Salmon Bowl

We had left over Salmon and made a traditional Japanese Rice Bowl. We topped the rice with Pickled Ginger and Ochazuke Wakame. We started with a Tomato, Burrata and Pesto Salad.

Salmon, Corn and Faro

It was a beautiful warm night and we ate outside. The sunset was spectacular. 

We had leftover Salmon and served it with Creamed Corn and Faro. I picked up corn at the Silverlake Farmer’s Market. We used Judy Rodgers recipe for Creamed Corn that is in the Zuni Café Cookbook. You can find the recipe on our blog of: Sep. 16, 2013. Click the date to get the recipe.

Dates and Pasta

Cocktail Hour

Date, Arugula and Cheese Salad

We saw a recipe for Summer Pasta With Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil in the New York Times. Shumon joined us for dinner. It was a warm night and we started with cocktails on the front patio then moved to the back patio for the dinner. We started with a Date and Arugula Salad.

The Pasta was ok, but not great. Probably won’t make again. But if you like the ingredients give it a try. The drinks and the wine were great!

Summer Pasta With Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil

New York Times

Fresh Ricotta Turns a Simple Pasta Dish Sublime

A recent trip to Sicily reminded me just how marvelous fresh ricotta can be. I had the chance to visit a family-run sheep dairy to observe a cheese master at work. The farm produces pecorino cheese, both young and aged, and ricotta too, which is essentially a by-product of the cheese-making process.

Twice each day, 500 sheep are milked by hand, which produces 400 liters (about 100 gallons) of milk, enough to fill a giant vat. After the cheese curds are ready and scooped into molds, the remaining whey — a thin, watery-looking liquid — is transferred to a huge kettle, heated beneath by a wood fire. When the whey reaches the proper temperature, after about an hour, the most incredibly delicate ricotta floats to the surface. The name ricotta means recooked, but it still seems miraculous that this second cooking could achieve such ethereal results.

Sheep’s milk ricotta is becoming more available in the United States, both from American producers and as an imported product. Better cheese shops and Italian delis stock it. The ricotta needs to be ultrafresh, so try to buy it as soon as it comes in, and use it within two days. Or ask for fresh cow’s milk ricotta, which can also be divine. Both are far superior to the generic type found in most supermarkets.

In Sicily (all over Italy, for that matter), ricotta has a variety of uses, both savory and sweet. It is a common filling for ravioli and lasagna, or it can be turned into tender gnocchi. Lightly sweetened, it is also an element in desserts — for ice cream, or ricotta cream for cannoli, or for the traditional cake, cassata.

Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

But fresh ricotta is perhaps best when employed to make a wonderful rudimentary pasta, especially this time of year, when garden-fresh, just-picked vegetables abound.

Here is the technique: While your pasta is boiling, you soften a diced onion in olive oil. Then you add chopped zucchini (or peas, or split cherry tomatoes) and let it soften as well. When the pasta is al dente, it joins the zucchini in the pan, followed by a good dollop of ricotta and a splash of the pasta’s cooking water. The ricotta melts to a creamy cloak, and a handful of grated pecorino or Parmesan brings it all together. I also add a touch of lemon zest and a spoonful of basil pesto.

It is a dish of utter simplicity, yet it tastes, to me at least, like the height of luxury.

Recipe: Summer Pasta with Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil

Summer Pasta With Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil

A summer pasta should be simple and fresh, ideally made with vegetables straight from the garden or market. Look for the best artisanal ricotta; top-quality ingredients make all the difference here.

INGREDIENTS

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

2 pounds zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick pieces (for larger zucchini, cut in half lengthwise before slicing)

Salt and pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced, or 2 tablespoons chopped green garlic

1 ounce basil, about 2 cups loose leaves

1 pound ziti or other dry pasta

8 ounces ricotta, about 1 cup

Pinch of crushed red pepper

Zest of 1 lemon

2 ounces grated Parmesan, pecorino or a mixture, about 1 cup, plus more for serving

PREPARATION

1.   Put a pot of water on to boil. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the onions in 3 tablespoons olive oil until softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat as necessary to keep onions from browning. Add zucchini, season generously with salt and pepper, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until rather soft, about 10 minutes. Turn off heat.

2.   Meanwhile, use a mortar and pestle to pound garlic, basil and a little salt into a rough paste (or use a mini food processor). Stir in 3 tablespoons olive oil.

3.   Salt the pasta water well and put in the pasta, stirring. Boil per package instructions but make sure to keep pasta quite al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of cooking water.

4.   Add cooked pasta to zucchini in skillet and turn heat to medium-high. Add 1/2 cup cooking water, then the ricotta, crushed red pepper and lemon zest, stirring to distribute. Check seasoning and adjust. Cook for 1 minute more. Mixture should look creamy. Add a little more pasta water if necessary. Add the basil paste and half the grated cheese and quickly stir to incorporate. Spoon pasta into warm soup plates and sprinkle with additional cheese. Serve immediately.

Iftar Dinner

Traditional Iftar Dinner

The wine is not traditional

Aloo Gobi (my favorite)

Chicken Curry

Shumon joined us for dinner. It was Iftar the first night of Ramadan and the Iftar dinner is the dinner at night breaking the fast at Sundown. The moon was a perfect crescent. He brought a traditional Iftar dinner of from his favorite Bangladeshi restaurant. We added the wine to westernize it a bit. Actually many Muslims drink alcohol.

Shumon also cooked us two dishes: Chicken Curry and my favorite: Aloo Gobi (Potatoes and Cauliflower).

We really enjoyed sharing the holiday with him. 

Rotisserie Chicken

Mozzarella , Tomatoes, Turkey Meatball

We were on the West Side and decided to stop at Joan’s on Third on way back to Silverlake. Joan’s has some excellent takeout. We purchased Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese Salad to go and Turkey Meatballs, that was made in an Lebanese or Mid-east Fashion. Not all of Joan’s take out is fabulous. These weren’t. Oh, well.

We cooked a Two Chickens in our Rotisserie. We place diced potatoes and onions under the chicken in the heart of the grill. As the potatoes cook they absorb the juices of the chicken. The best thing about rotisserie cooking is that it is very forgiving. I just look at the meat every 15 minutes, make sure the coals are burning hot,  occasionally I add some wood chips to generate smoke. When the food looks done, I use an instant read thermometer to check the internal temp. If it takes longer than expected, just drink more and relax.

You can get the recipe for the chicken from our blog of: We stuffed the two chickens using the recipe for Roast Chicken for Two and from The Balthhazar Cookbook by Keith McNally, Riad Nasr & Lee Hansen. This is a great recipe that keeps the chicken very moist. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 23, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Cheese Soufflé

A Beautiful Thing

Just perfect with a runny interior

Our friend, Guillermo, brought us a large Parmesan Cheese Wedge from Italy. The cheese was much milder then the Reggiano we usually buy. It was delicious. We have made many dishes that we could garnish with cheese and then decided to make a Cheese Soufflé. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The picture of this soufflé tells it all. It was superb! You can get the recipe from our blog of: Feb. 15, 2013. Click the date to get the recipe.

With the Soufflé we made a very unusual Wedge Salad from a recipe in the New York Times. The dressing is served warm over the salad. It looks weird but tasted great.

St. Anselm’s Iceberg Wedge Salad

New York Times

This wedge salad, adorned with blue cheese and warm bacon vinaigrette, is served at the restaurant St. Anselm in Brooklyn. The revelatory vinaigrette is actually a roux made with bacon fat, then thinned with cider vinegar and water, a hit of sugar and another of Dijon mustard. It is superb, and it would not be out of place drizzled over grilled asparagus, accompanied by chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Featured in: Fette Sau’s Joe Carroll Writes ‘Feeding The Fire,’ A Worthy Barbecue Primer. 

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE DRESSING:

6 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

FOR THE SALAD:

1 large head of iceberg lettuce, cut and cored into 4 wedges

4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION

1.   In a large skillet set over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1/4 cup of the bacon fat in the skillet.

2.   Lower the heat under the skillet, then stir in the flour and cook, stirring often with a spoon, until the flour is lightly browned, approximately 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups water to the mixture, along with the vinegar, sugar and mustard, and allow to come to a simmer. Whisk the mixture frequently until the dressing is thick enough to resemble gravy and coat the back of a spoon, approximately 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

3.   Put the iceberg wedges on plates. Drizzle with the warm dressing, and sprinkle with the bacon pieces, blue cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.

Peach Salad and Thai Pork Fried Rice

Peaches are in season so we made a salad with Arugula, Fresh Peaches and Burrata Cheese to start our dinner.

We had dinner at Mozza ChiSpacca one of my very favorite restaurants and of course we had the Tomahawk Pork Chop. There is NO way we could finish the chop, it is so enormous. We brought the leftover pork home and made Thai Fried Rice. We have done this many times and we love it. We use the recipe for: Fried Rice with Crab from Thai Street Food by David Thompson. We simply substituted the Crab with Pork. You can the recipe from our blog of April 4, 2013. Simply click the date to get the recipe.

Rotisserie Pork

Thick Slices of Pork from the Rotisserie

Grilled Asparagus

Hasselback Potatoes

Tom and Scott joined us for dinner. I smoked a Pork Shoulder in our rotisserie. The meat of course was from McCall’s Meat and Fish. This is one of our favorite pork preparations. You can get the recipe from our blog of: Oct. 6, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

With the pork we made for the first time Hasselback Potatoes. The potatoes are named after the hotel in Sweden where the recipe was perfected in the 1950’s. When you google the recipe you get many variations of how to make these delicious potatoes. They all feature slicing the potato before cooking in the oven partially thru then drenching repeatedly in butter. The potatoes get crispy almost like a French Fry. They taste good and are easy to make.

I grilled Asparagus to go with the dinner.

For dessert we had Ice Cream and Chocolate Cookies from McCall’s.

Hasselback Potatoes

A simple but creative way to serve potatoes. Thinly sliced potatoes baked in the oven. With a crispy exterior and a soft center, these potatoes are a cross between French fries and potato chips.

Ingredients

6 large Yukon Gold - washed, scrubbed, and

dried

4 tablespoons melted butter or olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Optional garnish: Fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

·      Cut deep 1/8-inch to 14-inch slits into the potatoes being carefully to not cut all the way through so the bottom of the potatoes stay intact.

·      Brush the potatoes with butter and season with salt and pepper.

·      Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet that is either sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with parchment paper.

·      Bake the 30 minutes, and bring the potatoes out of the oven (momentarily). The layers will look partially separated. Carefully use a butter knife to help separate any layers still stuck together.

·      Mix the remaining butter, parmesan cheese, and thyme together and generously brush the potatoes again with this butter mixture including the bottoms. Any remaining butter should be equally drizzled over the potatoes so the butter drips into the cut slices.

·      Lightly season the potatoes again with salt and pepper.

·      Bake the potatoes for 25-30 minutes until the center layers are tender

·      Allow the potatoes to slightly cool off for 5 minutes before serving.

·      Garnish the potatoes with fresh thyme if desired.