the back story to this salad is so incredibly bizarre that i’ve hesitated to even tell you about it. but i’ve never been much for keeping things on the down low, so let me share with you the abridged version. this was the audition for masterchef, a new reality show coming up with gordon ramsey. and it got me to the next round. which got me to the next round. which had me filling out the 30 page background check, shooting a home video, and writing the requested 3rd person bio. then came the call from the casting director, "claudia, it’s looking really good for you."

then 3 days later i was out.

but hey, that’s show biz!

i have another songwriter seminar happening in my home where i do all the food for 3 days for 15 people.. i’m busier than i’ve been in a long time and there’s just a lot going on in my life right now. but still, i wanted to share with you this salad. mostly just because it was truly excellent.

i had been on the fence about even bothering to audition for the show and made the decision that i was going to do it at 3 pm the day before. this meant i had to get up at 6 am and drive the 3.5 hours to atlanta to be at the viking store ontime. so i used what i had in the house. romaine, eggs, fresh bread, celery, lemon zest and juice, good green olive oil, chili flakes and garlic. the orange strips are bottarga – of course.

the croutons were from the innards of a baguette toasted in olive oil and butter with sliced garlic. when the garlic lightly browned i removed it and used the now chips as another garnish. the leaves were arranged, the lightly boiled eggs were roughly chopped, the dressing of olive oil, zest, juice, fresh minced garlic, chili flake and salt was emulsified and drizzled, and the bottarga was shaved with a vegetable peeler. thinly sliced celery gets added along with the garlic chips and croutons. i’m stressing the obvious here because it’s SO SIMPLE that there’s not much else to say!

i would like to add that bottarga has made my world a better place. i’m quite enamoured with the stuff.

gordon would have loved this salad. oh well…

i’m not exactly known for being a fan of the nashville restaurant scene. and that statement right there is one that gets me in a world of trouble around these parts. but it’s the very statement that launched ceF – and in 2 1/2 years i still stand by it firmly. dining out in this town has been – with few exceptions, relatively painful for me. and then tandy wilson came along…

city house opened two years ago and by now i suppose you could call me somewhat of a regular. it’s way on the other side of town from me, but if i’m going out to dinner, that’s the only place i want to spend my money. ok, sushi. there’s the exception. and savarino’s because i love corrado and his family and it’s a wonderful place to be on any given afternoon. oh, and patterson house. i really like that place too – serious cocktails and some decent small plates… and sure, there are a handful of others, and sometimes they surprise me. but overall there’s just not that much to speak of. and dropping a wad of cash on something that strives for mediocrity? i’d rather make myself a bowl of cacio e pepe ANYDAY.

but tandy cooks with a sensibility that speaks to me. even if a random dish misses the mark, i always appreciate where he was going with it. because i ‘get’ the food at city house in a big way. and if i had a restaurant, it’d feel very much like this place. but i will never have a restaurant. and so i eat here. and the fact that stephanie mixes me a fine, fine aviation, which is a rarity in almost any town – or city, delights me to no end.

the wood fired ovens reach a solid 750 degrees and the pizza dough undergoes a solid three day age. the roast chicken is consistently damn good and chef knows his way around a pig. tandy’s a snout to tail kinda guy that supports local farmers, sourcing his meat and produce to within any locavore’s comfort zone.

but it’s often the antipasti and the interesting salads that surprise me. and the one pictured above is a version of the one i had there this past friday night.. i roasted red and golden beets, sliced a still firm fuyu persimmon, mint, toasted walnuts, chili flakes and a drizzle of olive oil finished with a thoughtful placement of crunchy salt. all that and some ricotta salata. just beautiful.

it’s thoughtful plates like this one that excite me. i would never have put beets with persimmons yet somehow they are wonderful together. a dish like this is why city house continues to be both an inspiration and an oasis for me here in nashville.

and for the record, a bad dinner at a restaurant never makes me irritable or outraged. after all, it’s just one meal that i’m even lucky enough to get to eat. and really, when you’re out at a restaurant it’s more about the people, the evening – the memory.

but at home in my kitchen? a bad dinner? now that could really piss me off…

a sampling of some fresh picked wine berries, huckleberries and wild blackberries – a gift from my friend jack on my birthday last month

it’s not that i’m not cooking. because i am. there are gatherings of friends and just plain hungriness resulting in well, dinner. i even sometimes whip out the nikon and snap a few lame shots but these days not so much. and i’m not sure what’s come over me. but just the thought of posting on ceF was beginning to feel like ‘work’ and god only knows we wouldn’t want that to happen to a nice woman like me… after all, my lack of ambition is my greatest luxury. (i stole that line from my friend emily and have been using it ad nauseum but only because it is SO TRUE.)

but we’ve been to chicago and then i went to cleveland. dallas is this week and seattle comes next. i’m doing the 4 day cooking gig again come the first of october and then i’m off to nyc…  and all i want is to go back to italy. is that asking so much? IS IT? but honestly, i’m not complaining. it’s a charmed life. the past week or so has pretty much revolved around trips to the park in much appreciated cooler than normal temps, so after a 9 week hiatus i’m back on the bike and fighting the fat (albeit somewhat of a losing battle).

but mostly – if i could just say, i’m so deeply grateful for this amazing life that i get to live that i could cry. for those of you that read the sunday ny times magazine section yesterday, we are the fortunate ones…

ok – back to food…

presenting… a summer dinner. grilled corn with flaky maldon salt and a squeeze of lime. grilled tomatoes with thyme and a farro salad with a slightly overcooked poached egg on top. i’ve got just a vague recollection of what was in the farro salad but i’m thinking it was pequillo peppers and goat cheese – and something else but remembering is difficult…

best beans ever. rancho gordo cannellini’s with grape tomatoes, basil, thyme, lemon zest and juice, some potlikker, finely minced anchovy, a very good olive oil, salt and pepper. i think that was it but i’ve no idea because i can’t recall a damn thing.

lamb meatballs with a cherry sauce over whole wheat couscous finished with mint leaves. a lot of ingredients went into that sauce until it was nicely balanced and pretty damn impressive tasting. but i’m not sure exactly what i did – because of my memory…

all cary ever really wants for his birthday are two (2) angel food cakes with his grandmother’s ’7 minute boiled icing’. the icing becomes slightly hard on the outside and then yields to a slightly marshmallow like goo on the inside. ruhlman’s angel food cake from his bestseller ‘ratio‘, takes this cake to where it needs to go – from spongy and boring to totally delicious. in my opinion it’s all in the weighing of the flour and then using both lemon juice and vanilla. for your viewing pleasure i give you 4 pictures as they were all so awful i just couldn’t choose… this is the whitest cake in america and despite the absence of any fats and the overabundance of sugar, somehow it just works.

my icing technique is legendary. obviously.

moving on…

i phone pics before i bought the 3Gs. but this is the wonderful donnie madia pictured at his flagship restaurant blackbird. for my money, he and eduard seitan are the best restaurateurs in chicago with blackbird, avec, the publican and the newest addition, a tacqueria opening very soon. donnie’s attention to every detail is second to none with a modern sensibility that slays me, as i am highly susceptible to such things. with executive chef and partner paul kahan at the helm of the kitchen, it continues to be a recipe for greatness. we were in chicago for only 4 nights and ate at avec, then publican and then blackbird – finishing up with an anniversary dinner at tru, a gift from my mother. and for a whopping $425 that included only one glass of wine, it paled in comparison by such a long shot that i can’t even begin to explain the differences in the food except to say that in the end, blackbird kicked tru’s ass – big time. tru is supremely elegant and the room is lovely. it’s quiet and serious and the servers are ON IT. but dinner at blackbird was once again phenomenal. oh AND best negroni ever – hands down.

so, a few things… and please again – forgive the poor photo quality.

salad of endives with crispy potatoes, basil, dijon, pancetta and poached egg = sheer perfection. not kidding. this salad was incredible in every way.

chilled cuttlefish noodles with green garlic, red onion jam, trout caviar, nasturtiums and buttermilk = amazingness. i loved it.

wood-grilled california sturgeon with english peas, braised peanuts, crispy bacon and bourbon caramel = seriously impressive.

cary had the organic pork belly and crispy sweet shrimp with chinese broccoli, preserved green tomato and black pepper. he started with the pistachio gazpacho with ahi, watermelon confit, sea beans and cocoa. both were smashing.

this was my idea. sorry.

desserts were wonderful. donnie brought us three and each one was greatness. ricotta fritters with compari, rhubarb and pine nut ice cream, pistachio panna cotta with a raspberry consommé and brown butter ice cream and a torn black sesame cake with pineapple that looked a little something like this that was  – out. of. this. world…

avec, a bit more down to earth, is my favorite restaurant in all the land. and at the publican, albeit a bit on the loud side, we had an abundance of seriously excellent food. beer, oysters, fish and pork. just splendid.

chicago is such an extraordinary food town… thank you donnie.

south west of chicago. mies van der rohe’s masterpiece – the farnsworth house. i wept in its presence. it is genius if not impractical.

no tinkering with picassa was going to help this photo taken through the door of my oven. it was shredded zucchini and yellow squash with minced garlic, chiles and ricotta. i stole the idea from city house restaurant here in nashville. their’s was far better and i’m going to work on this because it was frustrating that i couldn’t replicate it. i need to call chef tandy wilson and ask for help. plus my chiles were so strong that they almost hurt. so, fail, although not in an epic way…

the project – buy 20 lbs of balaton cherries from earthy.com and use 10 to make some cherry bourbon hooch. i’ll get back to you in 6 weeks on how it turns out and if you’re on the short list, it’s what’s for christmas, so no surprises here. the other 10 lbs. became a salted cherry vanilla bean balsamic compote.

oh, and jack’s arm after blackberry picking. the things friends do for friends…

poached egg sitting on a caesar salad with bottarga…

grilled fresh mozzarella with crisped speck and basil…

and for the foundation of this fine dinner, may i introduce to you the 3 seeded bohemian loaf – courtesy of twin fork farms artisan bread.

it’s a dense – but not too dense, chewy slice of bread made from: whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, natural sourdough leaven, sunflower, sesame and flax seeds and salt. all the bread undergoes a long fermentation process which supposedly has a list of advantages, none of which i fully understand, but all sound positively healthful. i had read that for awhile these beautiful orbs were baked in a little beehive oven in david tannen’s backyard, just four at a time but that a bigger oven has since been built, and he’s now churning out about 300 loaves a day. i’m usually not much of a sourdough fan, but this is wonderful bread and i always try and keep a loaf in my freezer.

we’d planned on dinner out last night but the heat has set in to the tune of intolerable. high 90′s + the heat index = over 100 degrees. and really, i’m just not an extreme weather kinda gal. so with a house full of odds and ends and little need for much in the way of imagination, this was dinner. a caesar – of sorts, along with a – kind of, grilled ham and cheese…

it always amazes me what you can come up with just by poking around…

the bread you see is the olive bread from ‘on the rise artisan breads‘ in cleveland. and let me tell you, if there was bread like this in nashville – or even close, you wouldn’t be hearing me complain about the food here… maybe ever.

the salad was compliments of both chris’s handiwork and a farmer’s market stop on the way to my house where he picked up delvin farms local arugula, spinach and strawberries. the just picked produce was then paired with my begging to be used 3 week old golden beet – so all of that, a red onion – and a jar of this:

i kept the empty jar just to show you…

it was bought at buon italia in nyc, and i loved this stuff. it was worth every dime of the $6 pricetag. just some perfectly al dente farro and wild chickpeas, olive oil, salt and pepper. and SURE, you can make it yourself for a buck or so… but thank god you don’t have to. because can you say immediate gratification? nutty, chewy and perfect? SURE you can. i am telling you, this jar is an absolute pantry gem. i only wish i’d bought more.

the dressing was a simple whisk of some golden ligurian olive oil (also from buon italia) with a very good balsamic vinegar (di palo selects). it emulsified into a silken dressing that you won’t often see due to the caliber of these two wonderful ingredients that would make it cost prohibitive in most restaurants throughout the country – similar to the good wine you only get to drink at home…

nashville, late may – in a bowl – with cleveland bread on the side… (thanks again, heidi)

scallops are often seen being prepared in my kitchen – so much so, that most of the time i don’t even mention it in my postings as you might begin to wonder about my obsession. so it’s always nice to discover new ways to dress them up a little differently, if just for kicks. i like to think of these distinctive tasting meaty discs as my barbie dolls of seafood.  so why not join me in envisioning this dish as japanese barbie meets new england barbie, while rendezvousing in spain? 

doesn’t the internet make it such a small, small world?  i rest my case.

so, i took about 2 tablespoons of both white miso and pure maple syrup, along with about 2/3 cup of sherry vinegar and reduced it down to a syrupy consistency.  this got spooned over a succotash of peas, corn and red onion that was pan fried in the fat leftover from the browned pancetta. i got the idea for this dish from the culinary sherpas who suggested edamame (in keeping with the asian fusion theme), but i only had the unshelled kind and i, quite frankly just wasn’t in the mood to steam up a batch and pop them from their pods.  i hope you understand because grabbing the peas seemed like a much better idea at the time.  true, if i had it to do all over again… but i don’t now, do i?  because you only get ONE chance to make a FIRST impressions and well, i hope i’ve not blown my credibility with you.

this dish was fast and easy and i was able to use up the last of half a red onion, some week old farmers market corn, frozen peas and a bit of random pancetta that was tucked away in my freezer. 

it was wonderful. 

and much prettier in person.

the vegetarian was coming by, which is always nice because well, i get to catch up with lesley and i get to ponder what mindful, masterful and meatless dinner i can come up with.  it’s funny because i eat quite a lot of vegetarian dinners but never with any great thought to the matter.  like it just might be a big salad with hummus and flatbread, olives, cheese with roasted red peppers and some crusty loaf, or a pasta with say… fresh cherry tomatoes with greens and a ton of percorino, or ricotta and egg yolk, or creme fraiche and truffle oil, or walnuts and mushrooms, or mushrooms, sweet garlic and arugula, or even just garlic and olive oil – ok ok, i love pasta and could come up with countless meatless combos.  but dinners just happens that way – and really, it’s more often than not.  so, omnivore than i am, i don’t automatically think meat.  (although i do kinda automatically think bacon.)

another night many months ago, i had recently invested in a 5 lb. sack of a grain that was beginning to show up on a lot of menus.  so i made a farro dish for lesley, but since then haven’t made much of it in too long. so i set out once again to prepare something that would appear hearty enough to be called "dinner".  and now that i think about it, i’ve decided that every time lesley comes to dinner from here on in, i will serve farro.  and it will be our recurring theme.  "lesley eats farro at claudia’s".  be sure to tune in…

ok, so there were also giant white lima beans on the side because lesley LOVES the giant lima beans and i since i aim to please, i broke open another bag in the name of both making lesley happy and creating the perfect vegetarian protein of grain and legume together.  but i couldn’t taunt you with those.  not again…

farro con finocchio e arance
(adapted from a market hall foods recipe)

1 1/2 cup whole grain farro
2 Tbl olive oil
salt and pepper
fennel pollen
1/2 cup fennel, diced and blanched
1/2 cup fennel, thinly sliced
red onion – thinly sliced into half moons
zest of 2 oranges
2 oranges, peeled and pithed
12 mint leaves, chiffonade
2 Tble red wine vinegar
a good pinch of chile flakes
1 tsp sweet pimenton
fennel fronds for garnish

toss farro with 1 T. extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper
toast in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes
place toasted farro in a pot covered with water. bring to a boil
add fennel pollen. simmer 30-40 minutes. when almost done, add salt
cook until grain is tender, being careful not to stir too much
drain and cool on a sheet pan
mix the rest of the ingredients together, adjusting seasoning as necessary
serve at room temperature 

after a bite or two we realized that my chile flakes were pretty potent, so lesley suggested a side of yogurt and i luckily had some of the the thick rich (yet surprisingly fat free) greek stuff which went wonderfully alongside this dish.

and now, a word from our sponsor.  ok not really, but this is pretty interesting…

Farro: Grain of the Legions
edited from about.com:italian food

Grano Farro has a long and glorious history: it is the original grain from which all others derive, and fed the Mediterranean and Near Eastern populations for thousands of years; somewhat more recently it was the standard ration of the Roman Legions that expanded throughout the Western World. Ground into a paste and cooked, it was also the primary ingredient in the polenta eaten for centuries by the Roman poor. Important as it was, however, it was difficult to work and produced low yields. In the centuries following the fall of the Empire, higher-yielding grains were developed and farro’s cultivation dwindled: By the turn of the century in Italy there were a few hundreds of acres of fields scattered over the regions of Lazio, Umbria, the Marches and Tuscany.

Farro would probably still be an extremely local specialty had the farmers of the French Haute Savoie not begun to supply it to elegant restaurants that used it in hearty vegetable soups and other dishes. Their success sparked renewed interest in farro among gastronomes, and now the grain is enjoying a resurgence in popularity in Italy as well, especially among trendy health-conscious cooks.

According to Garzanti’s Italian-English dictionary it’s ‘spelt’, but Luciano Migliolli, author of Il Farro e le sue Ricette (Farro and its recipes), says that though it looks rather like spelt they’re not the same. Farro must be soaked, whereas spelt can be boiled straight off. Also, cooked farro has a firm chewy texture, whereas spelt softens and becomes mushy. What this means is that you have to read the package carefully when you purchase farro to make certain you are getting Triticum dicoccum.

a couple of weeks ago i came across this post the very same day that chris was coming by with his duck confit.  as soon as my eyes locked in on the recipe, i knew this was to be my promised companion salad, a guaranteed sure-fire marriage made in heaven.  the richness of the crispy duck atop some perfectly cooked lemon butter asparagus – and then this salad beside it.  beautiful.

arugula and mango salad with a white chocolate and sriracha vinaigrette
shamelessly stolen from the culinary sherpas

all i can say is that this salad had me at hello…

1 package baby arugula leaves
1 mango – sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sriracha
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup grated best quality white chocolate
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

in a sauce pan over medium heat, combine the sugar, orange juice, sriracha, and white wine vinegar.
stir and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar.
remove from heat and add the white chocolate, stirring well to melt and incorporate it into the dressing.
set aside and let cool, but do not refrigerate or the chocolate will set and become hard.
combine the arugula, cilantro, and mango in a salad bowl
whisk the olive oil into the white chocolate mixture to incorporate, season with salt and pepper, and toss well.

i highly recommend that you run-not-walk and make this salad.  it was impressive in every way.  the white chocolate is very subtle and the acidity of the vinegar breaks the cocoa butter perfectly.

today ceF is officially 1 year old. 

thanks for all your well wishes.  i would have baked you a cake, but in the name of zipping my jeans and continuing on with my plan, instead i put up a few updated pictures of myself taken last week (the very night i -ahem- had dinner with joe bastianich) and took down the younger thinner versions from last year.  after all, this ain’t match.com – if you get my drift. 

i’m just keeping it real…

so, i lift my glass of filtered water to all of you.  here’s to another 171 posts.  fyi, that’s 1,197 in dog posts.

hey, thanks for reading…

i’m a book buyer.  which doesn’t necessarily mean that i’m always a book reader.  of course each book is carefully chosen with varying degrees of hope, excitement and promise, and the contents of my cyber cart are always just one quick click away from being all mine…  but then the books arrive only to be relegated to any number of stacks or shelves throughout my home.  and from there the books taunt me, filling me with guilt, making me once again realize that they have yet to fulfill their destiny.  and destiny is big….

so yesterday morning the latest book hit my doorstep. i don’t recall how or even why i’d heard about this one, but i had, for some good reason, sought it out – and now here we were, together.  but this time, instead of adding it to the closest pile, i immediately opened to a random page and began to flip through, until my eyes rested upon what was to become – dinner.  smiling, i grabbed the scallops and bacon from the freezer and jotted down the word ‘watercress’ on my days shopping list.  this was going to be magically delicious and made in 15 minutes – tops.

the book is called ‘secret ingredients – the magical process of combining flavors’ by michael roberts.  and the more i read about mr. roberts, who died an untimely death 3 years ago, the more i like him.  in his ny times obituary he is noted as "a restaurateur and chef whose playful and astonishingly successful marriages of preposterous ingredients helped forge the California culinary revolution of the 1980′s".  he was a risk taker when it came to flavor.  and i happen to like that in a guy.  he writes of flavor marriages as in ‘sherry and brandy’ and ‘chili and curry’, and of flavor oppositions such as ‘apples and cheese’ and ‘salt and sugar’ or ‘sugar and vinegar’, and from there he discusses flavor juxtaposition – as in garlic masking the bitterness of rosemary but allowing the herbalness to come through. or cocktail sauce, unfolding in layers, first the tomato and then the horseradish – married by the lemon…

i haven’t read a novel in too long because lately, i just get lost in this kind of thing.  when i’m reading about food i am focused.  pennies drop.  i proverbially clap out loud and gasp and nod and moan and laugh.  food just entertains the hell outa me.  better than fast cars, heroin or sky diving, i suppose.

warm scallop and watercress salad with bacon vinaigrette
adapted from ‘secret ingredients’ by michael roberts

i opted to not leave the bacon fat in the dish and reflected this in my adaptation.  it just seemed so pointless, but it’s your life and you can drink bacon grease all day long.  choosing longevity, i decided to use more grapeseed oil and drain the pig fat.  i also upped the apple slices just because..

2 bunches of watercress
1 medium granny smith apple
lemon juice to keep the apple slices from oxidizing
1/2 cup salad oil (i like grapeseed for this)
3/4 lb bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb sea scallops
2 T finely minced shallots
2/3 cup sherry vinegar

mound the watercress leaves onto 4 plates
core the apple without peeling, cut into quarters and slice thin
sprinkle with the lemon juice
arrange the apples around the watercress – set aside
add bacon to a 9 or 10 inch cold skillet – sauté over medium heat 4 minutes
drain most of the bacon fat from the pan and add scallops, searing until brown on each side
be sure they stay rare in the center
add the shallots and vinegar and cook for a minute longer
remove from heat and add the oil
then drizzle with the remaining dressing in the pan
portion the scallops and bacon onto the plates
 

there is something so very sexy, even powerful about being able to whip out a solid dish with very little effort… especially when it’s this good.

i broke my mayonnaise.  but i am here to tell you that it is fixable.  i started mine in the vita-mix and well, it’s just not the way to go.  unless perhaps you’re making a very large quantity and then the whirly thingamajig will actually be able to blend what’s in there.  but one egg yolk, some lemon juice, mustard and salt just was not enough volume, even when i began to add the oil oh so very slowly… it just wasn’t happening for me.  it was actually teetering on ‘failure’ – and i had just dribbled away 6 ounces of my very favorite and very expensive spanish olive oil, so the thought of pouring it all down the drain was incredibly unappealing…

and then i googled "broken mayonnaise".  and lo and behold, the internet once again saved the day and all you do is whisk an egg yolk into a bowl and add the broken mayonnaise, bit by bit.  and then there it was.  my aioli, as smooth and silky one could ever hope for, i added some fresh lemon zest and pressed (yes pressed) garlic - and it was about as good as mayonnaise could ever be.  the buttery olive oil turned velvety rich by the yolks, dijon mustard and lemon juice and zest with just the right amount of garlic… i was really pleased. 

but when i cracked the king crab legs and tossed it all with arugula and a fistful of cilantro… well, then i was supremely happy.

so, i made my aioli, i broke my aioli, i fixed my aioli.  and now i know.  just use very fresh eggs, have everything at room temperature, some mustard to provide stability, and an acid – required for the emulsification process.  next time i’ll add the slightest pinch of cayenne or white pepper – just for some balance to brighten it up.  and i will only whisk.  by hand.  no electricity needed.

1 egg yolk (i used 2 due to the ‘broken’ aspect)
a big pinch of salt
1/2 t dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

pressed garlic
lemon zest

these are the kind of dinners i love the most.  one interesting element that was a learning experience, and the rest of it just 3 high quality fresh and simple ingredients,,,

that didn’t have to even try.

oh salad of arugula, pancetta, roasted grapes, fried capers and parmigiano chips… oh how i love thee. with a smattering of great olive oil, finely chopped garlic and guerande salt with a few twists of freshly ground black pepper… you were a dream dinner for me. nothing flash. just an absolutely delectable melange of flavors led by a cast of undeniable characters. where to begin? the pancetta was sliced into inch strips and put in a pan to brown and render some of the fat. then i added the capers until they were slightly browned as well. the seedless red grapes were removed from their stems, placed on a baking sheet and lightly sprayed with olive oil, barely salted and peppered then popped into an oven at 425 for about 15 minutes. while the grapes were doing their thing, i grated some parmigiano and heated my grill plate and placed little piles of cheese to melt, brown, flip, brown – remove.

oh btw – note the green onions. i almost forgot… next time i will throw the garlic in with the capers for just 30 seconds or so to take the edge off.

burping garlic at midnight is not fun. no matter how much you like it…

my guy humors me.  he buys me two different batches of lobster from the same place at the same time.  one batch is twice the price for half as much.  that batch comes from two freshly steamed ‘chicks’ whereas the other comes from lobsters that were ‘on their way out’ – meaning that they’re showing signs of slow decline and so they’re steamed before they just up and die.  then they get shelled and the meat is vacuum packed and frozen.

i was agonizing, as i do, which one to buy.  i was hung up on the possibility that there might be some kind of textural difference – and we wouldn’t want a textural problem now would we?  and so while i struggled with this seemingly major culinary decision as cary both patiently and amusedly watched me thrash out all aspects of every lobster meat scenario one might come across, he came up with the decidedly brilliant idea to buy both and to taste test.  and that right there – that is so my kinda language.  that is so like whispering sweet nothings in my ear.  and that is how my guy humors me.  so if you’re reading, thank you baby. (though he rarely humors me by reading my blog…)

bottom line.
texture/flavor – no big diff.

but the price difference was ridiculous.  again, literally twice the $ for less than half the meat. so now we know.  and armed with this info, we can guiltlessly indulge on lobster more frequently.  excellent.

we started with an arugula salad adorned with some cantelope, various cherry heirlooms and buffalo mozarella.  the final touch was some guerande salt, a grind of black pepper, olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

on to the lobster rolls.  i couldn’t get the ‘top split’ buns and believe me, i tried - but this time i made the wise decision to use the pepperidge farm classic’s – as opposed to the potato buns which i did not like.  i tossed the meat with a minor amount of ‘stokes blushed tomato mayo’, a small amount of diced celery and some salt and pepper.  the buns were lightly buttered and browned on my stovetop grill plate.  and then right before that first bite they were hit with a shpritz of lemon just to brighten it all up.

the roasted okra made another appearance along with some corn on the cob.  i had bought the obligatory dill pickles but forgot to serve them…

the lobster rolls just could not have been better.  i was going to add fresh tarragon but there wasn’t any to be found – and i think it worked in my favor.  the simplicity of how this works together just can not be beat. 

hell yeah

(inspired by ‘last nights dinner’ recent post) 

here was sunday night’s dinner which was actually quite wonderful despite the photo. 

the potatoes were  csa yukons – small one’s – boiled and then flattened and then put in a hot pan with some olive oil for about 3 minutes a side as recently seen in the ny times mag ‘potato tostones’ recipe.  i sprinkled them with some truffle salt.  i don’t seek out potatoes especially in the summer – but delvin, my csa is growing them and yukon’s are my all time favorite potato – hands down.  last saturday i received a bag of red potatoes and i gave them away.  along with the second white cabbage.  along with the green bell peppers.  along with some of my pride.  but hey, i forgave myself.  (one of the things i am working hardest on at this late stage in my life.)

the rib eye steaks were local grassfed beef from ‘west winds farm’.  i am fortunate to be the proud owner of a TEC infra-red grill and this baby goes to the proper 900 degrees needed to achieve that steakhouse crust.  i just hit them with some grey salt and then we threw them on the heat along with some shucked corn.  the meat was very good albeit not lobel’s…  

but the salad – it was amazing.  somehow it was just perfectly and simply great.  romaine with some heirlooms, fresh garlic off the press, olive oil and balsamic with smoked salt and some black pepper.

so not overly pretty – not fancy or complicated.  but a dinner that just wants to make you say ‘god bless america’.

and while we’re being thankful, i would like to also say, god bless all you food crazed people out there like me who UNDERSTAND that using 3 different salts in three different components of one dinner is not a silly thing to do. in fact, au contraire.

but i get snickered at by my friends.

it came from delvin farms weekly share and it’d been in my fridge for over 3 weeks.  a big beautiful purple orb calling out to me, begging to be used.  begging not to be relegated to die a slow and chilly death, shriveling up little by little while i pass it by for other more obvious and less complicated vegetables like corn and cucumbers and zucchini’s and peppers and tomatoes, potatoes and even those anorexic looking string beans… my cabbage was thinking it was a goner.  it saw what happened to the okra.

and then last week i got a white one in the csa share.  and that’s when i knew the red one had to go.

so on tuesdays – my one day with some kitchen help (as in someone i’m not sleeping with), i try and cook as much as i can because i get to be creative, make a mess and then leave the room.  very spoiled brat like. very ‘why can’t this be my life 3 days a week’ like. and then i wake up and get over myself – repeating the “i am so grateful” mantra because the rumor is that karma can be a real bitch.

the cabbage got sliced up and then into the bowl went some raisins, white onion, green bell pepper, a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, sugar and since i was still basking in my curry zucchini bread – some more madras curry.  and that was that, the end result being that now the cabbage’s prophecy has been fulfilled and it no longer feels ignored or misunderstood or useless or any of those other things that a vegetable could possibly feel while living in an overpopulated subculture of farm fresh organic veggies in – of all places – my refrigerator.

and now the eggplants are calling…

being a csa member of 2 local farms leaves me with tons of produce all the time. i like to keep it raw as often as i can stand, so this works for me. the vegetables will change depending on what’s harvested that week but my big salad is almost always pretty close to the same. tonight it was red leaf lettuce, zucchini, summer squash and spring onions – those 4 were all locally grown. then i added red bell peppers from costco via god knows where…

the chopper i use for my salads is a great asset. i bought mine at crate and barrel but this pic was from the williams sonoma site. it makes your veggies into little cubes or longer strips depending on how thick you start off. it’s a no mess, no fuss kinda thang and that goes a long way with me regarding most things in my life. after i wash and spin the lettuce dry, i chop all the vegetables and then add olive oil, braggs liquid aminos, raw pumpkin seeds and organic raisins.

it’s satisfying to me. the sweetness of the raisins, the earthiness of the seeds, the saltiness of the braggs, the richness of the olive oil, the crispness of the lettuce and the very fresh vegetables…

in it’s own little way, it’s a perfect dish…

for the salad i use finely chopped napa cabbage, torn spinach leaves, green onions, julienned red bell peppers and carrots, mung beans, fresh basil, mint and black sesame seeds – although the regular tan ones will do fine…

but it’s the dressing/sauce that will truly floor you. just throw the following into your blender:

juice of at least 2 limes
a bunch of cilantro
olive oil
fresh peeled garlic and ginger – a lot
honey
soy sauce (i use something called nama shoyu and really like it)
a jalepeno or habenero pepper

let the dressing soak into the salad for at least an hour before serving to soften the cabbage. i served it with grilled shrimp on top.

this dish is absolutely beautiful and you’ll impress all your friends.

2 navel oranges – peeled with pith remaining
unpasteurized white miso
fresh ginger and garlic – a lot
olive oil
fresh jalapeno

throw it all in and hit the button. the consistency is surprisingly creamy. then tear up some simple greens, whatever you’ve got going – and add a few scallops, browning them to perfection keeping them rare on the inside… i’ve been working on getting the scallops right every time but i tend to not do anything the same twice – not necessarily my best trait in the kitchen. anyway, this is one of those perfect summer dinners. or at least it’s in the running. artistically (or not) pour it on and around the greens and the scallops.

i thought the world should know.