Lunch For Two

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

This is a recipe I've tripped over numerous times in various cookbooks but had not prepared until a couple of weeks ago.  The slow roasting concentrates the flavor of the tomatoes and renders them little puckered, caramelized gems.  They freeze really well, so on the bleakest days of winter I can recapture summer simply by thawing a batch.  Thus far, I've eaten them atop soup, pizza and pasta and alongside steak and roasted chicken. 

After reviewing all the recipes in my cookbooks, I have settled on this one from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors.  Plum tomatoes, because they are meaty and not very juicy, work best.

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

3 pounds plum tomatoes
4 to 6 Tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, thyme, or marjoram
2 garlic cloves, run through a press

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Lightly oil a large baking sheet that has a lip.  Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise.  Set them cut side up on the baking sheet, then brush the tops with the oil, using about 2 Tablespoons in all.  Make a paste with the herbs and garlic, and salt and pepper to taste and put about an 1/8 teaspoon on top of each tomato. The roasting will concentrate the flavors of the herbs, garlic and salt as well, so you don't want to overdo it.

Bake, uncovered for 2 hours.  Check after an hour and drizzle a little more oil over the surfaces if they look dry.  The tomatoes are done when they are well shriveled and browned on their undersides.

Multi Soup

Any recipe of mine that causes my six-year-old to announce, unprompted, "why, this is the tastiest soup I've ever had" is worthy of publication.  That's because she is an exceedingly choosy eater and sticks to proteins and a tiny assortment of vegetables and starches.  She liked my soup so much that she also wanted to name it.  It's a very appropriate name so I stuck with it.

The soup I prepared last night utilized a versatile soup base that I came up with a couple of weeks ago after a trip to my local farmers market in Brooklyn.  I froze it and intend to experiment with several "multi soups."

Soup Base

3 leeks, white part only
1 Tablespoon butter
4 cups chicken stock
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
3 ears of corn

Cut leeks down center of stalk to within 1/2" of root end and wash their interiors to remove any sand, then slice in 1/8" rounds.  Melt butter over a low flame in a heavy, Le Creuset type pot and add leeks.  Cover the pot and sweat the leeks for 20 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the leeks don't scorch.  While leeks are sweating, snap the ears of corn in half and standing them on their cut sides, run a knife down their sides to remove the kernels.  Set the kernels aside.  Uncover the pot, add the chicken stock and then, holding the corn cobs over the top of the pot, run the back of a knife down the cobs to extract all the corn milk.  Add the cobs to the pot, bring stock to a boil and then simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes.  Add potatoes and simmer another 10 minutes.  Add corn kernels and simmer a final 10 minutes.  Remove corn cobs, cool soup base slightly and puree.  Makes about 6 cups of soup base, enough for two different soup recipes that serve 3 to 6.

For last night's soup I used 3 cups of the base and added 3 chicken Gerhard's Sausages (with basil and pine nuts) that I fried up first, 1/2 teaspoon basil, 1 can of rinsed Progresso canellini beans and salt and pepper to taste.  When I served the soup, I drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil on top.

The soup base would also lend itself to a seafood chowder preparation, or any other chowder for that matter.  Try topping it with an assortment of fresh chopped herbs, fried sage leaves or oven roasted tomatoes.  (I tried it with some roasted tomatoes that I made recently and it was delicious.  Maybe I'll publish a recipe for those next.)

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.

Most Excellent Chicken Noodle Soup

A friend was recently felled by a particularly nasty cold so I promised him a vat of chicken noodle soup.  When I'm sick I crave clean, incisive flavors: citrus fruits, astringent teas, straight up wasabi.  I ingest things that feel like they will cut through the fog and murk in my head.  Most chicken noodle soup tastes "brown" to me.  ("Brown" is an adjective I use to describe foods that have such muddled flavors that they lack character, fail to make a statement.)  I got the following recipe for chicken noodle soup out of Cooking Light magazine some years ago and I've made it dozens of times.  It is light and lovely and an excellent tonic for anything from colds to the winter blahs.  It is most decidedly not "brown."

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped parsnip
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups homemade or low-salt chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups uncooked wide egg noodles
1 pound skinned, boned chicken breast halves, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add carrot, parsnip and celery; saute 3 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir.  Gradually add broth, water, salt and pepper, stirring with a wooden spoon; bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.  Add noodles and chicken and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in parsley and serve.

Pasta e Fagioli

My mother often uses the word "liverish" to describe how she feels in the morning following an evening spent eating rich food and washing it down with wine.  I'm feeling very liverish these days.  The holidays are over but my body is still working to digest all the roasted meat, tins of Christmas cookies and champagne that I ingested.  My head feels like it's filled with cotton candy too.

For some reason I always crave tomato-based, vegetable-heavy dishes after Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I think they're an antidote to holiday excess.  Here is a recipe for pasta e fagioli (or pasta fazool, if you will) that is one of my all time favorites from Cook's Illustrated.

Pasta e Fagioli

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
3 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine
4 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 anchovy fillets, minced to paste
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes with liquid*
1 piece Parmesan cheese rind, about 5 inches by 2 inches
2 15 1/2 ounce cans cannelini beans, drained and rinsed**
3 1/2 cups homemade or low-sodium chicken broth
salt
8 ounces ditalini pasta
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
ground black pepper
2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking, about 2 minutes.  Add pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add onion and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes.  Add garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and anchovies; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan.  Add cheese rind and beans; bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer to blend flavors, 10 minutes.  Add chicken broth, 2 1/2 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt; increase heat to high and bring to a boil.  Add pasta and cook until tender, about 10 minutes (refer to package instructions to better estimate pasta cooking time).

Discard cheese rind.  Off heat, stir in 3 tablespoons parsley; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.  Ladle soup into individual bowls; drizzle each serving with olive oil and sprinkle with a portion of the remaining parsley.  Serve immediately, passing grated parmesan separately.

Leftovers of this soup taste better the next day but the pasta tends to absorb all the cooking liquid and get a little mushy.  I don't mind this but if you do and will not be serving the soup immediately then stop after you've simmered the beans and tomatoes, cool and refrigerate the mixture (for up to 3 days).  When you're ready to complete the soup, discard the Parmesan rind, add the broth and water, bring the soup to a boil and proceed with the recipe.

*Try Redpack brand Diced Tomatoes in Juice.  I like Redpack's bright flavor.
**Try Progresso Canellini.  Cook's Illustrated tested a number of different canellini for this recipe and Progresso was deemed the best of the readily available brands.

A Perfect Marriage

I have an admission to make.  My palate is woefully undereducated when it comes to wine.  I know food.  I've been eating my entire life but I've only been drinking wine for half my life.  I know when wine tastes good to me but I certainly can't tell the difference between an exceptional wine and a very good wine.  And I never taste the things your meant to: blackberries, honey, tobacco, honeydew, vanilla, nectarines.  What I do know is when a certain food and a certain wine are perfectly matched, when each is dramatically enhanced by the other.

I had one of those hallelujah moments the other day.  Samantha called and was in my neighborhood and I invited her over for a glass of wine.  She volunteered to bring the cheese and bread.  She stopped by Stinky Bklyn and picked up a small round of soft ripened French goat's milk cheese called Picandine Pico.  I then met her and we crossed the street to Stinky's sister store Smith & Vine.  We asked for a white wine to go with the cheese.  The gent helping us turned over the box of cheese and handily printed on the price sticker was a recommendation.  As directed, we bought the 2005 Marigny-Neuf Sauvignon Blanc. 

They were right.  It was an excellent combination, the cheese and the wine made glorious by their marriage.  They were so delicious together and I only had to walk the 20 yards between the two stores to secure this unearthly pleasure.  And, the combo was less than 20 bucks.  Bless this cheese and wine union and bless brilliant merchandising!

The Roast in Summer

While it may seem counterintuitive to make a roast (Virginia Woolf's favorite dish) in the summer it's actually a great idea. It doesn't take long to cook (an hour max) and the uncomplicated, delicious flavor of the meat compliments summer staples like corn on the cob and tomato salad perfectly. Also, the leftovers. Cold roast beef is the best, not only for sandwiches but for snacks and hors d'oeuvres. This recipe is for an inexpensive cut of meat – called the 'eye of round' – which is more tender and a tiny bit more money than a sirloin or London broil. Usually this cut will be tied up for you with butcher's twine, if not it's easy to do it yourself.  The secret here is in the time cooked. 20 minutes per pound at 375 degrees. Don't overcook.

Summer Roast
serves 6 (or two with leftovers)

• 2 Tbs dried rosemary
• 2 Tbs kosher salt
•2 Tbs fresh ground black pepper
•2 garlic cloves, sliced
•2-3 lb beef eye of round roast

•Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). If roast is untied, tie at 3 inch intervals with cotton twine.
• crumble dried rosemary in your hands and put on a plate. mix with salt and pepper. Roll the roast in the
rosemary mixture until thoroughly coated. Make small slices on the roast and tuck the garlic slices in.
• Place herb coated roast in pan, fat side up (this make the meet more tender.)
• Roast in oven for 60 minutes (20 minutes per pound). Do not over cook! Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil, and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.

• Coming soon: reader suggestions for 8 ingredients in search of a recipe.

International Take Your Lunch to Work Day

I don't know what it is but I have never been to a work cafeteria that I like. While this may have something to do with my (poor) attitude about going for credit in the straight world, I do think place-of-work cafeteria lunches are almost always bland, expensive, and unhealthy as well as being depressing and you know I think lunch should afford you at least some small pleasure during the day. This is even true of the Condé Nast cafeteria which you would think would be an incredibly glamorous place to eat lunch since they spent a zillion dollars on it, got a name architect and it bustles with the staff of all those fancy magazines, but man is it not glamorous. I was there recently for lunch with Sasha Frere-Jones and he loves it. He eats there all the time, he says, and finds the food amazingly tasty. However, I have to say that Sasha is looking skinnier than he has since Middle School so I'm not sure how valid his opinion is as a counterpoint to mine. I had "sushi" and a too-syrupy fountain soda, and all I will say about the "sushi" at the Conde Nast cafeteria is that the Japanese restaurant in my local subway station is much, much better. And I only ordered the "sushi" because everything else looked like gussied-up cafeteria food (bland, greasy and old.)

In any case, what I think is called for is a revolution of sorts wherever you work. I think the thing to do is to Take Back the Lunch and bring your own a couple days a week. And especially now that the weather is so nice, you can eat outside. So, here is a really good lunch that is so easy to make in the morning and doesn't need to be refrigerated (unless you work in a sauna) – in fact the flavors will be enhanced by a few hours out of the ice box. Buy yourself a juice or a soda (or a hard cider if you're feeling subversive or live in the U.K.) and you will be lunching in style....

Cheddar and Tomato Sandwich

1/2 ripe beefsteak tomato (heirloom/organic if you can find one)
3 thick slices extra-sharp English, Vermont (Cabot is good) or Canadian cheddar
2 slices of the best sourdough bread you can find
extra virgin olive oil
fresh ground black pepper

assemble the tomato and cheddar on the sourdough bread, drizzle with olive oil and grind some black pepper (there should be enough salt from the cheddar without needing to add any. unless you're a salt hound.)

Pack yourself an apple or banana and a couple of Fig Newmans, buy a cold drink and read your book out in the sunshine. not so bad.

                                       
            

As Karl used to say, you've got to work, so why not bring your own lunch?  Not only will it taste better but it's so thrifty!