Campanelle with Broccoli, Sicilian Style

I bought a head of broccoli at the market this weekend and wanted it to last more than one meal. Recalling an old recipe for orecchiette with broccoli from a cookbook my dad brought home from Venice, I adjusted the ingredients to fit what I had on hand. The combination of pine nuts, raisins and chile flakes with pasta isn't for everyone, but I think it rocks.

Campanelle with Broccoli, Sicilian Style

1 large head of broccoli
1 box short pasta
4 anchovy fillets (about half a can)
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 small handful of pine nuts
1 even smaller handful of raisins
chile flakes, to taste
grated Pecorino Romano cheese, to taste (1/4-1/2 cup)
4 tbs olive oil
salt 

1. Fill a pasta pot with water and bring to a boil. Add salt and the broccoli. Remove when it's cooked but still firm and soak it in cold water to stop the cooking process. Use the same water to boil your pasta. Remove the pasta about two minutes before it's fully cooked.

2. heat the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant but not brown, add the anchovies and chile flakes. Let the anchovies cook until they dissolve. Add a little broccoli water if necessary to keep the pan from drying out. 

3.  Add the pine nuts, raisins, broccoli and simmer for 5 minutes. Then, add the pasta. Mix well and add enough pasta/broccoli water to cover the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the pasta's al dente, add the cheese, toss and serve immediately. 

Chef Challenge 2012

The Durham Farmer's Market will hold its fourth annual chef challenge Saturday, and I'll be one of the judges!


Chef Billy Cotter of Toast is back to defend his championship, and Geer Street Garden's Andy Magowan returns to challenge him. Chef Christy Quirk of Bull Street Market joins the field for her first challenge.

The secret ingredient will be unveiled at 8:30, and chefs will have two hours to get what they need from the market and cook. Judging begins at 10:30. Frank Stasio of WUNC will be hosting the event and the chefs will offer samples to the crowd.

Join us for great food at the market this Saturday!

Taming Fresh Ginger

Fresh ginger and turmeric are available at the market these days, but my family recipes have little need for either. The Indian recipes I know call for them in curries, but I wanted to try them in a more direct way.

Turmeric

 Once again I turned to Arati:

The best and healthiest way to use your fresh ginger or turmeric I think would be to julienne them after scraping off the outside skin, then soaking them in lime juice and salt to taste. Let them soak for 3-4 hours or even overnight - they should turn pink! You can then eat it like a garnish with a meal or put in a sandwich with any meat. 

You can use both in marinades too, but then you would have to grind them in a food processor or blender. A roast chicken or any piece of meat would taste wonderful.

Ginger

Chicken 101

Justin and Kate Meddis of Rose's Market and Sweet Shop performed a chicken butchery workshop at the market this weekend.

Their shop opens in downtown Durham soon and will feature locally sourced cuts of meats, housemade sausages, charcuterie, soups and stocks. They will also offer rotating dinner options and desserts. In the meantime, they're offering butchery classes and teaming up with local farms to create themed dinners, like their upcoming whole hog dinner with Okfuskee Farm.
Justin offered great tips during the chicken workshop. Some of my favorites were:

- Salt moves through meat at the rate of one inch per day, so season your chicken early and generously.

- instead of tying a chicken's legs together before roasting it, cut slits between the leg bones and Achilles tendons and slip one leg through the opposite slit.

- Meat should be room temperature when you cut and cook it. Roasting it straight out of the fridge will reduce the oven's temperature and cook unevenly. it takes about 90 minutes for a refrigerated chicken to reach room temperature.

- After Justin eats roasted chicken, he puts the bones back into a saute pan and roasts them in a 425 degree oven again until they're brown. Then he removes them from the oven and makes a stock. He doesn't season the stock, since you're going to season whatever recipe you add the stock to anyway.

Watching Justin handle his knife during the demonstration reminded me what an art butchery is. Try his tricks next time you buy a bird and check out their shop!

A Sicilian Salsa Cruda

I wrote about the wonders of fresh tomatoes last summer, particularly in a raw tomato sauce, also known as salsa cruda. I've always viewed salsa crudas as exlcusive to the summer, but that's not always the case in Sicily. Just because tomato season is coming to an end doesn't mean you have to start cooking all of your sauces again.

A recipe for salsa cruda in a Messina News article published in August 2010 provides a variation that includes, but does not necessarily feature, the tomato. It calls for ten cherry tomatoes, but they are just the backdrop for bold flavors like pistachios, almonds, anchovies, capers and orange. It's great with pasta, bread or grilled meats and fish.

I've translated (with help from Google) and copied the recipe below:

SALSA CRUDA ALLA SICILIANA

Ingredients for 4 people:
 
2 tablespoons pistachio nuts 
2 tablespoons almonds
1 tablespoon capers
2 anchovies, in oil
10 Pachino cherry tomatoes 
some basil leaves 
½ an orange, peeled and cut into wedges
extra virgin olive oil
salt (if needed) and pepper.

preparation:
1. Drain the capers and rinse them again under running water.
2. Drain the anchovies.
3. Place capers and anchovies in a blender and blend together with all other ingredients. 
4. Add the oil and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe courtesy of Fragolosi 

Basic Vodka Sauce

Last Sunday was my last day of summer vacation, as teachers reported back to school Monday for our annual week of work to prepare for the students' return on the twenty-seventh. To commemorate a great summer, I threw a pile of padron peppers in a frying pan, defrosted a box of Christopher Sauce, boiled a box of pasta and called it a party.

The padrons were so spicy that we all needed a beer before moving on to the pasta. Instead of crab and egg crepes, I kept it more traditional this time with sausage and rigatoni.

Vodka Sauce with Sausage 

Serves 4

1 pound sausage, casings removed

6 tbs olive oil

5 cloves garlic, diced

1+ tsp crushed red pepper

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes or 2 cups Christopher Sauce  or 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, cored, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup vodka

1 cup cream

1/2 tsp black pepper

12 fresh basil leaves, chopped or 1 tsp dried basil

salt

note: If you're using Christopher Sauce, you can skip steps 2 and 3. 

1. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a sauce pan, then brown the sausage.

2. Remove the sausage and add the remaining 4 tbs oil and garlic. 

3. Before the garlic begins to brown, add the crushed red pepper and let cook for 30 seconds.

4. Add the tomatoes or Christopher Sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add salt to taste.

5. Add the vodka, stir, and let simmer for another 5 minutes.

6. Add the cream, black pepper and basil. Stir and lightly simmer for 5 more minutes.

7. Transfer the sauce to a blender or food processor and mix until it becomes a rough puree. 

8. Return it to the pan and add the pasta and sausage. Toss, simmer for a couple more minutes and serve.

Back in Action

It's been a long time since my last post, but I've stayed busy cooking and eating. Stay tuned for new recipes, and in the meantime check out the redesigned site and highlights from our time away.

 

Oysters, 

courtesy of Walking Fish

 

Steamer plate for two

Dock Street Oyster Bar

Wilmington, NC

 

Crab Nachos 

South Beach Grill

Wrightsville Beach, NC

 

Grilled Magherita Pizza

 

Hawaiian Haystacks 

(a Utah classic), 

Courtesy of Meghan Kennedy and Lloyd Rickenbach

 

Salad Nicoise

Vin Rouge

Durham, NC

 

Baguette

Vin Rouge

Durham, NC 

Shrimp linguini with collard greens

North Carolina's mild winters allow some crops to grow year-round. The best greens of the year come during the winter, when the cold temperatures increase the sugar content in the leaves and give everything from lettuce to kale a crisp texture and sweet flavor.

 Collard greens are especially abundant, inexpensive and nutrient-rich. You can saute them with anchovies and lemon juice and serve them as a side dish, or add eat them with pasta and shrimp like I prefer. 

Flounder, Piccatta Style

I'm torn each week when Walking Fish emails me a description of the week's fresh catch. I love the challenge of a new species, as it gives me an excuse to read up on them and decide how to prepare them. But I also love the old reliables, like clams and flounder, because they challenge me to find new ways to prepare them.

We receive flounder at least once a month. Shefali and I have eaten it grilled, oven baked, fried with chips, seasoned and sauteed, and even in po' boy sandwiches. This week, we substituted it for chicken in one of my family's favorite recipes.

Piccatta is traditionally prepared with veal and involves breading and frying the meat, removing it from the pan and building an accompanying sauce that features lemon and capers. Chicken is a very popular substitution for veal and my family's choice growing up (my mother refuses to cook or eat veal). We ate it over a bed of linguine.

When I prepared the flounder Piccatta style I chose not to pair it with pasta. A breaded and pan-fried meat holds its own in a subtle sauce, but when it's paired with pasta it often loosens up and kills the meat's texture. Cooks work so hard to achieve the golden, crunchy exterior that it's best enjoyed alongside some other starch. We paired ours with roasted potatoes and a salad.

Flounder, Piccatta Style

4 tbs olive oil

2 pounds flounder fillets

4 cloves garlic, diced 

3-4 tbs shallot, diced

a handful of fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine. I use a sauvignon blanc

2 tsp capers, drained and rinsed

2 lemons, halved or quartered

flour for dusting

salt and pepper, to taste

1.  Heat the olive oil in a pan.

2. Season a plate of flour with salt and pepper, then dredge both sides of the fillets. Shake off the excess flour, then fry both sides in the oil, about 3 minutes each.

3. Remove the fillets and add the garlic. As soon as the garlic begins to brown add the shallot.

4. When the shallots become translucent (about 5 minutes), add the wine, juice from 1 lemon and capers. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to break up the loose bits. They add massive flavor to the sauce.

5. Let the wine simmer for about 5 minutes or until it no longer smells of alcohol, then return the fish to the pan and add the parsley. Let the flavors combine and flip the fish at least once.

6. Add extra lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

Christmas Comes Early

My mother-in-law, Arati, has arrived in the U.S. to help us care for our new son.

Just her casual Sunday dinner of channa masala, kofta curry, kachumber and naan. All made fresh and from scratch.

I have much to learn while she's here. Recipes to follow!