John and Jill Went Up The Hill …… An Italian Dinner

Italian Dinner

John and Jill came up from Atlanta to visit for the weekend. We had hoped to be able to grill and eat outside with them, but the weather was rainy and cold, so that option went out the window. Instead, Sherry prepared a variety of meals that fit well with the weather.

Sherry prepared a salad Nicoise for lunch, which required that I grill some crushed salt-and-peppered tuna steaks. While I prepared the tuna (rare, of course), Sherry set up a plate with Boston lettuce, pitted kalamata olives, sliced hard-boiled eggs, steamed green beans, roasted and quartered baby red potatoes, and cherry tomatoes, all coated with a Vidalia Onion-balsamic vinegar dressing. It was a wonderful and filling lunch.

For Dinner, Sherry prepared an Eggplant Napoleon, Chicken Marsala, while I made a Lemon Risotto. The risotto is flavored with the juice from a cut, squeezed lemon, 2 Tbsp. limoncello, and 1 Tbsp. cardamom. The meal was exotic and tasty!

EGGPLANT NAPOLEON (see photo)

1 eggplant, sliced laterally in ½ inch slices
4 portobello mushroom caps
2 large tomatoes, sliced into ½ inch thick slices
1 ball mozzarella, sliced into ½ inch slices
Pesto
Rosemary sprigs
Balsamic glaze

1. Grill the eggplant and mushroom caps. Set aside.
2. Prepare a stack of a mushroom cap on the bottom, then a slice of mozzarella, eggplant, tomato, pesto, eggplant, mozzarella, etc.
3. Hold the napoleon together with a rosemary sprig.
4. Decorate with balsamic glaze

To work off the dinner, we climbed to the top of King’s Pinnacle at Crowder’s Mountain State Park in Gastonia, NC.

TUNA PUTTANESCA

One of the marvelous surprises about living in Charlotte is the availability of high-quality tuna. There is just not a lot of diversity in fish selection at the markets. Salmon fillets (never steaks), tilapia, catfish, mahi mahi are the regulars in fish cases. But the tuna is always fresh and translucent, and can always be counted on for quality.

We had decided to buy some tuna and sear it on the grill. The rains from the past two days had ended, the sun had come out, the temperature was 46 degrees, so it seemed to be a way to celebrate outdoor weather again. But how should we accompany the tuna? Asian, Caribbean, something else? So Sherry decided to make her homemade puttanesca sauce, and serve the seared tuna over rotini.

1 tuna steak, about ¾ to 1 pound, 1 inch thick

Sauce:
Olive oil
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 small onion chopped
1 pint grape tomatoes, chopped
Red pepper flakes
Optional: urfa biber (Turkish chili pepper)
1 tin anchovies, chopped
½ cup kalamata olives, whole or cut in half
1 Tbsp. capers
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped (ok to add oil)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
¼ cup red wine

1. Add olive oil to coat bottom of saucepan.
2. Saute garlic and onion in saucepan until onion is soft
3. Add tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy
4. Add remaining ingredients, and cook on low to medium heat until sauce is thick, about 10-15 minutes

Grill tuna until seared and rare in middle, about 3 minutes per side

Place pasta on plate. Add tuna piece. Pour sauce over tuna. Serve with shredded parmesan cheese.

SKATE WINGS

We have a wonderful fish store near us - Clean Catch Fish Market - that has great and exotic selections, as well as the freshest fish we've had in Charlotte. Last week, we found they it carried skate wings. We were up for adventure, so we bought some and followed the fishmonger's directions for cooking it.

Basic recipe

12 oz skate wing (for 2 persons)

The skate is first breaded with some corn meal, then pan sauteed in olive oil - three minutes on one side, until slightly browned, and then flipped over for a few more minutes until cooked through.

Remove the skate to a platter. Add to the pan some minced garlic, a minced shallot, herbs de Provence (or similar herbs) and cook until soft. Add some white wine and swirl until all ingredients are mixed and form a sauce.

Divide the skate wing into individual portions, pour the sauce over it, and serve immediately.

POST THANKSGIVING SOUPS

The highlight of any post-Thanksgiving meal is the opportunity to make soup out of the turkey carcass. So many choices, so little time. This year, we decided to make a Portuguese-style soup, with Kale, White beans and spicy sausage. Usually I use chorizo or linguica, but I decided to use spicy turkey sausage instead.

TURKEY SOUP WITH KALE, WHITE BEANS AND SPICY SAUSAGES

1 turkey carcass (left over from Thanksgiving), broken up to fit in a stockpot

Water to cover

3 Tbsp. chicken soup powder

1 large onion, peeled

1 bunch kale, cleans and chopped

2 cans cannelli beans, drained

5 spicy sausages, sliced and cooked in saucepan until cooked through

1 tsp coriander

Ground pepper, to taste

Place in stockpot. Bring to boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove bones and strip off meat. Add to pot and discard bones.

Add kale, sausages, cannelli beans. Cook at low heat for 15 minutes. Serve.

Since we ended up with excess sweet potatoes (like a dozen extra), Sherry made a sweet potato soup, which lasted us the rest of the week.

SWEET POTATO SOUP

Ingredients:

5 sweet potatoes

4 cans chicken stock

1 bunch swiss chard

1 Tbsp. chopped garlic

Olive oil

1 package lamb/duck/andouille sausages, sliced

1. Cut 4 sweet potatoes into small chunks.

2. Add 3 cans of chicken stock to stockpot. Add sweet potatoes, bring to boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until soft.

3. In separate saucepan, sauté 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic in olive oil. Add one bunch chopped swiss chard (thoroughly washed of dirt) and sauté until wilted.

4. In another saucepan, add sliced duck/lamb/andouille sausages and cook until cooked through.

5. When sweet potatoes are soft, puree in blender. Return to pot. Add chard and sausages. Add ½ tsp nutmeg, mace, coriander, cardamom.

6. Serve!!!!

THANKSGIVING...FINALLY!

We planned Thanksgiving dinner around Turkey with Sherry's Stuffing, made from whole wheat bread and Challah, garlic mashed potatoes, gingered sweet potatoes, homemade Orange-Port cranberry sauce, and roasted vegetables. We have traditionally roasted carrots, parsnips and rutabaga (parsnips were my dad’s favorite vegetable for Thanksgiving). This year, we roasted our new favorite – Brussels sprouts (cut in half, coated with Kosher salt and olive oil, roasted at 400 until well done).

Margot decided to cook a “No-Knead” bread (we apparently needed the bread), and a spicy Sweet Potato casserole. The recipe for the No-Knead bread follows; unfortunately, the recipe for the casserole is still with the US Patent office, being trademarked.

For dessert, Hillary made her favorite – Grandma’s Passover Apple Pie. Yes, we know it was the wrong holiday, but both are about giving Thanks (and it was a great dish to finish the day).

Before, during, and after dinner, we drank up some of the vintage Rosenblum Cellars wines we’ve collected as part of our long love affair with Kent’s creations, including the 1981 Cohn Cabernet which one the first wine we tasted with Kent in 1983. The 1987 and 1988 Holbrook Mitchell Cabernet and Merlot were still superb wines, and made this a very special Thanksgiving.

No-Knead Bread

Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450°F. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

THANKSGIVING ... AND THEN SOME

We love Thanksgiving. No other way to say it. A mix of the traditional and new dishes, it’s a holiday that brings out the best in cooks. You can cook the same easy-to-make foods and have a feast, or you can choose to spice up the basics with a dish that works in a supporting role, allowing the participants to sample the dishes as part of the overall offering. We chose to do both.

Every Thanksgiving, the kids want me to make Sweet Potato Biscuits. Easy to make, tasty to eat, I get up early in the morning and make them so that they are hot when everyone else wakes. The smell of biscuits in the house is the first aphrodisiac of the day! They can be formed using a cookie cutter, or drop the batter onto a baking dish – comes out great every time. What other dish can you have to start off the day, and with your main dinner?

SWEET POTATO BISCUITS

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

¼ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, melted

1 1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes (microwave 3 sweet potatoes until soft)

1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Mix in the melted butter. Mix in the sweet potatoes, and enough of the milk to make a soft dough.

3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and roll or pat out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into circles using a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass. Place biscuits 1 inch apart onto a greased baking sheet.

4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

THANKSGIVING – BEFORE AND AFTER

Thanksgiving with the family turned out to really be three separate events: partying with Margot and Jonathan, cooking with the kids, and post-Thanksgiving feasting, where we use up all of the extras that we bought and weren’t able to use. You say, “How could you end up with extra food after Thanksgiving??” I’ll tell you later.

Our first part of the festivities began on Sunday. Margot and Jonathan had flown in from Seattle, and had a couple of friends from Asheville they wanted to see. But with schedules and jet lag, we decided to host them at our house (a/k/a “the B&B”) instead. We had some dietary preferences to maneuver around – no eggplant, and not anything too spicy. Of course, that’s half our repertoire, but leave it to Sherry to come up with a wonderful plan: Pork Chops with Chorizo stuffing and a red wine-marsala sauce, served with cheesy polenta. Special!!!

Pork Chops with Chorizo Stuffing

Ingredients

1. One package spicy chorizo
2. 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3. 1 package sliced white mushrooms
4. Salt and freshly ground pepper
5. 2 medium leeks, white and tender green parts only, very thinly sliced crosswise
6. 1 1/2 packed cups baby spinach
7. 1/4 cup coarsely shredded young pecorino cheese, such as Pecorino Toscano
8. Four 1-pound thick pork chops, cut 1 1/2 inches thick
9. 1/2 cup red wine
10. 1/4 cup dry Marsala
11. 1/2 cup chicken stock
12. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Add the chorizo and simmer over low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chorizo to a plate and let cool. Thinly slice the chorizo crosswise, then coarsely chop it.
2. In a medium skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the mushrooms in a single layer, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat until browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Add the leeks, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the spinach and stir just until wilted. Transfer the stuffing to a bowl and let cool slightly. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper.
3. Using a thin, sharp knife, cut a pocket in each pork chop: Insert the blade 2 inches into the center of the chop, cutting horizontally from one side to the other without cutting completely through. Generously fill the chops with the stuffing and secure the openings by threading them closed with bamboo skewers. Break off the ends of the skewers that protrude from the meat.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in each of 2 large skillets. Season the chops with salt and pepper. Cook 2 chops in each skillet over moderately high heat, turning once, until nicely browned, about 9 minutes. Transfer the skillets to the top and bottom racks of the oven and roast the chops for 5 minutes. Turn the chops, switch the pans between racks and roast for 5 minutes longer, or until just pink. Transfer the chops to a warmed platter.
5. Pour off the fat from each skillet and set the skillets over moderate heat. Add half of the red wine to each skillet and scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Pour the wine from one skillet into the other and simmer for 1 minute. Add the Marsala and stock and simmer until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and season the sauce with salt and pepper.Remove the skewers from the meat. Spoon the pan sauce on top and serve with Polenta.

Polenta

1 cup corn meal

1 cup chicken stock

4 cups chicken stock

½ cup grated parmesan or romano cheese

1. Mix 1 cup corn meal and 1 cup chicken stock together in bowl.

2. Bring 4 cups chicken stock to boil in saucepan. Stir in corn meal/stock mixture, reduce heat to medium and cook 5-10 minutes, until thickened.

3. Remove from heat and stir in grated cheese. Serve.