i flew into denang and have been in hoi an for nearly a week now and i must tell you that i’d been particularly looking forward to coming here ever since bourdain mentioned his love affair with this small city awhile back. it’s well located on both a river and a beach and you’d be hard pressed to find anyplace more charming.

luckily due to an agreement during the american war, this old city escaped unscathed from any active fighting keeping the ancient buildings intact. over the years due to dwindling trade the village had slid into decline but thankfully hoi an was resurrected about 15 years ago as a big tourist destination and in 1999 received unesco world heritage status. granted i’ve seen more white people here than in any other portion of my journey, yet somehow despite all the tourists and the countless souvenir shops all hawking the "same same but different" stuff, hoi an has retained an elegance that somehow combines the very old with the very new and still holds tight to all its beauty and authenticity.

i spend my days wandering about always hitting the market first to have breakfast and to revel in the simple yet highly aesthetic nature of these people. it’s a gritty kind of beauty but it draws me in. hoi an is small, with narrow streets so there are no cars allowed within parts of the ‘old city’ although motorbikes are allowed 3 days a week. you can feel the french influence in the architecture and it’s often compared to new orleans. but there is no mistaking where you are. this is vietnam...

my first two weeks here i managed to buy nothing at all. i’m traveling light and armed with michael’s measurements my only intention was to pick up a bespoke suit for him while in hoi an, a city well known for its plethora of tailor shops. the plan was to buy just one suit that i would be able to bring back with me in my modest bag.

and then i went fucking crazy. cause you know… you can take the jew out of nyc, but you can’t take the nyc out of the jew. and people, let me tell you. i have been SHOPPING. and it’s been SO MUCH FUN. you pick the fabrics and there are thousands, you pick the style, they tailor fit it to your body – and it’s pretty inexpensive… like, troi oi. i have died and gone to heaven. still though, in the midst of an exhausting shopping frenzy it’s a bit disconcerting when you ask how much that silk dress will be and the answer is 800,000. because that just really sounds like a lot to me. it’s 40 dollars.

i’m buying a cheap suitcase as well…

food. i’m supposed to be talking about food… but really, most of my food is bought on the street and i eat for one dollar when i’m feeling hungry and as much as i love the food here and could wax poetically (or try) about the herbs and the flavors, it is not the food i will remember…

it’s the colors of vietnam…

 it’s the juxtaposition of the old and the new colliding…

but mostly it’s the people of vietnam that take my breath away. and each photo has a story…

i wish you could have seen this… the woman on the left is 90 and her face was so beautiful…

the saleswoman

the paper recycler

the live chicken lady

the wine distributor

the tailors

the salt lady

but alas, a woman’s got to eat and so here are some highlights… each of these was bought on the street and comes with a glass of hot tea

beef with tomato, some kind of sausage on a fried egg served with a perfect baguette, table salad and dipping broth… 85 cents

this was a damn fine breakfast

it came from here. they’re packed up and gone by about 9am.

 a dish from hoi an, cao lau – 75 cents

made here at the market

and this woman by the river

served me this grilled pork. you roll it yourself with first a layer of dry rice paper, then fresh rice paper, the meat and the salad and then dip and eat… 1 dollar

dinner: com ga – chicken with rice and shredded pawpaw with fresh herbs and a broth with chunks of liver – really good – 1 dollar

which came from here…

bun bo – like pho but a richer broth.  my market breakfast – 75 cents

which came from here

closer pick of the market stall  - i believe that’s a pile of pork…

bahn mi – pate and pickled vegetables with herbs a bit of mayo and some sliced pork on a fresh baguette – 50 cents. i eat these often. i forgot to take a picture but they look like a sandwich. a really really good sandwich.

more to come… i need to hit the streets

 

the fishing boats of mui ne

i’m back in saigon after spending 4 days on the south china sea, or as they call it in vietnam, the east sea. there’s been no rain to speak of and the temps have been manageable as has the humidity. this is nothing short of pure luck so i thank the weather gods for being on my side – so far, so good…

before i forget, i learned something new today. ok, i learned a few new things today – like that vietnam is a little over twice the size as ny state (but visually quite svelte as one might expect from vn), but this? this is my favorite… i learned how to say "oh my god" in vietnamese! troi oi (troy oy). there you have it. but wait, there’s more! because for all you burgeoning buddhists out there the literal translation means "oh my buddha". is that not great? i can not begin to tell you how much this bit of knowledge has entertained me this afternoon. i plan on using it every chance i get. it even sounds yiddish. this is just too good.

and now, before we go any farther, back by popular demand…

my puppy

look at this face

and check out his little back legs…

i ate at that restaurant 3 days in a row just to hang with my boy and we totally bonded. he’d come trotting over at the sight of me and i fear that the little guy fell pretty hard. but i’m already more than well aware of how the long distance thing is just too difficult…

a piece of steamed fish and a bowl of rice. heaven…

so it was yet another of my turned around insomniac nights, probably around 2am or so and i’d eaten the fish and rice at about 4pm and i was suddenly very hungry. the desk in my room had a laminated menu boasting 24 hour room service but when i called i was told "closed". i asked if there was anywhere nearby that i could grab a late night bite and the woman said to me, "i come to your room". she actually said more than that but i couldn’t make any of it out except those words so i had no idea why she was heading this way but within a minute there came a knock on my door and a lovely smiling person was standing there with her arms outstretched offering me this bowl of fried rice – her dinner. she insisted. i said i could not possibly. she insisted. i said, how about i take half. she handed me the container and said her boyfriend brought it to her and that she was not hungry. i took it from her gratefully and ate most of it. and it was actually pretty good.

oh the people here…

this just cracks me up. constantly. if it’s not a door, it’s 6 huge sacks of rice or a live pig strapped onto the back – the possibilities of what gets carried on a scooter are limitless. but things need to get moved and cars are scarce.

a cemetery 

some random natural ravine close to the ocean. we drove by it and i gasped. so we backed up to have a look.

when i hired the jeep and driver i ddn’t know that it’d be a 1970 jeep. so 30 minutes into our drive it starts making a very bad noise. dude carry’s his tools with him and within 15 minutes it’s fixed. one thing i know for sure is that he’s not jewish.

j

the things one notices while one is waiting on a road in the middle of vietnam.

entering the dunes

check. that. out…

the wind was powerful…

off in the distance – just pale shapes – the sand was blowing like crazy

in the other direction… a mirage?

 diner that night. grilled oysters of a sort… 

this was our last time together and we played some more human/puppy games, he romped and bit my feet. i scratched his belly and his head and then when he crashed i wanted to snatch him up and take him home. 

but that was just not to be…

fishing boats in phan thiet

they only fish at night and never under a full moon

so these 9 or so cages filled with tropical birds are attached to this scooter. the owner’s feet are dangling out of the hammock tied up behind the communist propaganda billboard. and you know, you don’t get this just anywhere…

dragon fruit sold roadside on the way back from mui ne. it’s only been in saigon for about 25 years, originally from south america. i bought 2 for less than .40.

3 layers of baby chicks…

roadside lunch

went for a bowl of pho

comes with table salad above and a damn fine glass of ice tea

for $1.25. the rice noodles were fresh. the broth was excellent.

look! it’s the banana scooter truck!

michael calls this a saigon station wagon. there are 6 human beings on this scooter. 

dinner for me in my hotel room. i gave the second one bought from the roadside to the clerk at the front desk as i’m off to the airport to fly to danang to spend a week in hoi an before i move on to hue.

and i’m realizing that there’s not much in the way of food going on here lately. i just mostly grab some street food and go. but there will be more to come. 

i’m falling asleep at my keyboard… i must call it a night…

one of the many astounding things i see in vietnam everyday…

i arrived in mui ne 2 days ago. it’s a haul from saigon, about 4 hours and i swear my driver takes valium for breakfast because he somehow manages to drive below the already painfully low speed limit. on the upside this allows me to practice a more zen approach to getting from a to b, which really, if it took, would be a very good thing for the likes of me who pretty much puts the pedal to the metal every chance i get. and then there’s the other benefit of the speed of life here in vietnam – i get to see everything around me for just a little bit longer.

i keep noticing how vietnam has its own static pace. whether you’re in the cities, in a village or on the water, the level of energy here feels constant. somehow this country has a certain grace to it. i feel it everywhere and it remains seemingly unchanging when i move throughout this land. vietnam just is.

for right now my travel adventures have been simple ones consisting of daily tasks such as finding a banh mi for breakfast (.50 and damn good), some aspirin (not as easy as you might think) and a few small custard apples for lunch. looking back, each of these little events were strangely fascinating in their own way – and i never so much as thought to pick up my camera. perhaps it’s all becoming ever so slightly familiar… could that even be possible?

the view from the door of my room

this place was right smack on the beach and really, just a perfect location. so there i was in my little bungalow with nothing around me but the sound of crashing waves. being that no setting could have topped this, and being that i was also a bit road weary and sleep deprived, i decided to order room service – take a chance on the food and sit out on my patio and have dinner.

if one were not to care about food, one may have enjoyed this immensely. case in point: here is a picture of my salad…

ok. the colors have been altered a bit to make this flashless night shot viewable. but what we have here is a squid salad. iceberg lettuce, tomato wedges, and chunks of battered and fried squid. it was dressed with that flawless concoction of lime juice, water, fish sauce and sugar – but still… c’mon. where are the fresh herbs? the cucumbers… and why was it fried?

to follow came a whole steamed fish on a platter which was very good and fresh. mui ne is a working fishing village – more on that in my next post – so one can expect great seafood here but the sauce was thickened with corn starch or the likes thereof and then ridden with this knorrs seasoning powder that is used over here with abandon. oh well. it was dinner and it was kind of fun in its own handicapped way. the setting was incredibly romantic and dining alone on the beach, sitting outside with the palm trees swaying in the night breeze is an interesting psychological exercise…

yesterday i didn’t follow michael’s advice and i allowed myself to be enrolled in mui ne’s cooking school on the beach. these classes are offered in nearly every town and it seems they all pretty much teach you various versions of pho, spring rolls and a salad, along with garnish cutting techniques. the instructor was sweet as she could be and reminded me of a little vietnamese wind up happy doll. her english was so heavily accented and lilted with cheeriness that i understood very little of what she was saying. 

the high points were twofold. a coconut smoothie over ice and ulricke, a very cool german woman who i went out to dinner with last night. she is lovely and we were up until 2 am drinking wine, sharing photos and swapping stories. 

ok, we talked about men. a lot.

banh xeo, a rice flour pancake with turmeric, stuffed with sprouts and shrimp

tomato skin flower. this was the instructor’s handiwork. i passed on making one of my own because i am of a rebellious nature… 

the salads here are my favorite. this one had shrimp and squid. the red pepper garnish magically reappears…

and there was more. but really, just being on the beach and in that environment was fun and funny and well, kind of wonderful. 

where we had dinner… super cheap and right on the beach… the vietnamese are very big fans of very bright lights. this, i could live without…

$11 bottle of wine. completely drinkable. the toilet paper napkins were more foreign to me than anything else last night…

grilled squid with lemongrass and chili sauce over sliced cucumbers. perfect.

and there were puppies! and this little guy and i hit it off bigtime. and then he crashed hard on my handbag.

he and i have a dinner date this evening…

i’m happily back in saigon for the night before i take off for the beach in the morning. i like it here, big city girl that i am. but not enough to go out tonight. i just ordered some room service pho ($1.50) and i am staying in. it’s just begun to storm and i could use the downtime to catch up on some more sleep – and sort through photos – and write this post. again, it will be more pics than anything. it’s gotten late.

i’m just back from can tho which is as bustling a city as you will find in the mekong, but for the likes of those like me (tourist. said in a hushed tone) it’s not much more than a jumping off point to experience the floating markets. the riverfront is abuzz with people hawking their boats. you choose one and off you go on a 20 minute ride up (down?) river.

there is this notion of a steadfast purpose when you see these people doing what they do, knowing that every single day of their lives it’s pretty much going to be the same thing over and over again. as a whole, the vietnamese are quite poor but since the land is fertile and the rivers are busting with fish, if you’re ok with living in what amounts to not much more than a hovel with a hammock, you can sustain yourself doing very little. find food, cook food and repeat.

the duck, trying to look innocent yet all the while planning his escape. the chicken has accepted its fate, regardless of what it may bring…

the mastlike bamboo poles advertise their wares…

there are boats that sell the staple ingredients of vietnamese cooking, like this woman with the dried fish and shrimp, whose entire life must be permeated with that smell, while others offer only produce. i saw one small boat outfitted like a mini cafe selling coffees to the other bigger boats that was just an incredible sight but i didn’t snap a pic in time. we circled back around to find her and i happened upon an even smaller boat with a woman selling pho. i missed that photo op as well and was sad about it all. but it’s hard to stay sad in vietnam…

beauty abounds…

dogs on boats. you see this a lot. i was told that it is for security. 

the bucket below gets pulled up and repeatedly dumped over his head and down his pants. i know this for a fact.

many people come and buy from this market to then sell at their own smaller more local market…

gidgit goes to vietnam and sells pineapples

another of my favorite shots

aqua-scooters

this house was beautiful to me. it almost had a modern vibe to it…

back in the city… where it is 90 degrees and many of the women and some of the men dress for an autumn day in the hudson valley. white skin is in and if you’re tan, it’s just not sexy. so they cover up in a big way. gloves, opaque stockings and jackets. and then what might get tan gets bleached with skin whitening creams. it is big, big business in this country. be as white as you can… i suppose since they’re already so thin, they have to obsess over something.

in a skirt and side saddled. note the heavy stockings and gloves and facemask and jacket… this is the norm.

i’m only hoping she’s a well loved pet and not, well – you know… dinner.

this was right outside of can tho. at first we thought it was a buddhist temple but it is a temple to honor the founding fathers of the city. the man in his pajamas lives there in plain view – like his hammock hangs next to a little table – and that is his spot. so roughly what is happening here is that she is praying for something or other and then shakes a can of sticks until one falls out and on that stick there is a message and then she proceeds to throws these oddly shaped shell like things on the ground and depending on how they fall this tells how her luck will be. the vietnamese are super superstitious. note her outfit. remember, it was 90 or so degrees outside… and humid. i now find her crazy for 2 reasons…

sobering…

i went to the supermarket and this was the fish sauce aisle. i have been well schooled in the powers of this elixir.

i laughed and laughed and laughed…

larvae. it’s what’s for dinner. i had many interesting supermarket shots but this one was the winner for me. oh and see the tongs? why, it’s self serve!

dinner at a local place.

this was our dinner. i picked up the tab and it was 100,000 dong or $5. two bowls of excellent chicken broth with noodles and chicken, etc. plus a plate of bbq’d duck and pork with more chicken meat, the table salad and pickles. $5. (five).

 that was my table… just so you know.

the street scene where our restaurant was.

pure vietnam.

 

i’ve been on the move, so for now this post is one in pictures… about 40 or so, briefly captioned.

i wanted to lead with this shot. it’s from the home where i stayed the night before last which you will see more of in a moment. this is a wall in their kitchen which although somewhat rudimentary was quite large. these past two days have been incredible, only marred by my sleep schedule being thrown off in a big way. i’m just now back on track and i am on my way out the door to the cai rang floating market of can tho. more on that later but in the meantime please have a look at my latest wanderings. i’ve only brought my little point and shoot camera with me as i’m traveling for 5 weeks with one carry on bag. i’m a terrible photographer but i fancy myself having a decent eye so i hope you enjoy what i was able to capture. i’ll write more soon…

now on to the pictures…
 

launched out onto the river at ben tre

a stop for lunch on phoenix island. this is an elephant ear fish which was then rolled in rice paper with cucumber and served with a dipping sauce. it was 2 days ago and so i can’t recall just what the sauce was

after the river, a stop at a beautiful pagoda. i should tell you the name of it but i can’t recall that either. and atop the adjacent building sits…

 a smiling buddha that is ginormous. kind of like vegas comes to the mekong.

we walked around the pagoda and happened upon a back kitchen area. a group of people had come from 40km away to spend the day working on the landscaping and doing repairs to the temple. i believe it’s an annual sojourn from their village. they were sitting down to lunch and invited us to join them but having just eaten we politely declined. they were so incredibly lovely and we had a really nice exchange via my guide…

the vietnamese are wonderful people…

then we drove about 30 minutes and the driver pulled into a little storefront. we got out and i was told we had to walk to the house where i’d be staying. there were no roads for cars…

along the way i got a closeup of some of the graves. they dot the landscape all through the mekong. you see them in the rice patties, the fields, next to homes… if you lived on the land and you died there, that’s where you stay.

a warning. i think he’s saying "look what happened to the last guy…"

a road less travelled…

and on that road sits this house. and in that house the tv is on… i was relieved that was not to be my house.

security gates

my home for the night… looking out.

dining area. almost al fresco…

interior space leading onto my bedroom

closer up. and through the back door of my bedroom…..

the wash room

angles and rooftops

the lovely dinner served to us by the host

that night, laying in bed and looking at the window through my mosquito netting…

kitchen wall

one of the 5 family dogs… she was my favorite

a monkey bridge, temporarily widened for me…

the next day driving towards can tho. this is one of my favorite shots taken so far

snakes for sale… the recent flooding helps business

we stopped to buy durian. this place was just visually amazing

the proprietor 

i really do like durian

while we were driving – a typical shot of a (very) local market

(update: from here down, i am in can tho which is now considered the lower river of the mekong)

in can tho by the river just talking a stroll. i’d not eaten so i bought this off a street cart. fishballs. pretty much tasted as bad as they look. i ate a few and tossed the rest.

roasted corn and bananas along with some tapioca cakes. a german guy shared his tapioca cake with me and i liked it. the corn was dry and not so sweet.

but she was really nice and we talked to her for a bit

these are everywhere… rambutans.

and these were totally weird. i’d never seen anything like them. they grow in the water and you crack the shell with your teeth. the inside is like a cooked taro root, slightly sweet potato’esque.

the red fruit they call water apples in english. the juice is milky white and they’re quite sweet. i bought a kilo of the mangosteens. they were "pricey" at $2.50 a kilo (about 20 of them) because they were from thailand. the season is over for them here. god, they’re good…

banh boa with quail egg and some spicy meat with onion. i like these things…

this banh bao man ran over to see his picture after i took it. we all laughed and chatted for a few minutes

i ate the bun at ths cafe right next to the cart with my guide nghiep and a woman who wandered over to talk to us… i had a coffee with just a touch of condensed milk and it was dreamy.

another mosquito netting picture – because i thought it was so cool…

i’ll be back soon. thanks for looking…

oh vietnam… don’t make me love you so. the time will pass so quickly and then we will be apart. 

it’s the people. it’s the vibe. saigon has this "thing’ about it. this way of being that has taken me by surprise. amidst the never ending drone of 4 million scooters with a chaotic traffic pattern that somehow moves with a slo-mo ease that feels comfortable, even strangely choreographed – perhaps even enhanced by the the endless symphonic clamor of construction going on everywhere, i feel very peaceful here…

then there are the throngs of people eating, always eating… i’ve never seen so much eating happening – on the streets – everywhere people are cooking. women setting up a little spot with a propane stove and a pan for an egg and some bbq pork with a few customers gathered around sitting on these tiny stools. the local street food scene is astonishing. if only because of the bizarreness of it here in saigon. these are not the carts that you see in thailand, these are people kneeling down and cooking simple food with squirt bottles of chili sauce and fish sauce, everywhere…

westerners are warned off this local food. there is nothing close to any ‘sanitation’ and from what i hear one might tend to come down with nasty gastro issues if one were to indulge… i am fearless in this regards but have so far mostly eaten at the markets where supposedly the food won’t make you ill. for breakfast this morning i chose a stall at random in the middle of the market and had 2 fresh spring rolls and a bowl of noodles with shrimp paste cooked around a stalk of sugar cane and bbq’d pork. 42000 dong. or about $2.25. and it was very good…

i didn’t ask but i’m pretty sure the lower bins are snake… i think everything else was shelled crab, different kinds, different parts

ladies of the tofu

hearts, livers, tongues and something else below the tongues… maybe kidney?

ears and innards…

squid and shrimp and soft shell crabs…

the wonderful herbs that make everything explode into some kind of harmonious cacophony of flavor…

a fish portion of my wanderings…

the garlic, ginger, shallot, lemongrass vendor – way up top towards the center are those tiny little purple shallots that i love

right outside the market… on a quieter sunday mornng

it all comes at you – but gently…

the french were here and it shows…

tonight for dinner i took myself out to hoa tuc, one of the acclaimed restaurants of saigon. for my first course i asked for a half order of one of the salads. spicy char-grilled beef with kumquat, mustard sprouts and white eggplant. the eggplant was uncooked (who knew?) which was a pleasant discovery and the overall dish was just plain excellent. 

for my second course i had bbq fillet of vietnamese snapper with spicy beet root and ginger sauce. on a personal note i liked that they didn’t mess around with trying to make it look like anything other than what it was. which was perfect. 

a glass of torrentes, a small bottle of water and the above was $15. at one of the top rated restaurants in the entire city. my 20 year old server, huon was incredibly sweet and since the night was slow had time to practice her english on me and share that she was sad today because her boyfriend had been caught sitting in a cafe with another girl. she ended it with him and now he is very sorry. on the upside he had bought her an electric fan for the room she rents. i advised her to keep it. we parted friends and i think she was sad to see me go as she walked with me awhile down the street towards my hotel.

perhaps i will visit her again when i circle back around to saigon, if only for the update.

 

i think the only thing that’s truly remarkable about the fact that i made this dish is the whole "presentation" thing. i’m usually short on looks and long on flavor. by the time i get a dish tasting how i want it, the way that it looks matters little to me. especially if knife skills are required and it’s only a decorative garnish. i’m just not that cook. except for today. today i spent about 6 hours with 2 guys, one who was the chef and the other who was just a lost paying soul like me looking to glean some cooking tips. there were 4 courses for our lunch which began with a trip to saigon’s biggest and best market, ben thanh. i’m going back by myself tomorrow for a longer look. the hell with the war remnants museum and the reunification palace, show me how the people live, show me what sustains them. to me the market is the life force of the city. 

dried shrimp. lots and lots of dried shrimp…
 
the banana flower salad is a relatively common dish in vietnam and one that i have seen in the states, but instead of the banana flower, cabbage is used. why i never make this at home, i do not know – but now i plan on having it often. it is simply a taste sensation and so incredibly simple to prepare. the dressing is the vietnamese classic of equal parts water, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar with minced garlic and chiles. the salad is the shredded banana leaf, shredded chicken breast, julienned carrots and green peppers (take that ruhlman) and some fresh herbs. we used rau ram and hun kay – the former i know is available in the ny area although not readily unless you live in chinatown and the latter i have seen but don’t know the english name and googling it didn’t help. but regardless, mint and thai basil would do quite nicely. the salad is finished with crispy fried shallots and chopped roasted peanuts – not too much of either, and let me just say once more: this salad is truly amazing. and honestly, it’s not even cooking, it is merely assembling. oh, and chili pepper flower and outer banana flower petal dish? optional…

nearly everything is alive and there is zero fish odor.

also at lunch there were seafood and taro fried spring rolls that were ok but not so much my thing, and pho was explained and assembled but i’ve learned from pardus how to make that and quite frankly, michael’s broth is better. but it was a lovely setting with really nice guys and we had good fun. afterwards i went and got a neck and head massage while also getting a foot and leg massage. simultaneously. for an hour. for $30. in what would be considered a high end spa. i’m not sure how physically therapeutic it was… if you’re into serious massage this is in the vein of swedish – at best, not so much therapeutic. but still, it was welcomed by my travel weary body.

for dinner, a vietnamese crepe at the night market. there were also shrimp steamed in beer and a bowl of rice noodles with some bbq’d pork that were both excellent. 

i was moving past them quickly so pardon the blur… but this is vietnam.

see this? i like this… i like this so much that i had 3 of them. in a row. on a cathay pacific first class flight to hong kong. on my way to vietnam.

oh. wait. have i not told you? 

i just got to saigon this morning. i made a decision about a month ago that i needed to do this – and that i needed to go as soon as i could. ever since hearing bourdain go on and on about this country, i’ve felt drawn here. i’ve never had much of a desire to go to asia in the past. i’ve always been the europe girl. give me italy, spain, france (in that order)… over and over, and i am pretty damn content. but suddenly it was vietnam. i had to go and now i am here. and if you’re even the least bit surprised, well you’ve just no idea… 

part display, part mise en place at the outdoor restaurant where i dined streetside.

so i’ve not been in touch for awhile (again) even after saying that i would be more diligent about posting. i mean, trust me when i tell you that there is no shortage of very fine restaurant dinners in my life and then there’s michael and me in the kitchen which is not too shabby in the least. i’ve had more than enough material to perhaps even wow you on occasion. just the night before i took off, i started dinner and then michael came home and we bounced a few ideas off each other and came up with the most remarkable dish. seared lamb over fregola with roasted and crisped kale, garlic and zest, deglazed with fresh chopped tomatoes, that was so nuanced we were giddy. cooking with that man is so much damn fun… among other things.

but listen, honestly, all those empty declarations of how i vowed to post regularly were nothing more than good intentions gone awry. and you must know that i really want to share this experience with you. because i’m here for at least 5 weeks and i’m on my own and well, you can be my traveling companion – in a way, except that you won’t be picking up any checks… which is too bad because if you were to ever take me to a fabulous dinner, saigon would be the place to do it. the food is so damn fine and it’s all on the cheap. 

dinner was to be light. after being plowed with (good not great) dim sum, lobster, duck and congee and whatever else my heart seemingly desired on all the flights, i hadn’t much of an appetitie. but i wanted to go to the night markets and so off i went, into the frenetic energy that is saigon. i took it to the streets dodging the scooters and cabs with the aplomb of a local and made my way past the 5 star hotels and the likes of louis vuitton, until it got just a bit earthier. in vietnam, you don’t have to go too far for everything to get really real.

this plate of clams in a lemon grass broth cost me $1.50. and it was stunningly good…

coconut water and beer on ice. 

i bought some durian and ate it sitting in a park, knowing i couldn’t bring it back to the hotel. it was incredibly good and nothing like the frozen ones i’ve tried in the states. if i may say, the follow up burps were a bit funky – but worth it.

ok, i’ve hit the wall and am literally falling asleep at my computer. it’s after 1am and tomorrow i’m shopping and then cooking lunch… i don’t think i’m jet lagged, it’s more like i’m really disoriented AND i’m a 49 year old woman. for example, i was so sure that tonight was thursday but i was informed under no uncertain terms that it is in fact friday night. which means i’ve been in the same clothes for 48 hours. no lie.

clean clothes or not, i’m here and it’s exactly where i need to be. 

granted, not my best work with the new camera. but that night i was determined to eat hot food. an oft declared rarity for a food blogger. so instead of a well taken photo to entice you with, let me explain as best i can how to cook swordfish properly, as told to me by michael pardus, chef instructor at the culinary institute of america in hyde park.

you see, for me this is a big deal. for years swordfish had been low on my list of fish to eat, let alone cook. it was always kind of dry and uninteresting – flavorless if you will. and then michael cooked some up one evening and i was forever changed. it was moist, tender and flavorful which somehow in and of itself sounds a bit like an ad for cat food (and i do so wish i could have come up with better words) but believe me when i tell you, that these three words were never more true…

ok, the swordfish. the trick, the secret, the mystery – it’s a complete revelation. and here’s what you do.

you treat the swordfish as though you’re cooking a steak.

just start out with a piece of fish that’s at least an inch thick and let it sit in some olive oil, salt, pepper and whatever else you might be using such as herbs or lemon zest for about 15 minutes. get a good sear on both sides and then move the fish to an indirect heat source, either into the oven if you’re searing stovetop or to a part of the grill with no direct heat beneath it. let the fish cook until it’s about 5 minutes away from being done and take it off the heat and LET IT SIT as you would a ribeye. it will continue to cook, the juices will redistribute and it will be the best piece of swordfish you’ve ever eaten.

*cooks note – this piece of fish was less than an inch but my grill goes to 900 F so i was able to get the sear without overcooking. i think that within reason, the thicker the fish, the better. an inch and a half would be perfect. judging doneness is tricky unless you do it all the time, which i don’t so there’s always some anxiety involved. but if you can cook a steak properly you can do this as long as you know that the flesh of this fish is way more delicate and it will cook faster than a piece of beef.

so now you know.

this fish sat upon a bed of swiss chard simply sauteed with some olive oil and garlic, some salt and pepper – but let’s talk about the yellow squash for a moment shall we? it’s peaking nearly everywhere right about now and THIS is one of the things you must do with it. i got the idea from jennifer at last night’s dinner who got the idea from melissa clark who wrote about it in a magazine that’s going to have to remain nameless because if i typed the celeb’s name, my keyboard would explode in my face. ok?

anyway, jennifer described the dish as follows:

"It’s an extremely simple dish, ribbons of summer squash dressed with a drizzle of olive oil and a spritz of lemon juice, tossed with freshly grated parm and toasted pine nuts – just five simple ingredients, but they come together in perfect harmony. It’s particularly nice when you get a bite of everything together – the flavors and textures play really well together, with crunch and a slight bitterness from the pine nuts, the salty, pebbly parmesan, and the perky lemon dressing all jazzing up the mild, tender squash."

i highly recommend making this. it’s yet another example of the whole being so much greater than the sum of its parts. pine nuts are pricey right now but find them in bulk and just buy a handful. or splurge and just freeze the rest until you make this – again and again.

oh, and one last thing about the swordfish. if you happened to warm some olive oil in a small pan with some capers and anchovies and garlic and red chili flakes and lemon zest and parsley? perhaps even a chunked home fresh tomato from your garden thrown in there too? and drizzled that over the fish before serving?

it would be yum-O!

the joke goes something like this: when it’s summer in nashville you need to lock your car doors when you go anywhere otherwise when you come back there will be a bushel of zucchini on your passenger seat.

and THEN what would you do? because sometimes zucchinis and yellow squash can be a little perplexing, if only due to the lack of excitement they tend to cause.

i was reading ruhlman’s last post and decided that a version of his sauteed zucchini recipe would be a perfect jumping off point for a pasta dinner with friends. it’s hot as hell out and i’m eating very lightly right now – paying for some recent past indulgences. i knew i owed you all a pasta dish and although there’s really no recipe here, i urge you to do what i did with ruhlman’s post and just get inspired and use up a few zucchini and squash from your csa haul or garden or local farmers market.

oh, so there’s that and i need to tell you about a gadget… because i use them on occasion and this one is kind of fun, as gadgets go…

enter: the saladacco spiral slicer…

photo from the sur la table web site…

i’ve never hidden the fact that my knife skills are pretty lame if not dangerous. i get by, barely, so i tend to rely heavily on my mandoline, food processor slicer attachment and the kindness of others. and on occasion, this nifty little device which does two things. it makes long curly ribbons out of firm vegetables and it also makes an angel hair like strand. fun with vegetables. good times.

2 minced shallots and about 6 minced garlic cloves got sweated in some olive oil

and then added to that was a bit of salt and red pepper flakes.

next in went the zucchini, yellow squash and carrots and a good amount of fresh thyme. after about 3 minutes i added some butter and hit it with a good squeeze of lemon juice. it was tossed with some spaghettini and you can tell by the color that i used one of those multi grain omega 3 high protein pastas – but in a perfect world where i didn’t have to think about fiber and protein – OR if you were coming to dinner, i would have just used white pasta because it’s just better.

the dish was finished with some lightly toasted mediterranean pine nuts which are both hard to find and expensive. since, you’ve come to expect that from me, i didn’t want to let you down.

oh and tomatoes. it is august after all…

‘woman reclining’ by sierra pardus, the most magical child on earth…

so it seems that just when i am finally back to blogging, i am also steering clear of the kitchen, living on somewhat plain fare. one of these days soon i will again balance this whole blogging, cooking and eating thing but right now i am focused primarily on the FRET which is not conducive to creativity in the kitchen, at least for me.

but regardless of any of that, in order to post i needed photographs to inspire me so the first order of business was to get a new camera as my old SLR had moved out. and then suddenly a beautiful nikon D40 landed so graciously in my hands. and i am growing to love it more every day, learning how to use it properly while coming to terms with the fact that it’s hard to focus on anything, when everything else is blurry…

i’ve decided that somehow this sculptural primary colored figure of a woman represents me, except i don’t really ever wear hats. and she is oh so painfully thin – and well, if nothing else, at least i’m on my way back down… but still she is me, reflecting on how she managed to get herself onto that hard surface in the first place and wondering what now to do… but dear readers, please know one very important detail about her, one that may be hard to discern being that her face is quite flushed. she is flashing a blazing smile. because she remains hopeful with an open heart…

and maybe she holds out hope because one of the best parts of life is that it’s full of all kinds of surprises. and as unlikely as this small one might sound, let me tell you about a cracker from vietnam…

we were shopping at a local global market when these were spotted right next to the rice paper wrappers, and for $1.79 or thereabouts, we decided to bring them home and see what they might be. the ingredients read: rice flour, black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds, onion, sesame oil, dried shrimp, salt, water, MSG, and sugar. they came with no directions or suggestions so first we tried to soak them as one might do with rice paper – but to no avail. so next they were popped into the oven and in just a few minutes, they became food.

the one on the left is uncooked, the one on the right is…

today when i baked one in my small convection oven, you could actually hear it expand. but you had to listen very carefully – just as one desperately needs to do in order to grow themselves… it was like hearing food stretch after waking up from a good long sleep. the heat transformed this curious disc  – and quickly, into something quite nice. there was a spice factor that i couldn’t quite figure out based on the ingredient list but nevertheless, MSG and all, they are damn good.

the tiny dried shrimp almost appear as if in suspended animation

along with a day filled with butterflies, hummingbirds, fawns and four point bucks, this was just another example of the beauty that surrounds us…

 buddha contemplating the magnificence of this bradley tomato. no suffering here…

one of the pluses about living in the south in the summer is that i get tomatoes before all the other yankees do. by june we begin seeing a few beauties at the farmers market and by july, well it’s bounty season. (and yes, i’m well aware that there will be times when this very fact will give me little to no consolation, but right now i’m pretty happy about it.)

i’ve not been home much over the last months but now that i’m here my shopping is done exclusively at the farmers market with hardly a trip anywhere else to buy anything foodlike. i live mostly off of eggs, berries, melons, zucchini, corn, greens, tomatoes, some grass fed beef and pastured chickens and this one particular whole grain seedy bread that i’ve grown to love. between us, i’m trying to lay low on the pork right now out of the desperate need to fit back into my clothes AGAIN.

oh but how i digress… the tomatoes. they are delectable. nearly magical. sprinkled just barely with just some maldon salt, and i am entranced. add a rub of garlic to some toasted bread, a hit of olive oil and some basil and it’s dinner. some buffalo mozzarella and it’s pure decadence. then put all of that on a bowl of pasta and it could fall into ‘my last supper’ category.

these salad tomatoes were grown by delvin farms and really, they’re more like candy than anything else. i keep them in this bowl and i just pop a few in my mouth whenever i go by, too well aware that soon this luxury will be behind me.

a few weeks ago in preparation for a dinner with some friends, the tomatoes were scored, blanched, shocked and peeled – about 4 lbs of these little gems – and then i seeded them and went on to make my favorite marinara of all time. we served the dish with some beautiful swordfish that was cooked to perfection with a warm bagna cauda of sorts served on top. but alas, there were no photos taken… and for this i am sad because it was quite a lovely dinner.

so dear readers, allow me to give you this repeat recipe from nearly a year ago. it’s just that good.

tomato and basil spaghetti
by scott conant of scarpetta

about 20 ripe plum tomatoes (ours were quite small so we doubled the amount)
about 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to finish the dish
a pinch of crushed red pepper
kosher salt
black pepper, freshly ground
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 ounce parmigiano, freshly grated (about 1/2 cup)
about 7 fresh basil leaves, well washed and dried, stacked and rolled into a cylinder and cut thinly crosswise into a chiffonade
1 pound spaghetti, either high-quality dry or homemade

to peel the tomatoes: bring a large pot of water to a boil. have a large bowl of ice water nearby. cut a small x on the bottom of each tomato. ease about five tomatoes in the pot and cook, let boil for about 15 seconds, and then promptly move them to the waiting ice water. (do this with the remaining tomatoes.) pull off the skin with the tip of a paring knife. if the skin sticks, try a vegetable peeler using a gentle sawing motion. cut the tomatoes in half and use your finger to flick out the seeds.

to cook the tomatoes: In a wide pan, heat the 1/3 cup of olive oil over medium-high heat until quite hot. add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and season lightly with the salt and pepper. (i always start with a light hand with the salt and pepper because as the tomatoes reduce, the salt will become concentrated.) Let the tomatoes cook for a few minutes to soften. then, using a potato masher, chop the tomatoes finely. cook the tomatoes for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tomatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened. (you can make the sauce, which yields about 3 cups, ahead of time. refrigerate it for up to 2 days or freeze it for longer storage.)

to serve: bring a large pot of amply salted water to a boil. cook the spaghetti until just shy of al dente. reserve a little of the pasta cooking water. add the pasta to the sauce and cook over medium-high heat, gently tossing the pasta and the sauce together with a couple of wooden spoons and a lot of exaggerated movement (you can even shake the pan) until the pasta is just tender and the sauce, if any oil had separated from it, now looks cohesive. (if the sauce seems too thick, add a little pasta cooking liquid to adjust it.) take the pan off of the heat and toss the butter, basil, and cheese with the pasta in the same manner (the pasta should take on an orange hue) and serve immediately.

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and yes. there is no garlic, there is no black pepper. just let it be, people.

just. let. it. be…

it’s been awhile, i’m well aware. and to make matters even worse, this post is merely a placeholder, a reminder that yes, I KNOW it’s been over 2 months since we last gathered but that i am still very much alive and i suppose one could say, perhaps even more alive than i’ve been in some time. but my god, so much has happened since then that i’ve just not been focusing on ceF.

you see… i’ve fallen in love.

so i ask you to please excuse my time off. i hope i haven’t lost you forever. i am here and i’ve so much to tell you but the weekend is upon us and i have walks to take and wine to drink and the most wonderful man in the entire world to share it all with.

oh, and then there’s all the food…

a wonderful dinner cooked for me by my guy.

now there’s a change…

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’ve not been able to get into inner workings of my blog for awhile now. i’ve been somehow mysteriously locked out of wordpress and it’s been – well kind of bizarre. but i am temporarily ‘in’ so i thought at the very least i could give you these small and dainty sponge cakes that i made 2 weeks ago. i had seen these madeleines posted on james beard’s site and was drawn to them immediately. they come from chef nicolas elmi of le bec-fin in philadelphia.

i’ve only made madeleines once before. a browned butter and lemon version that were nothing short of spectacular, rich and fragrant. but – one needs the pan before one can make a madeleine, non?. and it took me awhile before i decided to take the plunge and make the commitment to baking madeleines on occasion. and so now i definitely think that you too should indulge in a madeleine pan and consider making these – right away.

this recipe is wonderful. a lot of fresh rosemary, orange and lemon zest along with just a bit of a salt bite that somehow takes them over the edge into a very grown up taste sensation.

rosemary madeleines

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and salt until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. sift together the flour and baking powder. alternate mixing the eggs and sifted dry ingredients into the butter mixture. mix in the rosemary, lemon zest,  and orange zest. cover the bowl and chill the batter for about an hour.

preheat the oven to 375º F. butter and flour the madeleine pan. fill the molds about two thirds full with the batter. bake for 6 to 7 minutes, until the madeleines spring back to form when poked in their centers.

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they’re quite simple to make and nothing short of impressive. not so much a dessert as perhaps a 4:00 pm intermission to your day…

a few months ago i bought some locally produced lamb shanks at the nashville farmers market and then tucked them away in my freezer for just the right day. and then yesterday, on a whim i sat them out to defrost and began snooping around the interwebs for some inspiration. i wound up on food52′s site and glanced at 2 different recipes – and then i was off. within a minute i had found just what i needed, and based on what was in the pantry and the refrigerator i got to cooking.

the shanks got salted and peppered and well-browned in olive oil. the meat was removed from the pot and in went a dice of onion, garlic, carrots and fennel. when it was all softened and just barely starting to color i added some pimenton, red chile flakes and fennel pollen. after a minute or so i added some of my chicken stock along with about 2/3′s of a bottle of decent zinfandel. i let that simmer for about 2 hours.

when the meat was easily removed from the bone, into the pot went the flesh of one navel orange and 3 tangerines along with some of the grated zest. and then to finish i added some diced up dates, preserved meyer lemons and green olives.

then i called it a night and everything went into the refrigerator.

and tonight it was dinner. and really, a stew such as this does well with an overnight rest. everything melds together and somehow the flavors deepen. it’s a given. we all know it, and we all do it. right?

a few months ago i also bought a package of yellow grits. it was an impulse buy. i liked the look of the labeling and i am a huge polenta lover and i just figured, why not? grits are pretty standard fare down around these parts but i never really make them. no reason. i’ve just not hit a ‘grits phase’ yet. for those of you who may have wondered, the difference between grits and polenta is twofold. the grind and the type of corn used. the following is taken from the anson mills site:

Dent or Flint?

i know… more seafood. but really, there’s just never too much seafood – at least not in my life. especially when it’s supremely fresh.

you know what i mean, the good stuff… the kind of fish that gets sent to the best restaurants. because this product isn’t coming to me from a middle man via atlanta – it’s coming direct from the source. and you can taste it.

so here i go once more – and not only is it seafood i’m preparing, but it’s once again from these guys. and the recipe? you guessed it. it’s from my latest chef crush, efisio farris. i’m concerned that perhaps i’m becoming predictable. and i know you expect more from me than that. but give me a brand new inspiring book and a great ingredient source to go with it, and well, i’m all over those seafood recipes. it’s the next best thing to being in sardinia.

plus i get to have MORE BOTTARGA. and when has that ever been a bad thing?

(enter: the lobsters)

these living, breathing, moving, feeling creatures were in the box along with the fish. and it did NOT go well. i tried to do the whole knife in the brain thing…

and I FUCKING MISSED.

by probably about 1/2 inch.
and i couldn’t get the knife out.
and it was still moving.
and i was shrieking like a little girl.
just awful.
horrifically gruesome
i even considered vegetarianism…

and then i got over it. but damn. JUST DAMN. i was traumatized.

so the lobsters got thrown into a pot of rolling boiling water for about 3 minutes to partially cook the tails so i could then remove the meat from the shells and prepare them for an olive oil poaching bath. poaching lobster tails in olive oil or butter is truly a must do. it has to be experienced. the meat becomes surprisingly tender. the taste, exquisite. it’s a bonafide wow.

the sea bass was skinned, deboned and then carefully sliced and pounded thin between dampened plastic wrap. then i combined the following:

saffron, chives, lemon zest, lime zest, salt and pepper

this gets sprinkled evenly all over the fish. then lemon and lime juice combined with olive oil is drizzled onto the seasoned fish, coating evenly and thoroughly. you cover this with plastic wrap making sure to remove all the air bubbles and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

plate with greens and lobster medallions and drizzle the remaining marinade along with some of your good olive oil.

then invite over some friends.

get them to being the wine…

the scallops arrived at my door on a dreary winter’s morning, overnighted from catalina seafood in san diego. they were the huge dry diver scallops – 6 to a lb. and just as beautiful as i’d ever seen. i had decided upon another sardinian recipe by my new bff chef efisio farris (i’m currently on a roll). you see, i’ve been in a bit of a scallop rut. i buy them. i sear them. and then usually just throw them on top of a salad. if i’m feeling semi ambitious i might puree a well steamed head of cauliflower with some fresh thyme and olive oil and plop a few scallops on that. because to me, scallops usually mean a cook-free, no fuss dinner. they are just SO EASY. and the best ones are perfectly delicious with just a good sear.

but this recipe spoke to me. i had both fregola, a small toasted pasta and some saffron in the cupboard along with some freshly made chicken stock in the fridge, so all i had to do was make a quick produce run.

if you want to know how to perfectly sear a scallop, the secret is to begin with some of these beauties… never frozen, firm and plump and HUGE. just get the pan very hot, add some butter or olive oil – or both, and sear away until nicely caramelized. if they look white as snow and ooze liquid, chances are they’ve been soaked in phosphates making it nearly impossible for them to brown without overcooking. they’ll also shrink up and not have much flavor. something to perhaps ask your fishmonger before you buy. of course here in nashville the closest thing we have to a fishmonger is the guy behind the counter at whole foods. oh, the cost of living landlocked…

it’s a beautiful presentation. the sear of the scallops with the saffron and bits of tomato and arugula. pretty food. but the sweetness of the honey against the salt of the scallops and the peppery arugula are what will make you fall…

pan-seared scallops with fregula and roasted vegetables
adapted from sweet myrtle and bitter honey by efisio farris

1 cup chicken stock
1 cup fregola (you could substitute israeli couscous if you had to)
1 bay leaf
1 pinch saffron
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 pinches sea salt
2 green onions, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 roma tomato, seeded and diced
12 diver scallops
1 bunch of arugula, chopped
1 tablespoon abbamele (i used honey)

 in a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. add fregula, bay leaf, saffron, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. cook covered for 8 to 10 minutes. all liquid should be absorbed by the fregula.

heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. saute green onions, shallot and celery for 2 to 3 minutes. add zucchini, squash and tomato and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. combine fregula and vegetables and cook on low heat for another minute. add additional stock or hot water if it seems too dry.

in another skillet heat remaing 2 tablesppons of oil and cook scallops until golden and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. turn and brown the other side.

divide fregola mixture among 4 plates and top with the arugula, or you can use the arugula as a bed for the fregula. top each with 3 scallops.

finish by drizzling honey and some good olive oil.

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again, it’s the ingredients. everything that went into this dish was at its best. the scallops from catalina ocean products were truly beyond wonderful.

and you see? it’s a 20 minute dinner. just add some good bread and a bottle of wine, and you’re amazing!

but i knew that already… 

sea urchin. i’m enamored. and i have been for quite some time although it’s usually called uni and served to me over a slab of rice. well ok, not necessarily – at least not anymore. not since i had it served on a piece of lightly toasted bread, draped with the thinnest, barely warmed slice of lardo at marea in nyc. thank you chef michael white. because that right there was a most memorable bite, one that set the tone for one of my top 3 meals of ’09.

and sure, there have been a few pastas with sea urchin ordered at various restaurants (a voce, esca and marea come to mind…). and then there was that whole bourdain/ripert food porn spectacle at le bernardin… i watched that and yearned… deeply… (for both tony and the taglietelle.)

but just 3 days ago i was lucky enough to find myself in possession of two 80 gram trays of the freshest most lovely sea urchin that one might ever come across – overnighted via fedex from san diego. i nearly made that eric ripert version which is pretty much a butter sauce fortified with pureed sea urchin and then embellished with chives, espelette, parmigiano and a touch of lemon – not to mention the generous dollop of osetra… but it just seemed TOO rich. TOO heavy. not that i’m knocking it. i’m quite sure that it’s an experience unto itself and one that i plan on having at some point, but right now i’m trying to keep it light – so i begrudgingly shied away from that.

and then i found it. right in the ny times. the perfect dish…

a close up for you of one of the most wonderful things i’ve made perhaps ever… but then again i’d not eaten any pasta for nearly a solid month so it’s hard to know. regardless, i highly – but highly recommend this dish.

it blew me away.

spicy spaghettini with sea urchin and tomatoes
adapted from chef beatrice tosti of il posto accanto in nyc

makes 4 small plates

8 ounces dry spaghettini
sea salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
6 cloves garlic, peeled
a scant 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
12 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, preferably organic, halved
about 2 1/2 ounces sea urchin – one standard tray
freshly grated zest of an organic lemon
small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, freshly chopped.

bring a medium pot of well salted water to a boil over high heat. meanwhile, in a skillet large enough to later hold all the pasta, heat the olive oil over medium heat. add garlic, reduce heat to low, and slowly cook on all sides, turning often, until cloves are lightly browned and caramelized, about 10 minutes.

raise heat under skillet to medium, add chili flakes and cook, stirring, until toasted, about 2 minutes. add tomatoes and cook, turning gently, just until wilted.

when water boils, add the pasta. stir well. when pasta is cooked through but still firm, drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.

turn heat under skillet to low. add about 3/4 of the sea urchin to skillet with a splash of pasta cooking water. add pasta to skillet and toss thoroughly but gently over low heat, adding pasta cooking water and more oil to taste if mixture is dry. taste for salt and toss in lemon zest and parsley.

serve hot, decorating each serving with remaining sea urchin.

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a huge shout out to catalina offshore products for supplying me with this incredible seafood. they dive for the sea urchin when the weather permits and then ship it directly to your door. it was just excellent and as fresh as it gets.

it arrives in this small, slim box surrounded by ice packs

and this right here is the beautiful golden sea urchin.
which by the way is not actually roe, they’re the gonads of both the males and females..

as in testicles and ovaries.

and dear readers after all we’ve meant to each other
i wouldn’t kid you about a thing like this…

there’s a pretty amusing backstory as to why i created this dish, but that’s for another day. what i will say is that it was quite fabulous. the sauce wound up taking on a life if its own, as at one point a bad flick of the wrist had rendered it nearly inedible and it needed to be somehow fixed. luckily the culinary gods were with me and i had on hand just the very thing to bring it back home with grace. honestly, this was a serious sauce… and having no formal training whatsoever, i was really pleased that not only was it saved, but it was enhanced tenfold.

veal shanks. a beautiful cut of meat. perfect for a winter’s braise. osso buco. something i love to cook that hadn’t seen rotation in awhile. i don’t use the typical ingredients so perhaps this particular treatment of the shanks can no longer be considered ‘osso buco’, translated as ‘pierced bone’. but regardless of its proper name, it was superb.

i’m avoiding the recipe format because this dish just came along on its own. i urge you to make this – and to wing it. keep tasting. then adjust. i posted about this awhile back and there you’ll find a similar recipe for reference.

flour, salt and pepper the meat and brown in olive oil. remove from the pan and set aside. add about 5 oz of finely minced pancetta until it’s rendered and browned. next add about 4 finely minced anchovies (the good ones that need to be filleted). when they melt away, next to go in is about 3 cloves of finely minced garlic. after about a minute pour about 10 oz of white wine – i used a pinot grigio – and reduce. return the veal to the pan and add veal stock (chicken will do…) about halfway up the sides of the meat.

braise for about 90 minutes, basting often. the remaining liquid was strained through a chinois and put back on the stove. i added about 3 oz (maybe more) of butter in pieces until it was glassy and coated the spoon. then i tasted. too salty. damn. DAMN. anchovies are salty little buggers and i threw in a healthy pinch of salt not long after i added them. silly girl. not good. what to do? slight panic. think, claudia, think.

i spy a bottle on the shelf under my kitchen work table. it’s port. so i grab it and add some to a small espresso cup of the sauce. EXCELLENT. then i added about 5 oz of port – incrementally – to the rest. FREAKIN UNREAL. did i just make this? yes? high five!

the polenta was made the good old fashioned way. water, salt and the polenta stirred for about 15 minutes and then left alone to do its thing. when it was done it was hit with a sizable amount of mascarpone. the brussels sprouts were simply caramelized in oil, butter and salt.

definitely rich. definitely a winter dish. wonderful nuanced home cooking, layered with great flavors.

you go girl.

in my ongoing hunt for new ways to prepare bottarga, by far one of my most favorite things to eat, i googled ‘bottarga and cream’ wondering what i might find. after all, one eats good caviar with creme fraiche so i felt i might be on to something. and once again the interwebs provided me with what was just yesterday completely unknown, and now will never be forgotten. thank you al gore.

the martha. you come for the guests (she has the best) and you leave – well, often because of martha. case in point. enter eficio farris. a dallas based chef from sardinia and writer of ‘sweet myrtle and bitter honey – flavors of sardinia‘. i’d never heard of him and now he’s my latest italian chef crush. move over michael white (of alto, convivio and my new most favorite restaurant marea)… because i’ve got sardinia to explore and eficio is taking me there.

yes, i love bottarga. it’s rich and deep and sings of the ocean at its sexiest, you know, the one below the rocky cliffs of any given country on the mediterranean sea. or in this case just off the coast of tampa where my dear friend RK catches these mullet each autumn, carefully packs the roes in salt and lets the floridian sun do the rest. in another preparation, he also gently smokes the roes, rendering them ever so slightly crisp on the outside and soft and smoky beyond measure on the inside, but that’s for another time…

when i saw the dish being put together on this video, it reminded me of burrata and how the cream fortifies the fresh mozzarella transforming it into something other worldly. i knew that i wanted to use sheep’s milk ricotta – impossible to procure in nashville, so it was back to pastacheese.com, once again flying in 3 lbs, which comes to them directly from italy. being a highly perishable product it becomes an exercise in timing and willingness to pay the price. dare i say it’s the most exercise i’ve had all year…

i did the sheep’s milk ricotta shuffle once before when i made the uovo raviolo’s, a specialty of the then san domenico’s chef odette fada. odette moved with the owners of san domenico’s to the new and wonderful restaurant SD26 off madison ave in nyc. when i was there a few months ago they brought me one of these raviolo’s, and really they’re a revelation…

this pasta is everything i love about italian cooking. it’s got but a few flawless ingredients.

so find them. and make this.

malloreddus with sheep’s milk ricotta and bottarga
adapted from eficio farris ‘sweet myrtle and bitter honey – flavors of sardinia’

chef farris uses dry bottarga in the video. i’m not nearly as much of a fan of that powdery substance. i think the fresh is a much better product and worked wonderfully in the dish.

1 pound short tubular pasta, such as malloreddus
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sheep’s milk ricotta cheese
about half a cup of grated bottarga – i used the fresh on the large side of a box grater
freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add pasta
meanwhile, heat heavy cream in a large saucepan over medium heat.
add ricotta and stir until well combined.
cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and well combined, about 5 minutes.
stir in about 2/3′s of the bottarga and season with freshly ground black pepper.
drain pasta and add to ricotta mixture.
add parsley and toss until well combined
stir in olive oil.
transfer pasta to a serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining bottarga.
serve immediately.

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the sardinians say that malloreddus pasta is shaped like a tear but really that is nothing but delusional. they look very much like larvae. but regardless, they fill up beautifully with this creamy sauce which has been somehow infused with the ocean.

again, if you are willing to track down the ingredients, you’ll be thrilled and delighted.

i made a fair few things new year’s eve, but two of them in particular were really wonderful. this, a bruschetta made from a whole wheat la brea baguette with a gremolata of parsley, lemon zest, tuscan olive oil and garlic, topped with two paper thin slightly pan warmed slices of guanciale – was quite simply, delicious.

alas, the idea was once again gently borrowed from ‘city house‘ here in nashville. chef tandy wilson’s version was slightly different, but the basic elements were much the same.

nearly every dish has a story, and this one begins at lazzaroli’s here in the germantown neighborhood of nashville. tom is my savior in this town, a purveyor of all good things italian. i cannot stress highly enough how excellent his shop is. if you live in the nashville area and haven’t yet been, add it to your list of resolutions to go and check out this alluring little market. the guanciale he carries is from the renowned salumi in seattle. nashville may be culturally backwards and lacking in way too many things food related, but let me ask you this? can you get artisan cured meats in your little corner of the universe? because hey, guess what? I CAN!

(i’ve tried la quercia numerous times via mail order, but salumi gets my vote – hands down and for half the price.)

so i bought a piece of the guanciale but then had to deal with the business of getting it sliced paper thin. luckily, my local deli counter at ‘the fresh market’ was willing to do it for me in exchange for a taste – the quintessential win/win.

the fresh bread options in this town are at best, ok. i find myself prefering the ‘la brea’ offerings from the harris teeter grocery store. i like it better than most any of the other local options. it’s made in california and then baked in store. i probably wouldn’t have chosen the whole wheat version, but it’s all that was left at 6 pm on new year’s eve and somehow it was just right. the carbon footprint? major fail. i’m sorry planet earth. love you, mean it.

i got a bit lazy and didn’t even bother to toast the bread slices. i just schmeared on some of the gremolata, quasi-artfully placed the pork – and, ecco!

happy new year… it’s a brand new decade. i’m ready.

i know… we’re in the throes of the holidays and here i am giving you the kind of post you might more be expecting in january. this modest, even unassuming soup is a fine example of the simple comfort food that everyone craves after all the excess and extravaganza that will ring out the year. but for me, even amidst all the decadence, there would be few things on my list that could ever equal the magnificence that is this soup.

imagine. if you had a cold and then you crossed my beloved jewish grandma julia with someone else’s italian nonna, i’m thinking that whatever she’d be cooking for you might look a little something like what you see here.

and really, all i’m saying is that sometimes, sniffles or not, in between all the festivity, undoubtedly filled with an array of benton’s bacon wrapped dates, hudson valley foie gras on pain de mie toast points, baked wheels of brie with fig jam on top, wine braised lamb shanks and slow roasted loins of meat – possibly followed up with a very beloved christmas eve lasagna = not to mention what you may have on the menu for your new year’s celebration… well, you might just want soup.

and of them all, to me this one reigns supreme.

i threw a whole chicken in the pot along with a rough chopped onion, some carrots, bay leaves, cracked peppercorns and salt. after about 90 minutes i removed most of the meat from the carcass and put it off to the side, putting all the bones back in and letting it go for about another 3 hours at barely a simmer. then i added some parsley, thyme and garlic for the last 40 minutes or so.

i strained the broth through a damp towel lined chinois, discarding everything solid and when the liquid was cooled i defatted the stock by about 90%. about 30 minutes before serving i warmed the broth and chopped up some fresh fennel, collard greens and carrots, adding back the all the shredded chicken and lastly i made trofie pasta, keeping it al dente so as not to soften up too much in the soup.

i loved it. deeply…

(a special thanks to chef bob del grosso for his willingness to both coach and reassure me when i am clueless…which is often.)

my mom just sent me keller’s latest book ‘ad hoc’. she knew i wanted this one and sure enough it showed up at my door – a heavy box from barnes & noble with a gift wrapped package inside bearing a little note that said, "because i love you". i’d recently surprised her in nyc for her 75th birthday and this was a delightful thank you. i suppose it could have been a ‘first night of (c)hanukah’ gift, but those days of a-gift-a-night for 8 nights, long the envy of my goyim friends – are long behind me, now replaced by one signed check. which funny enough, always fits me perfectly.

she also knows i’m a big fan of thomas keller. as i’m sure you’re well aware, the man is quite simply an extraordinary chef. i’ve eaten at per se only twice, but both times were sublime. and when i next find myself in napa, it won’t be french laundry that i first run to – it will be ad hoc. the restaurant with no menu. you come. you sit. and you’re served whatever 4 courses they’ve prepared for that evening. perfect.

if you’ve ever dined out with me, you’ll know that i rarely care what’s ordered. feel free to choose what you’d like for me to have so that we can share. i may narrow it down or make suggestions, but there’s nothing i don’t eat. nothing that will make me cringe. nothing that will disappoint me. my one request is just to make it damn good. i’m easy to feed.

(ok, eyeballs. i don’t do eyeballs. that squicks me out. and insects. but after that you’re relatively safe to serve me whatever you’d like.)

as my first foray into the book i decided on this particular dish because – it was easy. it was thomas keller’s food, it was going to be a cinch to make and i had all but 3 ingredients. so i ran out to get the chicken thighs, the olives and the fennel bulbs (3 for $15 – i was mortified). and then suddenly i began to feel as though i was relapsing into the miserable head cold that had taken me down earlier in the week. except now it was moving south into my chest, my voice dropping 2 definite octaves leaving me feeling wiped out, with the thought of cooking anything, incredibly unappealing..

ENTER: chris widick.

i love a man with tongs in his hand…

chris was coming by to pick up a big wooden crate that had transported 6 amazing mies van der rohe chairs that i’d recently scored on ebay. he has big plans of turning the thing into a huge smoker and i wanted it cleared out of my driveway asap. yet another example of one woman’s box being another man’s meat locker. sorry. that was just TOO DAMN GOOD TO RESIST. anyway, before i digress any further, chris regularly butchers whole animals in his garage and makes things such as venison pate, guanciale and pancetta and i am proud to know him.

but now i had to cook dinner for some friends. and i was spiraling into chest cold oblivion. and well, let me explain the chris ‘thing’. besides going on about how chris widick is a prince of a man and that i appreciate his innate kindness and goodness, NOT TO MENTION his teflon resilience when i get all up and down his shit while he’s cooking in my kitchen… he’s been a good friend to me in the 2 or so years that i’ve known him. he was one of my early ceF readers and we met at a food related event here in town which i love to relentlessly tease him about because he acted all star struck and wouldn’t stop talking out of nervousness and obviously thought i was WAY COOLER AND MORE IMPORTANT than he now knows i really am. which was totally adorable. these days he comes over and i’m usually half dressed, somewhat disheveled but always in my kitchen, and we inevitably get to cooking and chatting and generally having a pretty nice time together.

but this is what’s key. and readers…this is my big secret. and look, it’s just the truth. i make no excuses. i’m a home cook who fancies herself an executive chef. because ALL I WANT TO DO is have you do nearly all the work while i watch carefully and make every decision. BECAUSE I AM REALLY GOOD AT THAT <sigh> I REALLY AM. i just want to be in charge. but only in the kitchen. after that i’m all about fairness and democracy and relinquishing control. no really. i am. i’m better now. honest…

so chris assumed the position, knife in hand, towel over his shoulder and i sat there and said things like, "browner…" and "more wine…" and "but thomas says to do it this way…" and "not enough salt…" and "the farro is done and needs to be drained now…". and he was sweet and cheerful and always did as i asked.

women, LISTEN UP. he’s single, 39, and he’d make a wonderful partner. especially if you love fine human beings as much as fine food. i mean, THE GUY KILLS THE PIG, CURES THE BELLY AND MAKES HIS OWN BACON FOR GOD’S SAKE plus he has a very good steady day job. chris widick… i am telling you…

oh, i did take some pictures. but that i did for YOU.

after the chicken gets seared, it gets removed from the pan and in goes the onions, garlic and fennel…

next, the wine gets reduced, then add bay leaves, zest, red flakes of pepper, thyme, olives, stock…

then a short braise in the oven

then a minute or two under the broiler

the reason you make 12? leftovers…

it really is an excellent dish. everyone raved. i considered serving it over polenta but went with farro which i think was a good choice but any grain would work nicely.

i’ll do this one again and again…

capitol hill/12th avenue in seattle

this shot was taken on our short stroll from having cocktails at the very cool tavern law, to dinner down the street at lark.
the photo is 100% untouched and to me, it’s ever so slightly unexpected, and perhaps even a little bit beautiful…

it’s been over 2 months and i’ve not said a word about seattle which is just wrong of me for two reasons because, well, i really liked that city – and i can honestly say that i’m glad i flew the entire 47,001 miles to see it. oh, it wasn’t that far? really? because it kind of felt that way. i’m telling you… seattle? it is way the hell across and up there. all the while i just kept thinking, man, i could have flown to portugal…

so there was the distance thing – that, and who can remember where i went and what i did 8+ weeks ago? but in the name of blogging and my own personal sanity, i am going to try and recreate the 5 days. it may be a struggle, but as of late i’ve taken to doing brain-challenger exercises so that i can perhaps put off the alzheimers for a little while longer. i even went so far as to download a few of the ‘brain apps’ on my iphone, and now i sit around trying to exercise my brain – which on the upside only requires sitting, even laying down! all this to say, that between google, credit card records and my newly toned brain – i’m going to seriously try and figure out where i went…

i worked the rate at the W to where they were almost paying us to stay there… i’m such a good jew

our first day, we walked from our hotel way up to stumptown on capitol hill and had a pretty exquisite cup of coffee. i realize stumptown hails from portland, but regardless of seattle’s own coffee reputation – we were highly impressed with this place. from there we hopped on the bus to the international district and went to green leaf vietnamese restaurant.

one of a few of the stumptown’s in seattle. great coffee. seriously. go there if you can…

iphone camera alert !!! spring rolls along with a cabbage chicken salad – excellent…

pho – best i’ve ever had

the owner, a tall, handsome chinese guy, sent out these banana fritters in a pool of rich sweet coconut milk. we bonded as we’re both batali fans.

and from there the trip looked just like this…

friday – pike place market, a prius rental car, and a tour of the boeing plant, then dinner at monsoon

saturday – belle epicurean for croissants, café presse for lunch, gehry’s experience music project, vivace espresso, zig zag cafe for cocktails, nishino for dinner

sunday – pizza at serious pie, ferry to bainbridge island, tavern law for drinks and dinner at lark where i met nancy silverton, crashed her party and gushed all over her. she could not have been lovelier.

monday – lunch at long provincial vietnamese and then we flew home

below are a bunch of random shots. i didn’t take many, but as you know i’ve never been afraid to post a poor photograph on ceF – because i am a maverick.

just some of the flowers at pike place market

the seafood and produce were memorable…

an exceptionally good almond croissant from belle epicurean, just a block from the W

my other car is a llama

yasuko’s flaunts their world famous ‘extra pork’ dish – who knew?

serious pie – yukon gold potato, rosemary and olive oil

pesto, something and something

no idea – but it was great pizza…

in the bathroom at lark, ever so slightly wasted – garnering up the nerve to meet…

my new bff nancy silverton!

and lastly, out on the water on a clear blue sky seattle kinda day.

a huge thank you to brittany, the pie lady, for her various and sundry thoughtful recommendations. and to dolce & nutella who i FINALLY got to meet! and well, she is very cool, really pretty and smart and overall extremely impressive… and i wish she didn’t live on the other side of the continent/universe.

but especially a huge thanks to our wonderful friends joanna and brad who schlepped us all over town and then some. i dearly love and adore you both.

…seattle is far.