Tonight's Dinner

A tasty dinner tonight for ASK's 42nd. The choice of veggies for the bagna cauda noteworthy: fennel, radish, baby carrots and red endive. Using top quality EVOO for the apple salad paid off.

bagna cauda

san daniele & apple salad

lasagnette pesto

osso bucco & risotto milanese

chopped treviso & rucola

bosina & truffle-rosemary honey

michelle's lemon tart

Sausage & Taleggio Risotto

It's rare that I don't peek at the Arbutus menu walking down Frith Street on the way to work every morning. Right about this time of year, Anthony Demetre's taleggio and radicchio risotto appears on the menu, which I reproduced tonight. The cold weather tempted me to add one more delicious ingredient: Sienese sausage. I think it worked very well.

1 red onion

3 cloves garlic

3 small Sienese sausages (Camisa has good ones)

half small radicchio, cut into smallish pieces- not shredded

2 cups risotto (use carnaroli for more creaminess)

1-2 glasses red wine

home-made chicken stock

200 gr taleggio

parmesan

S&P

1-2 tblsp butter

1. saute onions and garlic in EVOO and a bit of butter
2. remove sausages from their casings and crumble into small pieces
3. once onions and garlic are soft, add sausage; break up as it's cooking; once sausage is all crumbled, let it saute further until it begins to brown (can leave for a few minutes at a time); every few minutes mix so that sausage can brown all over
4. by this time you will have lots of goodness forming on the bottom of the pan; add radicchio and let saute for a few minutes; then rice and stir for a couple minutes until well-coated
5. add wine, scrape the goodness from the bottom of the pan, let evaporate a bit
6. begin to add ladlefuls of stock until rice is al dente, seasoning as you go; add just a bit more broth at the end, along with the cheese and butter, then cover for a few minutes before serving
7. hopefully there will be a nice creaminess to the risotto, which you can top with a bit of grated parmesan, more S&P if needed

Silky Pasta Dough

Making note of the flour and egg quantities that yielded a very elastic and beautifully-colored pasta dough last night. Will use this post to add variations of these ingredients/quantities over time depending on the recipe at hand. Using orange yolk (color of blogger logo) only!

1 3/4 cup "00" flour
1 whole egg
5 egg yolks

pinch of salt

Aglio Olio Davide

There are so many versions of this, but this has come to be my own and favorite. The green chili is the trick, although just a little. I think butter also makes a world of difference (you can sneak it in and no one will know why it tastes so good!). Spaghettini versus spaghetti also key.

half pack spaghettini (225 gr)

4 garlic cloves

1 red chili

1/4 green chili

2 pinches freshly ground black pepper

1 pinch piment d'espelette

maldon sea salt

good quality EVOO

1.5 tblsp butter

big handful chopped parsley

1. slice garlic cloves thinly and length wise
2. chop red chili but only 2/3 way up (stop when there are too many seeds); chop the smaller quantity of green chili
3. saute chili and garlic in EVOO
4. boil pasta about 5 minutes, drain well & add to pan with chili and garlic
5. add butter, parsley, black pepper, piment d'espelette, salt to taste
6. make sure everyone is at the table, serve immediately in warmed shallow bowls

Pan-Fried Skate & Hazelnut

A really fun tapa (maybe from Melbourne's Movida?). Just plop it in the middle of a table and let your guests dig in.

1 kg skinless skate

flour to coat

EVOO

butter

capers

175 gr of roughly chopped hazelnuts

parsley

maldon sea salt

juice of two lemons (or less depending on taste)

1 lemon cut into wedges

1. preheat oven 180 degrees
2. lightly coat fish with flour and salt
3. heat EVOO, fry skate until golden all over, about a minute each side
4. season with salt while cooking
5. put pan in oven for 8 minutes until cooked through
6. transfer fish to a warm plate, cover with paper towel
7. remove remaining oil from pan, turn up heat and reduce the lemon juice a bit scraping all the goodness from the pan, poor over fish, sprinkle parsley over the whole lot and serve with lemon wedges on the side

Tequila & Sangrita

A napkin scribble from a rickety old bar in lovely Puebla ten years ago! I remember the barman meticulously going through the ingredients with me as we shared a few shots. It was the first I heard of sangrita, something I think perfectly embodies the flavors of Mexico. A good tequila--according to my host and from the look of the locals--was best sipped with this sangrita chaser.

1/4 small onion

2 green jalapenos, seeded & chopped

4 coriander roots, washed & scraped

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

400 ml fresh tomato juice

100 ml freshly squeezed & strained orange juice

50 ml fresh lime juice

lime quarters to garnish

silver or reposado tequila

1. using a muddler, pound together onion, chili, coriander, paprika and 1/2 tsp salt until well combined (barman said blender ok too)
2. transfer mixture to a jug and stir in juices, then refrigerate at least an hour for flavors to develop
3. to serve, pair small tumblers of sangrita with tall caballitos/shot glasses of room temperature tequila (can also combine to make a cocktail shaking about 30 ml and 70 ml per person, but better to leave this for the ladies)

Cream Corn Veloute

I think something I got from a modern American restaurant in NYC -- can't remember the name. I love cream of corn, but this is even better. Quantities can be halved.

6 corn on cobs

2 liters whole milk

150 gr unsalted butter

80 ml double cream

white pepper

EVOO

300 gr shittake, chanterelles etc

2 shallots

chives

hazelnut (or walnut) oil

celery salt

1. remove corn from cobs, put in a pot with the bare cobs and cover with milk; simmer for an hour
2. with slotted spoon remove corn from pot and put in blender; discard cobs and add a few tblsp of the milk to the blender ; puree until a nice smooth consistency
3. put latter through a food mill over large saucepan; add butter and cream
4. saute shallots and mushrooms in butter
5. emulsify soup, pour into individual coffee cups on a tray
6. add mushrooms, drizzle oil and a sprinkle tad of celery salt