Sometimes the Magic Doesn't Work

Our Annual Holiday Cake 

The Potatoes with Truffles were great!

Loved the Cake!

Sometimes the Magic works, sometimes it doesn't. We made this recipe for Cabbage and Sausage from The New York Times and didn't like it. I had bought the wrong sausage, Spicy Italian rather than Mild Italian Sausage. Once we realized the mistake we decided to use the spicy sausage anyways. Perhaps that was the error, perhaps it just wasn't a great recipe. Oh well, mark it down as a failure not to be repeated.

On a brighter side, we made fantastic Truffled Mashed Potatoes. We used the recipe for Garlic Mashed Potato recipe in TheBalthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr, Hanson. This is a fantastic recipe - it is super-rich! You can find the recipe on our blog of: November 12, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe. We used Truffle Butter in making the Mashed Potatoes and topped the potatoes with fresh Truffle Slices. Because of the truffles we left the garlic out. The dish is exceedingly rich and good! The best mashed potatoes recipe ever!

We served our Holiday Cake. Every year we bake the cake and let it sit for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. I know Fruit Cake gets a well deserved bad rap, but I can guarantee you this one is great. Everyone loves it, it freezes well, it can be toasted or eaten at room temp. It is a winner! Try it. It is called Mary Ann's Fruit Cake from a recipe by Craig Claiborne of The New York Times. You can find the recipe on our blog of January 1, 2011. Click the date to get the recipe.

Sausage and Cabbage

New York Times

This recipe is an adaptation of one created by Tamasin Day-Lewis, the Stevie Nicks of British cookery. A casserole recipe that she credits to the British food writer Jane Grigson has just four ingredients — sausage, cabbage, butter and pepper — but after two and a half hours in the oven, it emerges mysterious and succulent.

Ingredients

Salt

3       tablespoons unsalted butter

2       pounds fresh sweet Italian pork sausages or bulk sausage

1       large green or Savoy cabbage, about 4 pounds, cored and thickly shredded

Freshly ground black pepper

Crusty bread and mustard, for serving

Preparation

1.            Heat oven to 300 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and butter a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking dish. If using sausages, remove casings and discard them.

2.            Place cabbage in boiling water, cover, and let water come back to the boil. Uncover and boil for 3 minutes. Drain cabbage in a colander and run cold water over it to stop cooking.

3.            Put about 1/3 of the cabbage in buttered dish and cover with 1/2 the meat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dot with butter. Repeat, ending with a final layer of cabbage, and dot top with butter.

4.            Cover dish tightly with a layer of parchment paper, then top with a lid or a layer of aluminum foil. Cook for about 2 1/2 hours, until cabbage is soft and sweet, and top is lightly browned. After 2 hours, uncover the dish: if there is a lot of liquid in the bottom, leave uncovered for the rest of the cooking time. If not, re-cover and finish cooking.

New Year's Eve

We didn't plan to have a New Year's Eve Dinner, but we got drafted! John came down from San Francisco and Shumon had just returned from Bangladesh. Tom and Scott joined. Darryl and Robert almost attended.

We started with Truffle Cheese and Crackers. We then had a fabulous dinner. 1st course was Scallops with Chive Oil and sliced White Truffles. You can get the recipe for the Chive Oil on our blog of: June 4, 2011. Click the date to get the recipe.  

The Porchetta is a great party dish. It is super easy to make, it cooks for a long time, fills the house with wonderful aromas, looks great, is easy to cut and serve and has super crunchy Crackling. You can get the recipe on our blog of: Feb. 24, 2014. Click the date to get the recipe. The Truffles, Scallops and Porchetta were all from McCall's Meat and Fish.

With the Porchetta we served Potatoes Nik. It is basically a giant Potato Pancake or Latke. Everyone loved it! You can find the recipe on our blog of: October 21, 2016. Click the date to get the recipe.

Tom and Scott brought dessert: a Fruit Cake and Petits Fours both were excellent.

John brought 3 bottles of Bordeaux all of 1986 vintage. They were superb! We added Champagne, White Wine, Dessert Wines and Scotch. In spite of all of the drinking we managed to stay up past Midnight! We went out on the deck, on the cool night and watched the illegal fireworks all over the city.

We kissed the awful year of 2016 goodbye and hoped for a better 2017. Unfortunately I think 2017 could even be worse under Trump. With a little luck, maybe my fears will be unfounded!

Pasta All 'Amatriciana

One of our favorite pasta's is Pasta All'Amatriciana. We love it and it so simple. Pasta, Tomato and Bacon. You can get the recipe on our blog of: November 21, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe. This recipe was made even easier because we were able to buy excellent tomato sauce from Angelini Alimentari.

Mapo Ragù

Cathy found this recipe for Mapo Ragù in The New York Times. It is excellent. We will make it again.

Mapo Ragù

New York Times

This is my simple, everyday take on a dish developed at Momofuku Ssam Bar in Manhattan many years ago by the chefs David Chang and Tien Ho and their band of collaborators. It is almost literally a mashup: a meal that is kind of Korean, kind of Chinese, kind of Italian. If you don’t like spicy food, use miso instead of the gochujang and don’t use Sichuan peppercorns. (If you like really spicy food, add dried chiles or hot pepper flakes to the recipe at the point you add the gochujang.) And if you want to make it even more luxe than it is already, follow the lead of Chang’s crew and stir 6 ounces of silken tofu into the sauce at the end. 

Ingredients

3       tablespoons neutral oil, like canola

2       large onions, peeled and sliced

Pinch of kosher salt, or to taste

 pound ground pork

4       cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

10-15 frozen cylindrical rice cakes (optional), or rice noodles, or pasta, or steamed rice

1       inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

3       tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili-bean paste)

1       tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1       tablespoon brown sugar

2       teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (optional)

1       bunch kale or any hearty cooking greens, roughly chopped

4       scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish

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Preparation

1.   Heat the oil in a wok set over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add the onions and the pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have released their moisture and are starting to brown, approximately 10 minutes. Then turn the heat down to low, and continue to cook, stirring every few minutes, until they have turned golden brown and sweet, an additional 20 minutes or so.

2.   Tip the onions into a bowl, and return the wok to high heat over the stove. Add remaining tablespoon of oil, then the pork, and cook, breaking the meat up with a spoon, until it is just cooked, but not yet browning, approximately 10 minutes. Add the cooked meat to the reserved onions.

3.   If using the rice cakes, put a large pot of salted water over high heat, and bring to a boil.

4.   Return wok to stove over medium heat and cook the garlic and ginger in fat remaining from pork (add an extra splash of neutral oil if necessary). When the garlic and ginger soften, add gochujang, soy sauce, brown sugar and, if using, the Sichuan peppercorns. Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water, enough to loosen the gochujang and make a sauce, then return pork and onions to the wok and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings.

5.   Bring sauce to a simmer, and add the chopped greens, then stir to combine and cook until they have started to soften, approximately 5 minutes.

6.   If using rice cakes, place them in the boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes to soften, then drain and add to the sauce. (If not, serve the ragù with steamed rice, rice noodles or pasta.) Garnish with the sliced scallions.

Paella

We love the Lobster at New Port Seafood. We save all of the shells and take them home to make Lobster Stock which we freeze. We then defrost to use as the liquid in making Paella. Oh what a flavor it gives the rice!

We used lots of shrimps and Scallops. It was delicious. We used the recipe for Monkfish Rice with Saffron from the Moro Cookbook, substituting the Scallops and Shrimp for the Monkfish. What a great use for the frozen Lobster Stock. You can get the recipe for the Paella from our blog of: January 25, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

Pork in Milk

Pork in Milk is a wonderful standby for us. The milk curdles and makes a great sauce, the meat is boneless and leftovers slice easily making great pork sandwiches. The idea of braising Pork in Milk sounds strange but is easy and delicious. If you have never made this dish, I highly recommend it! You can get the recipe on our blog of: October 17, 2011. Click the date to get the recipe.

We serve it with Polenta, a perfect foil for the Pork. 

Expatriate Chicken

Expatriate Chicken is one of our favorite recipes. I love Preserved Lemon and Olives and Crispy Skin, so this is a natural for me. We always serve it with Cous-Cous. You can get the recipe from our blog of: August 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Risotto of the Vigil

Every year late in December we make Risotto of the Vigil. This hearty Italian Holiday classic is a wonderful risotto. It is loaded with Meats and Cabbage. I like the idea of having a specific dish we make at the same time each year. It brings back memories. I discovered something great about the recipe this year - you have to cut the meats into small pieces for the risotto. The butchers at McCall's Meat and Fish will do it for you. Talk about custom service! It is worth it.

You can get the recipe from our blog of: December 22, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.