Winter Nights Dinner

 

 

 

Roger joined us for dinner. The winter weather in Los Angeles was still cold and intermittently rainy.

Gerry and Nancie had sent us apples and pears and we used them in a great new salad from Sunday Supper at Lucques. Somehow we had missed this recipe in the cookbook. It is called: Barbara's apples and asian pears with radicchio, mint, and buttermilk dressing. The title essentially tells the recipe. We added candied walnuts and raisins to make it very much like a Waldorf Salad. It was delicious, fresh and crisp. This salad is a keeper!

For the main course we had one of our favorite pastas: Pasta with Lentil and Prosciutto Sauce from: Cucina Simpatica by Johanne Killeen and George Germon. I needed a small chunk of Prosciutto and when I asked to buy it The Cheese Store of Silverlake, Chris gave me a prosciutto bone with lots of meat left on it. We cut off what we needed for this pasta, This was the second use of the prosciutto he gave us, we had previously used some in the meatloaf we made last week. We still have some left, and plan to make a soup out of it.
The pasta is great. One thing I really like is that it is topped with chopped red onion rather than cheese.



Pasta with Lentil and Prosciutto Sauce
==================================


From: Cucina Simpatica – Johanne Killeen and George Germon

Ask your butcher for an end piece of prosciutto. Usually these pieces are less expensive, and they are fine for this sauce.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, scraped and chopped
1 large onion (4 to 5 ounces), peeled and diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
One 3-ounce piece prosciutto or pancetta, chopped (1/2 cup packed)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces (1 heaping cup) lentils ^
1 red onion
11/2 pounds imported spaghettini or linguine fini
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut up

1. Heat the olive oil in a small heavy stockpot and add the celery, carrot, diced onion, garlic, jalapeno, red pepper, prosciutto, and salt. Gently saute, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and aromatic, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Add the lentils and 5 cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the lentils are soft but not mushy and falling apart, 18 to 22 minutes. The sauce may be completed to this point and chilled in the refrigerator until ready to use.

3. If you have refrigerated the sauce, heat it slowly over a low flame. Bring 5 quarts of salted water to a boil in another large pot, and chop the red onion for garnish.

4. When the lentil sauce is hot, drop the pasta in the water and boil until it is still quite firm, 4 to 5 minutes.

5. Drain the spaghettini in a colander, then add it to the sauce with the butter. Toss the pasta in the sauce for 1 to 2 minutes until al dente. Serve very hot, topped with the chopped red onion.

SERVES 6 AS A MAIN COURSE


Barbara's apples and asian pears with radicchio, mint, and buttermilk dressing
=======================================================

1 xtra-large egg yolk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons finely diced shallot
1 to 2 lemons, for juicing
1/4 cup creme fraiche
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 apples, firm, crisp, and juicy
2 Asian pears
2 heads radicchio
2 tablespoons sliced mint
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


When I was growing up, apples seemed so bland and boring—1 could never get excited about a mushy Red Delicious the way I could a summer peach. But today, thanks to small farmers around the country like Barbara and Bill Spencer of Windrose Farms, we have a lot more choices where apples are concerned, and a lot more to get excited about.

Determined to revive the disappearing heirlooms, the Spencers painstakingly planted more than forty varieties of apple trees on their farm in Paso Robles, Cali¬fornia. It took 6 years for the trees to produce, and that glorious fall, when Barbara turned up at the back door of Lucques with boxes and boxes of their impressive crop, I was blown away. The apples looked dazzlingly beautiful and tasted even better. From russeted emerald greens to mottled pinks to deep burgundy-blacks, we sampled our way through them all, picking our favorites and taking note of which were better raw and which were better cooked. Some of our favorites for eat¬ing out of hand were Braeburn, Arkansas Black, and Gernes Red Acre. Crisp, sweet, and tart, these revelatory fruits were the inspiration for this fall salad.

And if it's not enough that they're growing all these beautiful heirloom apples, Barbara and Bill also grow some of the best Asian pears I've ever tasted. Juicy and delicately perfumed, they're a fun surprise, sliced and tossed with the apples, buttermilk, mint, and radicchio in this thirst-quenching salad.

Place the egg yolk in a stainless steel bowl. Begin whisking in the grapeseed oil drop bv drop, as slowly as you can bear. Continue in this manner until the mixture begins to thicken. Once the mayonnaise has emulsified, you can add the rest of the oil in a slow steady stream, whisking all the time.

Combine the shallot, i tablespoon lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl, and let sit 5 minutes. Whisk in the creme fraiche and buttermilk. Gently whisk this mixture into the mayonnaise, and taste for balance and sea¬soning.

Slice the apples and Asian pears away from the core. Cut into 1/8-inch thick slices and place them in a large salad bowl. Tear the radicchio into large bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl. Toss the salad with three-quarters of the dressing, and season with salt and pepper. Add a squeeze of lemon and a little more of the dressing if necessary.

Transfer to a large chilled platter and scatter the mint and parsley over the top.

Rainy Winter Meal

 

 

Los Angeles had turned cold and rainy. We decided it was time for a warm winter dinner. One of the best things I can think of on a cold rainy night is French Onion Soup bubbling with melted cheese and a glass of Red Wine. So French Onion Soup it was!

Made the same recipe we always make, Onion Soup from Julia Childs first book: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It is the best! It is really quite easy, and always works out. The trick is to cook the THINLY sliced onions slowly to bring out their flavor.

For the entre we made a fabulous provencal meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The recipe can be found in Mediterranean Grains and Greens by Paula Wolfert. The meatloaf is entirely made from pork and sausage with lots of greens. It is almost like a pate in texture. It is delicious. What better to go with meatloaf then mashed potatoes?

This was a perfect cold rainy night dinner!

Onion Soup
========

1 ½ lbs or about 5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons oil
1 heavy bottomed, 4 quart covered saucepan

1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar (helps the onions to brown)

3 tablespoons flour

2 quarts boiling brown stock, canned beef bullion

½ cup dry white wine or vermouth
Salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons cognac

Rounds of slice French Bread

Gruyere cheese

Cook the sliced onions slowly with the butter and oil in the covered saucepan for 15 minutes.

Uncover, raise the heat to moderate and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes stirring frequently, until the onions have turned an even, deep, golden brown.

Off the heat, blend in the boiling liquid. Add the wine, and season for taste. Simmer partly covered for 30 to 40 minutes or more, skimming occasionally. Correct the seasoning.


Set aside uncovered until ready to serve. Then reheat to the simmer.

Just before serving add 3 tablespoons cognac.

Pour the hot soup in oven proof soup bowls. Add the soup not quite to the top. Put a slice of toasted French bread on top. Generously cover with guyere cheese. Bake in 325 degree oven till the cheese is brown and melted.

provencal "meat loaf" with cabbage, artichokes, chard, spinach, and ground pork (France)
==========

Serves 8
1 chopped onion
1 leeks, trimmed and chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 artichoke bottoms, blanched for 10 minutes, then thinly slliced
3/4 pound ground pork
2 bunches Swiss chard leaves, cooked and chopped
1 bunch stemmed spinach, cooked and chopped
2 ounces pork sausage, skinned and shredded
2 ounces cured ham such as prosciutto, shredded
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
3 cups stale crustless bread, torn into small pieces
1 medium green or savoy cabbage (2 1/2 pounds)
¼ cup bread crumbs

This delicious Provencal "meat loaf will easily feed eight. I like to prepare it for four, serving it warm along with pickles, salad, and mashed pota¬toes, then prepare the leftovers the following day by slicing it, dusting the slices with flour, and fry¬ing them in extra-virgin olive oil until brown and crunchy on all sides

One day in advance of serving, fry the onion and leeks in the olive oil in a small skillet until softened. Cool, then mix with the artichoke bottoms, pork, greens, pork sausage, ham, salt, pepper, parsley, spices, garlic, and dried bread in a bowl; blend well. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to develop.

The following day, preheat the oven to 350degrees.

Discard outer leaves of the cabbage. Wash the cabbage, discard inner core, and cook in boiling salted water for 30 minutes. Drain cabbage well.

Line a 6- to 8-cup oiled gratin dish with half the cabbage leaves, overlapping. Place the filling in the center, flatten slightly, and cover with the remaining leaves to completely enclose. If the cabbage and its filling rise above the sides of the dish, gently pat down to make them more compact. Brush the top with oil and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Fill a roasting pan with water and set it in oven. Place the dish in the center and bake for 1 hour. Remove the water bath and finish baking until brown and crusty, 1 hour more

First Dinner Back from India

For the first dinner we cooked we had some unusual requirements. First of all it had to have beef! Secondly cheese! Thirdly Pasta! Fourthly fresh salad! Lastly we wanted lots of leftovers. All things we didn’t have a lot of in India!

We had a brand new cookbook: A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis. We decided to make Orecchiette al Forno. One of the fun things about making it is the recipe calls for you to make your own fennel sausage. It is very easy to make. We doubled the recipe and made a lot! It was very good and lasted for several days. We didn’t get tired of it.

We started with a fresh salad made with blue cheese and candied walnuts that we had purchased from the Cheese Store of Silverlake. To the salad we added fresh pear slices from the pears that Gerry and Nancie had sent to us. Delicious!

It was good to cook again. We did miss Bea who often joins us. She is in the hospital with a broken foot.


Orecchiette al Forno
==============
If you choose a sturdy dried pasta type like orecchiette (little ears), you can cook pasta ahead without compromising quality. For a vegetarian version of this baked pasta, omit the sausage and add crushed fennel seeds to the greens. Other greens can be easily substituted for the rapini, if you like.

2 pounds orecchiette
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
Olive oil
Red pepper flakes
2 pounds rapini (broccoli rabe), washed
Salt
1 pound Fennel Sausage (recipe follows)
1/2 pound fresh ricotta
Butter
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Grated pecorino

Have two pots of well-salted water boiling briskly. Cook 1 pound of pasta in each pot until extremely al dente, about 9 minutes. Lift the pasta from the water and spread on baking sheets to cool; drizzle lightly with olive oil to keep it from sticking together.
Using the boiling water, blanch the greens for 1 minute or so. Drain in a col¬ander. When they are cool, roughly chop the greens and set aside.

In a large skillet, lightly brown the sausage meat, breaking it up with a •wooden spoon as it cooks so it crumbles into small pieces. Remove the browned sausage from the pan.

Pour off any fat from the pan and return the pan to the stove. Add 2 table¬spoons olive oil and heat over medium heat. Warm the garlic in the oil, but don't let it brown. Add the chopped greens, rosemary, and a little red pepper. Lightly salt the greens, stir them around the pan, and turn off the heat.
To assemble the dish, put the cooked pasta, cooked greens, and cooked sausage in a large bowl and mix gently. Add the ricotta and mix again.
Butter two shallow earthenware gratin dishes. Put half the pasta mixture in each dish. Sprinkle lightly with grated pecorino. Cover and keep at room tempera¬ture for up to several hours.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Shortly before serving time, bake the pasta for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 minutes more.
Serve the pasta in warmed soup plates. Pass grated pecorino at the table.

fennel sausage
==========
Much commercially made sausage is of dubious origin, filled with preservatives and odd synthetic seasonings. It's very easy to make fennel sausage at home. This recipe yields double the amount of sausage needed for the orecchiette. Of course you could halve it, but I suggest you make the whole recipe—just wrap the remainder well and freeze.

2 pounds ground pork shoulder,not too lean
2 teaspoons crushed fennel seed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Working quickly, to keep the meat quite cold, mix all the ingredients well. Refrigerate immediately and use within 2 days, or freeze in small packages for later use.