A Southern, Italian Menu

Red-neck Italian



One of my favorite bloggers is Amy Glaze whose blog is named Ms. Glaze's Pommes d'Amour. She's a classically trained chef who's worked in some of the best restaurants in Paris and New York. And I love reading her eyes-inside posts about the cheffing game. They're as much fun as Kitchen Confidential to read and much more immediate as befits a blog. Over the last three or four years I've developed a great affection for her. And that she's cute as button doesn't hurt. That she calls me "chef" doesn't either.

Anyway, she's moving to San Francisco to take charge as supreme chef of a restaurant named Le Club. She's driving there in a rental truck with another chef named Eric and all her possessions from NYC. Having wisely (given the time of year) chosen the Southern route, she asked if any of her readers who were on the way wanted to put her up. I immediately raised one hand while quickly scribbling menu ideas with the other.

The closest I've ever gotten to working a line is my first job as a pizza cook at Shakey's Pizza Parlor.

Let's back up a tad. I'm not in any sense a chef — nor do I claim to be except when it makes my clients happy. I simply cook for a living. I've been cooking since I was six years old (50 years, now) and for the past six years I've made my living from cooking. But although I've studied cooking in books and magazines, the closest I've ever gotten to working a line is my first job as a pizza cook at Shakey's Pizza Parlor. I have less formal training than Michael Ruhlman, a writer, and less actual experience on a line than your average cook at Waffle House.

There is a large degree of brashness in someone like me cooking for Ms Glaze. Much more so than a home cook offering what they serve their families every night. After all, I make pretensions about my abilities and when called "chef" I seldom demure the honorific. I offer advice on things like best meat cuts or mise en place. But a genuine chef? No. Nevertheless I've been reading her blog for a few years and I think I know her tastes so as soon as she said she was coming I knew the main dish I wanted to make her, and then everything else fell into place.

I didn't want to spend time in the kitchen while they were here and I didn't know when they'd arrive so it had to cooked in advance or be ready in minutes. I wanted to reflect both my primary culinary roots (the South) and primary culinary influences (the Mediterranean). I ended up with Red-neck Italian.

I planned to begin with a bowl of Cece Fritos — fried beans — as something to munch on during a brief unwinding with a glass of wine. After all, beans? Fried? Italian recipe? Oh yeah.

Then for a main course Arrosto di Maiale al Latte. This is a purely Italian recipe for pork roast braised in milk. A truly marvelous dish that can hold in an oven for a couple of hours and just get better. But we're talking slow-cooked pork in what becomes a cream gravy. If more Southerners knew about it would be more popular than biscuits and gravy. Except they'd keep the biscuits.

But instead of biscuits I decided to serve it on fried medallions of grits. Grits are the Southern progenitor of polenta and I could make them the day before and fry them up at the last minute. Some provolone and a pinch of nutmeg gives the grits Italian savor and the medallions add a lovely crispy/creamy texture and a bit of height to the presentation.

So what else? Greens. Turnip, specifically. They're in-season, highly Southern, nicely but not overly bitter (so a good foil to the pork), and I have a wonderful Italian recipe for sautéed broccoli raab (olive oil, garlic, anchovies, pine nuts) that would suit the turnips just fine.

But what for dessert? This one I had to think about. Dessert isn't one of my strengths. But I settled on an apple crisp touched with chipotle and topped with sherried mascarpone.

A good menu. Red-neck. Italian. It could be made in advance and served at a moment's notice. Perfect. But Amy didn't make it.

She and her driving companion made a wrong turn in southern Virginia. I know exactly where it happened and how because I've made that same wrong turn. I saw my mistake within 30 minutes, but I knew where I was going. Amy ended up in Charlotte before realizing the error. So she and Eric didn't make it.

I had my neighbor over for dinner the next night to help me eat it. I was happy with the results. The particular menu was designed, as I said, to give Amy a taste of my cooking, but the truth is there was nothing special in it. No big deal. Nevertheless I wish it had been Amy and Eric I fed instead of Richard, my neighbor. It was food for friends and family and Richard told me several times to thank Amy for getting lost.

(For Amy's tale, go here.)

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Valentine's Menu

Please be Mine



Last year Valentine's Day was the big event on my About.com web site, Cooking for Two. The week before I had more hits than either the week before Thanksgiving or the week before Christmas. Not too surprising I suppose, even childless couples are more likely to spend those two holidays with family, but Valentine's Day is made for two. In the hope that this year will prove to be the same I've devoted a good deal of attention to it and I figured, while I was at it, that I'd provide a V'day menu here as well.

Because the Saint Valentine on whom the holiday is probably based (there were actually two or three Saint Valentines) was likely Turkish, I thought an Eastern Mediterranean menu would be appropriate, beginning with Fried Chick Peas.

Fried Chick Peas: I first had these in Italy and developed my recipe based on that experience, but chick peas are beloved throughout the eastern medierranean and I've since learned that similar recipes are popular in Turkey and Lebanon (and likely other areas). You can make these up in advance as they're good even a day later, but they're so quick and easy I prefer making them just before eating them. Note: They would be delicious with a dry sparkling wine.

Veal with Feta Cheese Sauce: I developed this recipe one night after cooking a cooking glass on Veal with Artichokes. I had a couple of veal scalopini left over but was out of marinated artichokes, so I tried making a feta cheese sauce. It was excellent, particularly served over pasta. This would be equally good made with chicken cutlets if you don't eat or can't find veal.

Glazed Carrots: Tese carrots are first steamed, and then glazed in butter, lemon juice, and mint. It's a very Mediterranean flavor combination and, you might consider adding a pinch of cumin or ground coriander to the pan. Besides, the bright orange carrots and green mint are gorgeous on a plate and you want to think about plating on special occasions.

Green Beans with Anchovies: This recipe is actually an adaptation of an Italian recipe for broccoli raab. But it works beautifully for green beans as well and because the umami in the anchovies enhances the other savory flavors on the plate as well as the beans they make a great general addition to the meal. And if beans don't appeal, the raab is really excellent and for that matter so is spinach.

Key Lime Mousse: This light, refreshing mousse would make an excellent ending to this meal. After the salt of the feta, and savor of the pancetta and anchovies a cool, refreshing, creamy mousse is hard to beat. If you can't find key limes, Persian limes also work. A tip on juicing key limes, cut them in half and then use a garlic press to squeeze out the juice.

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Christmas Menu 2009

A Different Take on Christmas



I got an email a week or so a go from someone telling me they decided to have fondue for Christmas dinner. They were tired of the over-the-top production that goes along with most Christmas feasts and just wanted to have a simple but exceptional meal and had settled on fondue.

Fondue is indeed a simple meal — you melt cheese in wine and then dunk bread in it. Which is not to say in any way that it is simple in flavor and satisfaction. But for me it's not an exceptional meal as I can't imagine getting through the winter without making at least one and usually two batches of it. For me an exceptional meal is one I've never made before or it I have it was some years ago.

Fondue isn't an exceptional meal as I can't imagine getting through the winter without making at least one and usually two batches of it.

But I like the man's attitude and agree with him completely, fondue is an excellent Christmas dinner — especially if there are only four people to serve. So I got to thinking — how might I make this dish that I consider essentially comfort food exceptional? I'm not sure if this menu is quite there yet, but it's damned close. The flavors and tastes all work together, it makes a festive looking plate, and it's only 30 minutes work for a dish that most people find exotic.

Note, this a feast of nibbles. The fondue is in the center, but is greatly enriched by the other little munchies around it.

Fondue: This is a traditional cheese fondue. A blend of Gruyere and Emmentaler give it a definite edge, tossing the cheese in flour and shaking off the excess provides exactly the right thickening/binding at exactly the right moment, and sauvignon blanc comes close to the acidity of the Swiss wines typically used. Stay away from corn starch - it ruins the texture. And the kirschwasser is served separately - for dunking

Beet Salad: These luscious beets are equally good served cold (as I would do in this meal) but use olive oil instead of butter. I'd go for red beets (if I can't find the peppermint-striped beets) but golden beets would also be pretty on the plate - cook the beets a day early. As a cold beet salad, toss some mesclun with chilled beets before serving. Red and green — hey it's Christmas!

Prosciutto-wrapped Clementines: Yep. That's all there is to it. Peel a half dozen clementines, wrap them in a shred of proscuiutto, and serve. The sweet-tartness of the clementines is a perfect foil for the savory-saltiness of the ham. On the plate you've got more red and some orange. Jeez this is getting festive. Hmmm, what next?

Deviled Eggs: I wanted to bring something slightly bitter in at this point and casting about in my mind I found dill, which is mildly bitter. I also adore deviled eggs andI'm quite capable of eating half a dozen at once — so I don't make them very often. But I usually at a good bit of fresh dill to my deviled eggs and I thought they would be delicious with fondue.

Poached Pears: Finish the night with a dessert as simple as the rest of the meal. Pears Poached in red wine. Pears are almost out of season, but a little searching can still turn up some good ones. One of my favorite recipes is this one. Use Madeira for a red color and I like serving it with mascarpone on the side.

Technorati: Food | recipe collection | kevin d weeks | seriously good | menu | Christmas

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