. When you press him for a “Why?”, he will give you one of these responses: a) “one time when I was little I had dinner at a friend’s house and his mom forced me to eat the salad, and then I went to the emergency room.” b) “vegetables taste funny and they have weird crunchy textures that make me gag.” c) “why are you on my case – you don’t even like them, you just eat them because you have to. I’m more liberated.”

The problem is not that I don’t like vegetables, it is that I am the only one eating them. That means, for me, that spending time to elaborately prepare or flavor my side dish for one is pretty much wasted effort, when I could be concentrating on the entree and starch that we both will be eating. Also, they are usually an afterthought – so I will throw some peapods or spinach in a saute pan at the last minute and just add salt. Plus, if only one person in the household eats vegetables, a bag of baby carrots doesn’t disappear until after about four days of eating them, night after night. A head of lettuce usually goes bad even before I’ve tired of the Caesar dressing. The solution is often to resort to frozen vegetables that last longer, so I can alternate between “Chinese Stir-fry medley” and peas with mushrooms. That’s where RJ gets the whole “you hate vegetables too” justification. I just don’t put my efforts there.

Recently, however, I received my new issue of Fine Cooking magazine. This is my favorite magazine, as I’ve said before. One of the first recipes was a scrumptious-looking sauteed escarole. I had most of the ingredients on hand (save the escarole, of course, which I purchased at the grocery store), and thought that I would give it a go. It should also be noted that Fine Cooking is having a contest this month, challenging its readers to “Cook the Issue” – meaning, cook all of the recipes in the Feb./Mar. issue and post about them on their website. I’m in! I’ll be posting more lengthy descriptions here at From My Table and shorter ones here, with my fellow F.C. fans.

Back to the ‘scarole, as Tony Soprano would say. I cooked it up, I photographed it, and I ate it. All of it. This was a recipe for four people – granted, I used 1 1/2 lbs. of escarole instead of 2 lbs., but honestly! So now this is my new solution to avoid having tons of rotting veggies in my fridge AND enjoy eating my daily greens – make really good, sophisticated vegetable dishes with care and they will be gone in seconds! The texture of the escarole was the true marvel of the dish – not as slimy as spinach can sometimes be, but not as tough as kale, and with a pleasant bite to the stalky bits. I would actually recommend making this without the raisins and capers – I think simplicity here (without devolving back into my steam everything in two seconds habits) would really make the escarole shine. So now, everyone – go out and eat your vegetables!

Sauteed Escarole, from Fine Cooking magazine, Feb/March 2009 issue.
(Serves 4…or 1…)

escarole-add-ins Kosher salt
2 lbs. escarole, trimmed, rinsed, and cut into roughly 2-inch pieces
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
2 Tbs. pine nuts
2 Tbs. raisins (optional)
1 Tbs. capers, rinsed (optional)
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

escarole-blanched Bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil over high heat. Add the escarole and cook until the stem pieces start to soften, about 2 minutes (the water needn’t return to a boil). Drain, run under cold water to cool, and drain again. This can be done up to an hour ahead of serving time.

In a 12-inch skillet, heat the olive oil and garlic over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic browns lightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the garlic with tongs and discard. Add the pine nuts, raisins, capers, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the pine nuts are golden and the raisins puff, about 1 minute.

Sauteed Escarole Add the escarole, increase the heat to medium high, and cook, tossing often, until heated through and tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and season to taste with salt.

Ringing in the New Year

Short Rib and White Polenta New Year’s Eve has never been my type of holiday. For one thing, I have a pathetic inability to stay up past eleven o’clock at night, let alone into the wee hours of the next morning. My weakness is only compounded when copious amounts of champagne are part of the equation. I also live in New England, and don’t particularly like driving, walking, or even standing around in icy sub-zero temperatures, and New Year’s activities here generally involve some combination of the three.

Despite my reluctance, I have been rather adventurous in the past — skiing in the French Alps, hiking to the top of an isolated cow hill in Vermont, and revelling with hundreds of international bohemians on a beach in the Virgin Islands. And some of those times, I even stayed up until midnight… My plan this year was to just stay home with my new husband: drink some fine bubbly, maybe watch the ball drop, maybe just watch a movie. Honestly, it wasn’t all that important to me to participate in some blow-out party. Then a friend of mine said that dreaded line: “Oh, you are so married.” Kiss of death for a 26 year old. So to appease everyone and to convince myself (however briefly) that I am not a complete dud, I decided to find something to do on the last evening of 2008.

Since the one thing I do love about New Year’s (and life in general) is the champagne, I began from that premise. What goes with champagne? Good food! So after a good deal of scouring for last minute reservations, we finally decided upon a restaurant in Groton, Massachusetts called Gibbet Hill, which was having a special New Year’s Eve tasting menu, complete with the bubbles I so crave.

In tribute to one of the first New Year’s Eves in a long while that I have remained awake and coherent until 2 AM, I thought I would give a review of the delicious meal I enjoyed at Gibbet Hill with my mother-in-law, brother-in-law, their significant others, and RJ.

Our meal began with an amuse bouche of beet pannacotta and pork pate with house-made pickles:

Amuse Bouche

The beet bite was a lovely blend of textures, and quite beautiful to look at. The pannacotta was a bright pink! It was unfortunately a bit unwieldy – we all had trouble keeping the beet disk and the pannacotta layer together from the plate to our mouth. The pork pate was rough and country – in a good way – and the pickles added a lovely counterpoint to the rich and meaty slice.

Tuna App

For the appetizers, we had three takers of the celery root and chestnut veloute with cranberry syrup, one order of “orange-cured” tuna sashimi, and one beef short rib with polenta.The only disappointment here was the tuna. Though the fish was very fresh and had a wonderfully smooth, melting texture, the flavors just weren’t there. I think salt was the primary missing ingredient, but I also felt that the orange segments were not really in flavor harmony with the tuna. Worse than the orange, though was the celery hearts on which the tuna lay. I put crunchy celery in my canned tuna salad, but not with my fine sashimi – yuk!

Celery Root and Chestnut Soup

The soup was very rich and had a nutty, almost woodsy taste to it – the cranberry was immediately overshadowed by the thick and creamy bisque.

The big hit of this course was the short rib. RJ, of course, was the one to order the beef appetizer – “it’s a steak house – I’m going to eat the steak. Twice.” This was one of the best preparations of short rib I’ve seen in a while. The interior of the rib was perfectly cooked and seemed to dissolve on the tongue. However, it appeared that the rib had also been broiled right before serving, resulting in a crispy and crunchy exterior with a welcome bite. The polenta was creamy and cheesy and converted RJ to a new starch product.

chateaubriand

For dinner, RJ split the Chateaubriand for 2 with his mom’s boyfriend, Roger. It was served sliced up, alongside roasted cipollini onions, pommes Anna (pan-roasted potatoes) and a marrow bone. Sorry for the picture – the boys had already attacked it! As you can see, the steak was overcooked (they ordered it medium-rare). The onions and potatoes were delicious, as was the “sauce rouge” served alongside. But overcooked steak at a steak house?? A sin like no other!ddddd

Sirloin

On the upside, the sirloin that RJ’s brother Brian and his girlfriend Erica split was perfectly cooked as ordered. This entree was great because the meat itself was fabulous. I guess RJ has a point about ordering beef at a steakhouse…

Pork confit

The rest of us ordered the Confit of Lucky 7 Farms Pork with roasted loin, lentils du puy, chanterelles and root vegetables. I guess the roasted loin was in the saucy mixture to the left (or perhaps they were referring to the confit, which may have been made of loin). On this dish I was divided – right down the middle, actually! On the left was a rich, stewy mix of pork belly, chanterelle mushrooms, root vegetables and butter. Ohhhhh, was there ever butter! That sauce was I-want-to-take-a-bath-in-it good. Or, as RJ would say, “If they made a toothpaste of that sauce, I’d brush my teeth with it.” Wordsmith it as you will, but that was some pork goodness. On the right side of the plate, however, was a dry particle-board textured square of pork confit, topped with a slice of crispy skin, and the least flavorful lentils I have ever tasted. I love lentils, and these just tasted bland – as if they hadn’t been seasoned at all.

Apple tart

Since it was a prix fixe, I ordered dessert – even though I did not have a square centimeter of space left in my stomach after the pork! The tart, from what I was able to taste, was really good – light and airy puff pastry with a good ratio of pastry to apples.

Over all, I did like Gibbet Hill. I think they did a good job with creating the menu, which did not incorporate any of their regular offerings (save the signature chocolate cake). The restaurant is also very globally conscious – the ingredients are often organic, free-range, or heirloom products, and the freshness really shines through. I think that RJ’s point is a good one – though he meant it in more of a self-serving way, since his diet mostly comprises Beef 24/7 – it is always smart to order according to a restaurant’s strengths. While the tuna wasn’t great at this restaurant on a farm, the beef dishes were excellent. As for the champagne…I have another rule. Never settle for the free glass of “champagne” on New Year’s. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get a sweet prosecco, or an overly-bubbled cava. Spring for a great bottle of French champagne – that will get anyone into the celebration mood!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Now that we have the cake and the cookies and the other holiday indulgences past us, I thought it time for one of those ‘right-healthy-like’ meals. The kind that come together easy and don’t sit like a rock in your stomach for days. Something that feels good for you without seeming to be a sacrifice. As I wrote that sentence, I asked myself if shrimp, the featured protein in this dish, was actually healthy. Sometimes I think something is healthy, and then find out it is terrible for me. Quite a let down.

Thankfully, however, shrimps are as they appear – low in calories – and even have a little bit of hidden goodness – rich supplies of selenium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12 (all nutrients that are often deficient in the US diet). I think that’s why this tasted so good. Right!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo, from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis

(Serves 4)

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 tsp. salt, plus additional as needed
1 tsp. dried crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbs. olive oil, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons
1 medium onion, sliced
1 (14 1/2-oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 c. dry white wine
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp. dried oregano leaves
3 Tbs. chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
3 Tbs. chopped fresh basil leaves

Toss the shrimp in a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon of salt and red pepper flakes. Heat the 3 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and saute for about a minute, toss, and continue cooking until just cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a large plate; set aside. Add the onion to the same skillet, adding 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan, if necessary, and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, wine, garlic, and oregano. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Return the shrimp and any accumulated juices to the tomato mixture; toss to coat, and cook for about a minute so the flavors meld together. Stir in the parsley and basil. Season with more salt, to taste, and serve over cooked pasta.