My (Weekday) Morning Java

Last summer I got a Keurig coffee brewer for the office.  I hated making an entire pot of coffee and having so much left over if I was the only one drinking it.  And I also hated whiny people complaining that we didn't have any decaf - so we'd have to make a pot for them.  Screw that, coffee has caffeine - deal with it.

So enter the new coffee maker.  I buy these cute little "K-cups" that are available in all kinds of different brews by all kinds of different coffee producers (including Seattle's Best...Caribou...and lots more).  I've been pretty pleased with Tully's brand - especially this Italian roast.  It perks me up in the mornings - exactly what I need in this office!

And fyi - during the weekends I still usually have a cup of coffee each morning.  However I always have some fresh roasted beans on hand, that I grind right before use, and I always use my french press.  French press coffee at home = weekend to me.  :)

Reuben - of sorts

Last night I was craving something comforting for dinner.  Not sure why an open-faced Reuben came to mind, but it did.  Sadly, in my search for the perfect ingredients, I found fault with Whole Foods.  *GASP*  Their meat/deli section (not to be confused with their butcher section) is sorely lacking - unless you want 3 different kinds of prosciutto, that is.  The guy behind the counter looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for Corned Beef.  And when I then said "do you have Pastrami" he pulled out turkey pastrami.  I almost told him to forget about it, but then decided I'd use it on the sandwich anyway.  Another employee pointed me to the packaged meats, and said I could find what I needed there.  Alas, what I really wanted was some thinly sliced tongue...funny, I had a moment where I was missing Katzinger's Deli in Columbus, Ohio.

So I took my pre-packaged pastrami, corned beef, and my sliced turkey pastrami home (along with some rye bread, thousand island dressing, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese) to make my comforting open-face sandwich.  Easy enough - I layered some of the dressing onto 4 slices of bread, then piled all three types of meat in a perfect little mound.  On top of that, a pile of sauerkraut, and finally a couple of slices of cheese. 

I had the oven on for the crinkle cut french fries I picked up (I told you, I wanted COMFORT), so I popped the sandwiches into the oven for about 10 minutes at 375. 

Exactly the meal I was craving last night!

Steamed Mussels, Clams & Cockles

Last night had a bit of inspiration - I was thinking of more ways to use the Bottarga I recently bought, and started thinking of some flavors that it would enhance.  Shellfish popped into my mind...and saffron.  So off to Whole Foods for some huge and gorgeous Littleneck Clams, petite and delicious Cockles (I cleaned them out), and Mussels (I can't think of any adjectives for Mussels...):

Next challenge was figuring out the broth.  I knew I would cut up some Bottarga, throw in some saffron, and I got some white wine.  That left adding some shallot, garlic, butter and red pepper flakes.  And while I LOVE seafood, there is something other-wordly about the broth after steaming open some beauties like the ones pictured above.  They release the most amazing flavor of the sea, and my favorite part is tearing some bread, dunking it in the broth and devouring it.  To be honest, it was a pretty primal meal eaten only with our hands.  I showed my husband, Keith, how to use one half of the shell to pull the meat off of the other half of the shell.  Nothing sexier than getting down and dirty with your food - juices dripping, tearing into the bread, the sweet & delicious meat of the shellfish...whew, somebody stop me.  Needless to say, it was fantastic.  And while I chopped up some Bottarga to go into the broth (little orange chunks in the photos), I also grated some over the top before pouring the broth into each of our bowls.

Ingredients
1 bag Mussels
1 dozen Littleneck clams
1 pound Cockles clams
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, chopped
5 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
Large pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon of saffron
1 tablespoon Bottarga, chopped (some reserved for grating)
2 cups white wine (you could substitute fish stock or just water if you want)
[Parsley would be a great addition to this - I just forgot to buy some!]

First - you need to clean the shellfish.  If this is familiar to you - skip ahead to the next paragraph!  :)  Fill a big bowl with 1/3 cup salt and about a gallon of cold water, and put all of the clams (littleneck and cockle) into the bowl.  Let them sit for about 15 minutes.  Empty the water, and then fill the bowl again with fresh brine (same quantities), and let them sit for another 15 minutes.  Since they're alive, this will encourage them to flush out their systems, getting rid of any grit and sand they might be holding on to inside.  Scrub each one clean and put aside.  Mussels are relatively easy - scrub the outside of each, and make sure to pull off any burrs that might be still attached.

In a big pot, melt the butter into the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Throw in the shallot, garlic, saffron, red pepper flakes and chopped Bottarga.  Cook this for 2-3 minutes until everything starts to soften.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Pour in the wine, raise the heat, and bring to a boil.  While boiling away, gently plop in the large littleneck clams - mine were HUGE and I guessed they would need about 8-9 minutes to cook.  Cover the pot to start these clams cooking.  When there is about 3 minutes left, throw in the mussels and the cockles (they take very little time), cover again to continue steaming.  Uncover, and check to make sure that all the shellfish have opened - if a number of them are still closed, cover for another minute or so.

Place the clams and mussels in a bowl, and grate Bottarga over top.  Then spoon the broth into your bowl(s) and enjoy.  And for the love of god, don't forget crusty bread to dip in that broth!!

Spinach Gratin

I saw this recipe posted at one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  I decided it would be a lovely side dish last night, so I set out to make a Spinach Gratin.  The recipe according to SK calls for 3 pounds of spinach.  Well, I'm all about flavor - and I didn't want to pull out my MEGA pot to house all 3 pounds, AND it was a side dish for 2...so I cut it to 1 pound (got a lovely pre-washed container of baby spinach).  However, I kept all the other measurements the same, and I separated it into 2 gratin dishes for the baking at the end.  PERFECT!

Here's the spinach after cooking/wilting it down, shocking it, and then squeeeeeezing the water out:

And here's the mixture right before I added the topping and threw it in the oven.

Finished product:

Recipe (with my changes - makes 2 servings):

Ingredients
1 pound fresh spinach, stemmed & washed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt & pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cup chicken stock (stock is up to you, vegetable would work fine)
3/4 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

Stem & wash your spinach, but no need to spin dry.  In fact, you want a little residual water on the spinach.  If you buy pre-washed like I did, just sprinkle it with a generous amount of water.  Get your pot over high heat, and place the spinach in.  Cook, stirring often, for about 2 - 4 minutes for baby spinach (more for regular spinach) until all the leaves are wilted.  Pull spinach out and place in a bowl full of cold water to shock it, and stop the cooking process.  Drain the water away, and squeeze handfuls of spinach to drain as much water as you can.  Chop all the spinach roughly.

Dry the pot, and melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat.  Stir in the spinach, and cook for about 3 minutes until most of the moisture has cooked away.  Lower the heat to medium, and sprinkle in the flour, stirring constantly.  Cook this for about 2 minutes to get rid of the flour flavor, and then begin adding the stock.  Stir in a little of the liquid at a time to fully incorporate it.  As you add the last of the stock, add another tablespoon of butter.  At this point, season with salt & pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly butter two gratin dishes (or shallow, oven-safe dishes).  Stir 1/2 cup cheese into the spinach mixture and combine thoroughly.  Separate this mixture into the two gratin dishes evenly.  You can either place 1/2 tablespoon of butter in each dish at this point, or melt the full remaining tablespoon and pour 1/2 over each.  Combine the remaining cheese with the breadcrumbs, and then layer this out over the top of each dish.  Bake for 22 - 26 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.

Discovery Wines

My favorite wine shop near my office in the East Village has to be Discovery Wines.  The atmosphere is great, inviting, and encouraging for even those who know nothing of wine.  The owner is extremely helpful and friendly (for instance, I once said "I want a meaty white wine that I can eat with a steak" and he knew the perfect one for me to try).

So when I started formulating my dinner for tonight and realized I needed white wine (clams & mussels in a broth of white wine, shallots, garlic, rosemary, butter, saffron and...yes...Bottarga) I knew I had to head over to the wine shop.  And one of my favorite go-to whites is always readily available there:

Braised Pork Shoulder

My chef muse for the last couple of months has undoubtedly been Mario Batali.  I have been watching reruns of his old show Molto Mario on the Cooking Channel (NOT Food Network, mind you).  His style is sophisticated yet simple and speaks to me as a cook - and admittedly I tend to mix in Jamie Oliver's flair for rustic cooking as well.  A month or so ago, I made a great braised pork shoulder from one of Mario's recipes (a la "The Black Rooster").  Last night, I ran with it and did my own thing.

I had a 5 -6 pound piece of pork shoulder all ready to go.  However because I was braising it and not roasting it, I cut off the skin.  When I roast a pork shoulder, I leave that skin on so it gets all crispy and cracklin'!  I decided I wanted a tomato-based braising liquid, and then it was just a matter of figuring out the rest of the flavor profile of the dish. 

If I'm making a tomato-based sauce (specifically a marinara or pasta sauce), there is nothing sexier than pairing carrot with the tomato.  I always either shred or chop up some carrot for a tomato sauce - it adds such a wonderful root vegetable sweetness.  So carrot was on the menu.  And then I had a moment of Mario inspiration and grabbed some fennel (widely used in regions of Italy - something I didn't know until watching those reruns of Molto Mario).  I used both the entire bulb and a good portion of the fennel frond in the dish, and reserved some of the frond to sprinkle over the dish at the end.

And an homage to the dish I made a month ago, I grabbed some smoked bacon and sage.  The whole thing was going to be rounded out with an onion, some garlic, and peeled, canned tomatoes.  It turned out great - perfectly warm, rich and comforting for a Sunday evening.

Ingredients
1 4-6 pound pork shoulder, whole, skin removed
3-4 thick slices smoked bacon (pancetta would have worked perfectly!), chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 bulb fennel (bulb chopped, fronds shredded by hand)
1 white onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
8 sage leaves, roughly torn by hand
1 can whole, peeled tomatoes in sauce/puree
2 cups basic tomato sauce
1 large pinch red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons good vinegar (I actually used Apple Cider and it was great, White Wine would work good)

Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven (or your favorite pot with a lid) - a relatively high heat works good.  Throw in the chopped bacon and let the fat render off until the bacon begins to get crispy.  Toss in the garlic and stir around so that all the oil & fat gets flavored appropriately.  Just as the garlic begins to brown slightly, it's time to brown the meat.  Make sure you have seasoned the pork shoulder with salt & pepper on both sides, then into the fire.  Sear it - don't be afraid of the heat - it should be golden brown on each side to ensure the best flavor at the end.  Once browned, remove the pork and set aside.

Lower to medium-high heat, and if necessary, add another tablespoon of olive oil, and then toss in the chopped fennel bulb, onion and carrot.  Sprinkle with salt to start them all breaking down, stirring off an on for about 5-6 minutes.  They should begin to soften, at this point, throw in the sage, fennel frond and parsley (leave 1/4 fennel frond & parsley for garnish at the end).  Make sure everything is incorporated, and then add the tomatoes - squeeze each one by hand and roughly tear it apart before dropping into the pot.  Pour in the sauce from the canned tomatoes, and add the 2 cups of basic tomato sauce (always a good idea to season whenever you add tomatoes - salt is such a good friend to tomatoes!).  Add the red pepper flakes and vinegar, and bring to a bubble.

Once the tomato mixture is bubbling, put the pork back into the dish.  Make sure to push it down in so that the liquid is nearly covering it - if there isn't enough liquid, you can either add more tomato sauce or some water.  Lower the temperature, put the lid on, and let it cook for 2 hours.  I did turn my pork once at the hour mark, but that isn't absolutely necessary.

After 2 hours of cooking, pull out the meat (mine came apart wonderfully).  Pile the meat into the center of the plate, and then spoon the tomato mixture with all the vegetables all around it.  Sprinkle with fennel fronds and parsley, and splash a little bit of olive oil over the top and serve.

Mint & Elderflower

I had a sudden realization while shopping for dinner supplies yesterday that the Elderflower Cordial in my refrigerator would be lovingly enhanced with a hit of mint.  So, bunch of mint in hand, it was time for a martini.  I do love Grey Goose - and it goes exceptionally well with the Elderflower Cordial.  So I piled some ice into my shaker, and threw in a small handful of fresh mint leaves (probably 8 or so...I wanted it to be MINTY).  4 parts vodka, 1/2 part Elderflower Cordial (really, a little goes a long way).  And then I shook the hell out of it - I really wanted to bash up the mint to release the oil & flavor.  Boy howdy did I ever bash it up - I poured the liquid out and there beautiful bits of mint all broken up and floating around.  I then topped the martini with one fresh mint leaf.  Delicious!

Bottarga for miles

A little Bottarga goes a long way.  A long, long way.  I have a TON of it left, so I'll be scrambling to figure out how I can use every single last piece of it.  But in the meantime - yesterday I needed a snack since the dinner I was cooking needed to braise for 2 hours.  So I got some sesame crackers and piled some thick slices of havarti on some and baby swiss on some others.  But what made this oh-so-much more than just your run-of-the-mill cheese & crackers was the dusting of grated Bottarga over top.  It added just the right OOMPH!!