Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Spain on the mind

I'll be traveling to Spain for the first time at the beginning of July and so in the next few weeks I'll be posting some of the delights of Spanish cooking. If you have never tried these, do not be turned away by the word anchovy. If you have only ever tasted cured and canned ones, trying them fresh will change everything for you. I promise. If you're in the Boston area, go to New Deal Fish Market in East Cambridge. Serve them on very thin rounds of toasted baguette as an appetizer or alongside a salad of fresh greens tossed with simple vinaigrette.


Marinated Boquerones


1 lb fresh anchovies
juice of one lemon
5 Tbs sherry vinegar
1 red chili, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
fresh parsley and thyme, chopped finely
salt and freshly ground black pepper
high-quality olive oil


Wash and clean the anchovies. If you need help, click here. Rinse briefly and set them aside skin side down on a paper towel. Add anchovies to a flat dish and squeeze the lemon juice with the sherry vinegar over the fish, sprinkle with two to three pinches of salt. Allow to marinate for about 30-40 minutes until the flesh is white and no longer translucent. Very gently rinse the fish one last time, pat dry. Place anchovies in a clean flat dish and layer them alternating with chilies, minced garlic, herbs and spices. Add enough olive oil to fully cover the filets, marinate overnight and keep chilled until ready to serve.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Crispy Waffles with Bourbon Caramelized Bananas


This blog post is written by my friend, colleague, and baker John McKay. After tasting these waffles recently, I asked John to share his wisdom, precision and experience of elevating this staple of weekend brunches to a new and extraordinary level. The pictures are from my recent encounter with them. Here's John very welcome offering...

Nothing makes a better breakfast treat than a good waffle, topped with fresh fruit and some dark maple syrup.  For a special occasion, some caramelized fruit, a touch of ice cream, or even whipped cream are great additions.  But while sweet toppings can improve lackluster waffles, the best place to start is with a waffle that would still taste great even when eaten plain.

For most people, the ideal waffle has three characteristics: a slightly crispy exterior, a soft and almost creamy interior, and great flavor.  After many experiments, I've discovered that the most difficult aspect to achieve consistently is the crispy exterior, and there is a lot of good and bad advice out there about how to make crispy waffles.  Here are a few thoughts after cooking close to a hundred variations over the years, which might be helpful if you want to improve your favorite recipe.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tasting Southern Italy

This week I'm writing a conference paper on a fifteenth-century composer and music theorist who spent several years living in the southern Italian city of Naples. I still haven't visited Naples myself (it's on the very long to-visit list), but I always find cooking is an efficient means for sensory travels to far-off places. It's usually much cheaper, unless of course you're imagining a trip to the Caspian Sea with heaps of Beluga caviar. While writing this conference paper, I'm still enjoying leftovers from last weekend's dinner party, which include my own penne puttanesca. It appears that puttanesca sauce was invented in southern Italy in the mid-20th century and is known for its salty, pungent flavors of garlic, flat-leaf parsley, red pepper, anchovies, capers, and olives. There are some regional variants of proportions and ingredients (including the addition of diced green peppers), but I provide here the recipe that I always use.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Skipping summer

This stretch of rainy and grey weather has led me to believe that the ten days of glorious warm sunshine was spring, summer, and early fall rolled into one brief moment in time and now we find ourselves in rainy late October. In my preparations for cooking dinner for ten people tomorrow, I've been scanning my cookbooks for ideas and came upon this hearty warmer and bookmarked it for the coming days of continued rain. Veal, mushrooms, wine, cream... all necessary to drive the damp out of the house and bones. Zurichoise refers to Zurich, Switzerland and here means the dish involves mushrooms and cream. Good luck staying warm and dry.


Veal Stew (Zurichoise)
Vongerichten/Bittman, Simple to Spectacular
serves 4


2 Tbs canola oil
2 Tbs butter
1.5 to 2 lbs boneless veal shoulder, cut into 1/2-in chunks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups trimmed and sliced white mushrooms
1/4 cup peeled and minced shallots
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup crème fraîche
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves


Put the oil and butter in a large skillet and turn the heat to medium-high heat. Season the veal well with salt and pepper. When the butter melts and its foam begins to subside, add the veal, turn the heat to high, and cook, turning only occasionally, until nicely browned, about 10 minutes. (Do this in batches if necessary). Transfer the veal to a plate and pour off any excess liquid it may have given off. Add the mushrooms and shallots to the pan and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and cook, still over high heat, until it reduces by about half. Turn the heat to medium-low and stir in the crème fraîche and the veal; cover and cook, checking every now and then, until the veal is tender, another 40 minutes or so, perhaps longer. Stir in the parsley, adjust the seasoning, and serve.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Fishing for a good punch

As my birthday nears (a big one), I thought it would be appropriate to post a recipe that to me immediately signifies a celebration: a punch. And not just any punch. It has been served at birthdays, New Year’s and Halloween bashes, doctoral-exam-passing bacchanalia, and so forth. However, little did my housemates and I know that, for several years, the festive punch we were pouring at our parties was an ancient one. Well, ancient in America. One of my old housemates recently asked for this recipe and I decided to do some digging on its history. Sure enough, it’s legendary.


Eric Felton of the Wall Street Journal reports that Fish House Punch is the official drink of the oldest club in America, Philadelphia’s Schuykill Fishing Company (also known as State in Schuykill), having been served there since 1732 and apparently a favorite of George Washington. While accounts of the original secret recipe are many and varied, Felton offers one in his article, which calls for dark Jamaican rum, cognac, peach-flavored brandy, lemon juice, simple syrup, and water. Esquire’s is similar, but nicely provides a recipe for an individual serving. Then again, who really plans to make only one? These recipes and their proportions don’t quite line up with the one I know, but they’re close. Still though, I will share the recipe passed down to me, one that includes tea. Save it for a good day. Like my birthday.

Fish House Punch
makes 12 to 24  servings

12 lemons
1 liter strong black tea
2 cups sugar (or equivalent simple syrup) or 2 cups honey
1 cup Southern Comfort
1 liter dark rum
½ liter brandy
½  liter soda water
Peaches, oranges, and lemons, thinly sliced

Juice the lemons and thinly slice the peels. In a large pan, heat the tea. Add the sugar and bring to a boil. Add the Southern Comfort, rum, and brandy, and stir well. While the mixture is simmering, add the lemon juice and peels. If serving hot, ladle into small heat-resistant cups. If serving cold, refrigerate overnight. Pour into a large punch bowl, add the soda water, and garnish with fruit slices. Or pour into an infusion jar with spigot, add fruit slices and soda water, and serve on ice.

Another version without tea (serves 30):
In punch bowl or infusion jar, combine one of each of the following: 750-ml bottle chilled light rum, 750-ml bottle chilled dark rum, 750-ml bottle chilled cognac. Add 1 cup of peach brandy, ¾ cup simple syrup, 3 cups fresh lime juice. Before serving, add large blocks of ice and pour in 2 liters of chilled club soda. Add slices of 1 orange,1 lemon, and several mint sprigs.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Pearing with Bacon

Over the past few years, I've seen several sandwiches sporting slices or chunks of the native Mexican root vegetable, jicama, often paired with cheese and/or chicken. One of them is at Flour Bakery in Boston/Cambridge. However, I've been trying out the far easier to find, less expensive, and frankly overlooked pear. When in season, a ripe pear can be incomparable. Adding fresh pear along with bacon to a sandwich or salad however can be really splendid.

I recently came across the B.L.P. [Bacon, Lettuce, and Pear] bisected on the great food-art blog Scanwiches, which led me to write this post. The recipe for this BLP is from the food magazine The Runcible Spoon (p.6). Simply Recipes provides a great grilled cheese with cheddar, bacon and pear, while Average Betty recommends aged gouda and caramelized onions. The pairing of bacon and pear can also work well in a salad. Bon Appétit has offered a salad with grilled pear, bacon, and Roquefort cheese, and the blog Brooklyn Supper suggests an endive salad as the base for the salty-sweet duo. Experiment with different types of pears including Bartlett, Bosc, D'Anjou, and the Asian varieties and of course fruitwood-smoked bacon might elevate the blend of flavors.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Chanterelles and Pasta

Alice Waters: Chanterelle Pasta
serves 4 to 6


1 oz dried porcini
¾ cup heavy cream
1½ cups chicken stock or mushroom broth
1 lb chanterelles (or horns of plenty, hedgehogs, etc.)
3 or 4 sprigs thyme
2 cloves garlic
1 leek
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and pepper
1 lb fresh pasta
Reggiano Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped parsley


Put the dried porcini in a saucepan with the cream and chicken stock or the broth and heat gently for 30 minutes or so to infuse the mixture with mushroom flavor. Remove the porcini from the cream with a slotted spoon or strainer, and strain the cream through the cheesecloth or a fine sieve to remove any sand. Clean and slive the chanterelles. Chop the thyme leaves. Peel and chop the garlic. Clean and chop the leek and sauté in 1 tblsp of the butter until soft and translucent. Remove from the pan and reserve. Put a pot of water on for the pasta. Sauté the mushrooms in the rest of the butter, seasoned with salt, pepper, and the chopped thyme. When nearly cooked through, add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Pour the strained cream and stock over the mushrooms, add the leeks, and simmer gently while the pasta is cooking. When the noodles are done, add them to the mushrooms. Taste and correct the seasoning. Season garnished with grated Parmesan and the parsley.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Whole Fish

As spring finally makes its presence known in New England, grilling is on my mind. Warm weather also makes me think of the sea and a summer of fishing and eating great seafood. Red snapper is found in plentiful numbers in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coast of America. Grilled asparagus would be a terrific accompaniment to this snapper.


Grilled Whole Red Snapper
serves 4 (from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food)


1 whole 3-lb red snapper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 lemons, sliced
several handfuls of fresh herbs (fennel fronds, basil, dill, cilantro, parsley)
extra virgin olive oil
serve with: lemon wedges and evoo


Scale, gut, and trim the tail and fins -- either have your fishmonger do it or try it yourself. Season the red snapper thoroughly with salt and pepper (inside and out). Stuff the inside cavity of the snapper with lemon slices and fresh herbs, then place a few additional herbs on outside of the snapper. Rub the fish with olive oil and let sit for about an hour. Prepare the grill. When preheated (to only medium heat for slower cooking a thicker fish), oil the grill with an oiled towel and place the fish on the grill. Cook until done, turning the fish as often as needed to keep the skin from burning (about 10 minutes of cooking per inch of snapper's thickness at thickest part). The fish is done when the flesh separates easily from the bones but is still moist. Test by inserting a skewer; it should meet little resistance. Remove from the grill and serve whole snapper at the table. Serve with lemon wedges and olive oil. Watch out for bones.