Lunch For Two

gourmand vs. gourmet

Have you ever had a drunken argument over what the difference is between a gourmand and a gourmet? I figured.

Well, in any case, here's what William Safire, that pal of Roy Cohn's and admirer of Senator Joe McCarthy's and all things lexical has to say about the subject:

In the lexicon of lip-smacking, an epicure is fastidious in his choice and enjoyment of food, just a soupçon more expert than a gastronome; a gourmet is a connoisseur of the exotic, taste buds attuned to the calibrations of deliciousness, who savors the masterly techniques of great chefs; a gourmand is a hearty bon vivant who enjoys food without truffles and flourishes; a glutton overindulges greedily, the word rooted in the Latin for “one who devours.”

I'm not sure if it settles anything, but that's what Safire thinks...

David Lebovitz in NYC!

David Lebovitz, one of our favorite food bloggers (there's a link to the right) and an absolute authority on all things sweet and creamy, will be in New York this Sunday, September 30th to sign books, chit chat and drink Baileys.   The get-together is happening at the City Bakery from 3PM to 4:30PM.  I know we'll be there, along with all his other googley-eyed fans.

The City Bakery is located at 3 West 18th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), (212) 366-1414

Cooks Who Grow Their Own: Reception and Panel

On October 11 a panel of foodie luminaries including Mario Batali-partner Joe Bastianich, Marian Burros, and Andreas Viestad will be talking about chefs who grow their own food. Not to be missed. Also, the reception is being hosted by Robert Mondavi, Jr in celebration of the organic certification of Krug Winery. There should be some really interesting organic wine on offer...

Thursday October 11, 4-6pm
Fales Library, Third Floor (NYU)
70 Washington Square South, NYC

Sunday Morning Sandwich

If, like me, you had a little too much Saturday night, here's a surefire cureall.  It provides the protein and fat one so craves when one's head feels like a tired party balloon.

Sunday Morning Sandwich

1 egg
olive oil for frying egg
3 slices thinly sliced speck, prosciutto or serrano ham
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon honey mustard
freshly ground black pepper
2 slices pumpernickel, or rye, bread

Coat a nonstick frying pan with olive oil and heat over medium flame.  When oil is sizzling, break egg into pan and fry until brown on underside.  While egg fries, blend mayonnaise and honey mustard in a small bowl.  Toast bread.  Flip egg and lay ham in pan next to egg.  Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the ham is warmed through.  Slather mayo/mustard mixture on both sides of the toast and lay the ham and egg on toast.  Season with pepper and eat.

Cheesey Rumors

Rumor has it that life is about to get a lot stinkier, and I mean that in the best possible way, for those of us who live in Brooklyn. The folks at Stinky Cheese shop are reportedly talking about knocking out their back wall, putting up a glass partition and starting up Brooklyn's first and only cheese aging space. What a brave new stinky world it will be...by the way, speaking of all things cheese, here is my new favorite blog: cheeseaholics

Santa Fe Sunset

I know it's that time of year, here in the Northern Hemisphere, where we're meant to stop thinking about citrus-based cocktails and start thinking about stews, casseroles, cassoulets, grog, glug, hot toddies and all kinds of warming, autumnal pleasures. But I'm still stuck in the summer cocktail mode, and I keep making this one which is really just a version of a spiked lemonade. But for some reason it is exceptionally delicious and goes particularly well with spicy food (I've had it with southwestern, BBQ, Mexican and Indian) as well as anything you might stick on a grill – hamburgers, steaks, chicken.  However, the best way to drink this one, I've found, is to make it at sunset for a pal after a long day outdoors and then watch the sky explode into pink and orange and red together.

Santa Fe Sunset
(for two)

4 fresh lemons, squeezed
4 oz vodka (or 6 oz depending on your taste)
2 tablespoons superfine sugar (icing sugar works well)
crushed ice
club soda (optional)
small purple flower (optional)

equipment: an effective cocktail shaker. My new favorite kind are the plastic ones from Target but the old metal ones work well too.

1) fill your cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Pour the juice from the fresh lemons over the ice, add the vodka and then sugar.

2) shake it pretty intensely to make sure the sugar has dissolved.

3) strain into a highball glass over ice cubes. Fill with seltzer if you want fizz. Add a little purple flower, if you want.

A certain someone skate boarding the famous ditches in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Bluefish Is Not Yucky

It's actually delicious.  A long time ago, my first husband went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to work on a movie shoot.  I'd speak to him every evening to get the details of his day which always included a rundown of his dinner menu.  Almost always he'd tell me that he'd had bluefish.  Invisible to him on my end of the phone line, I'd wrinkle my nose.  I thought bluefish was an oily, "fishy" fish and therefore yucky.  My husband wasn't eating red meat at the time and when he'd ask the waitress at the local cafe what the fish special was for the day, her response was always bluefish.  "Again?," he'd ask.  "Yup, the bluefish are runnin'."

I never understood what that meant, but I thought it was quite evocative: The bluefish are running.  From what I can gather it refers to the fish's migratory pattern, up the Atlantic Coast in the spring and back down in the fall.  It could also refer to its predatory nature.  Bluefish are voracious eaters and will make short work of any fish smaller than themselves, swimming up from behind and chomping their bodies clean off from their heads. 

I had lunch at Diner in Williamsburg a few weeks ago and my mom ordered the bluefish special.  I picked off her plate and was shocked to discover that bluefish is really quite tasty, especially when it's exquisitely fresh as it is now.  Local bluefish should still be available in New York fish markets for a little while longer and I urge you to try it.  ( I will say, however, that because its not a selective eater, bluefish can be high in toxins ranging from PCBs to mercury.)  The following is a recipe I made up, inspired by the dish I tried at Diner.

Bluefish with Warm Corn Relish

6 smallish bluefish fillets, about 1 pound
corn flour for dredging
butter and oil for frying
3 slices good quality smoked bacon
1 1/3 cups sweet corn (2 ears of corn)
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup diced chives

Fry bacon over medium heat in a large, cast iron if you have it, pan until crispy.  Set aside on paper towels.  In bacon fat remaining in pan, fry tomatoes until they start to soften and are starting to brown in spots.  Add corn to pan and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often.  Place corn and tomatoes in a medium sized bowl, crumble bacon in and add chives.  Stir relish and set aside.

To the same pan, add a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of oil and turn up flame to medium high.  Cut fillets in half, if large, and dredge in corn flour.  Place fillets in pan skin side down and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, flip when skin is browned and fry on flesh side for 2 to 3 minutes, adding more fat to the pan if necessary.  Do the dredging and frying in batches: You don't want to crowd the fillets while they are frying.  Serve with wedges of lemon.

Seven Days in Paris