Insalata di Cantalopo

I like to read cookbooks in bed before I go to sleep. I mull over recipes to try, and the descriptive essays offer a buzzy account of how I imagine I’d live my life if I had that kind of money and long weekends in the renovated farmhouse in Winchester. But cookbooks can edge over into annoying when the writer asserts an Artistic Approach to Life. Case in point with Marlena de Blasi’s A Taste of Southern Italy (1999), which features recipes for wittingly earthy fare like “Suckling Lamb Braised in Milk” and “Honeyed Wild Rabbit with Spiced Chestnuts.” I cribbed her recipe for cantaloupe and fig salad, but skipped her Biblical directive to “drop olive oil in tears over the figs.” Aside from the fact that oil of any kind would be gross on fruit, that kind of poetic writing just gets in the way of the food. So let’s fix this salad and serve it with some goat cheese and crackers for lunch. Invite a friend. That’s art enough.

4 to 6 fresh Mission figs
½ of a large ripe cantaloupe or a whole small one
10-12 mint leaves
Juice from ¼ of a fresh lemon
2 Tablespoons olive oil (Optional)

Slice the melon into long wedges about ½” thick and arrange on a large pretty plate. Cut the figs in half and arrange over the melon. Roughly tear the mint leaves and scatter them over the fruit, then squeeze the lemon quarter overall.

De Blasi suggests pairing the salad with Moscato, a heavy sweet white wine. But I prefer pinot grigio or strong iced back tea.

Peach and Proscuitto Salad

This summer I've been experimenting with sweet and savory salad combinations, and this peach and proscuitto salad tastes positively Baroque. Suitably, the recipe uses hefty Italian ingredients like rich balsamic vinegar, dull-yet-sweet fresh mozzarella and plenty of olive oil. Depending on what’s in season you can substitute peaches with substantial late summer fruits like nectarines, plums or figs.

The salad hits all the nutrition high notes. Serve with a sour dough wheat bread to make dinner or a Sunday lunch.

Adapted from Alisa Barry’s La Bella Vita (2003)

Ingredients:

For the salad—

2 ripe yet firm peaches
Olive oil
Coarse ground salt
1 bunch arugela
4 slices proscuitto
4 ounces fresh mozzarella
10 fresh mint leaves
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

For the dressing—

1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons olive oil

Process:

Slice peaches into ¼” wedges.
Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with rough salt.

If you have a grill pan, fabulous—get it out—this is one of the few times you’ll actually use it. If you don’t, get the thickest skillet you have and put it on high heat. Slip in the peach slices, just a few at a time, and roast for a minute or so on each side, aiming for a lightly toasted golden color.

Place peach slices on a paper towel lined plate to dry and set aside.

Next make the vinaigrette. In a wide bowl combine the honey, vinegars, orange juice and salt. Wisk in the olive oil until mixture is emulsified.

Build the salad by spreading the arugela leaves on a large plate. Layer with proscuitto, then the roasted peach slices. Next add the mozzarella that has been roughly torn into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle with the vinaigrette, then scatter the mint leaves for effect and an extra snap of flavor. Top with a round of fresh ground black pepper and serve.

Lemon Thyme Chicken

I live in Silver Spring but work in Baltimore—and by the time I get home weekdays I am done. But I am also hungry and feel the need to be rewarded with a good dinner. To be at the ready I do my major grocery shopping on Saturday and cook all Sunday afternoon. Usually I fix one meat dish, like baked chicken or pork tenderloin, make a pot of soup and a casserole. When I stagger in the door Tuesday night, all I have to do is steam some green beans or warm up a baguette and dinner is served.

Lately I’ve been relying on a recipe for Lemon Thyme Chicken from the Barefoot Contessa. The dish generates a lot of savory juices which you can spoon over cous cous or rice. I have that Sunday night with asparagus for a proper sit down dinner, then use the leftovers later in the week for a salad made with butternut squash and olives, or granny smith apples and dried cranberries.

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (2011)

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts with skin and bone still attached
(The original recipe asks for skinless, boneless and, I’d argue, flavorless chicken breasts. If you are going to eat meat, it’s best to acknowledge it’s origins upfront)

1/3 olive oil
9 cloves of garlic, minced
1/ 3 cup of dry white wine
1 tablespoon of finely grated lemon zest (The kick is well worth the effort!)
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, plus a few sprigs for decoration
Salt and paper to taste
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Process:

Sauté the minced garlic in the olive oil for 1 minute at a high heat. Take off the burner immediately so the garlic does not brown. Add wine, lemon zest, lemon juice,
oregano and thyme along with 1 teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper to taste. Pour into a 9" x 12" Pyrex dish.

Pat the check breasts dry, then salt and pepper them. Place the breasts skin side down into dish then flip them over so that the now-oiled skin side is up. Tuck lemon slices around the chicken and cover with aluminum foil

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil, then let chicken brown for another 10 minutes or so. If the chicken is done but is still pale, run under a broiler for 2 minutes. Let the dish rest for 10 minutes, then serve on a bed of cous cous, rice or orzo with fresh thyme. Be sure to generously spoon the pan juices over the grains to get the full, fattening pleasure of this dish.

Watermelon Feta Salad

Rumor has it that another heat wave is on its way so we’d better face it with salad for dinner. An Iranian friend of mine loves feta and watermelon and swears she could live on it all summer long on. Here’s an adaptation of a recipe from DC’s Komi, a Greek-come- nouvelle-cuisine restaurant I hope to actually visit one day when I have enough money. Until then this salad will do. Arugula gives this sweet and salty combo an additional nutritious punch. I serve this salad with hardboiled eggs and steamed green beans—both of which were cooked the day before and have been waiting in the refrigerator with the cold melon.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups of arugula
½ half of a fennel bulb, sliced thin
2 cups watermelon cubes
4 ounces of feta, roughly crumbled

Process

Mix together the olive oil and vinegar with salt and pepper to taste. Combine the arugula and fennel with the dressing and set aside to wilt a bit. Next add the watermelon and feta. Toss and serve immediately with a sourdough baguette.

Happy Birthday, Julia!

August 15 is Julia Child’s birthday. To mark the occasion, I usually bake Reine de Saba, a dense cake full of chocolate, rum, almonds and butter. The recipe comes from Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and was evidently one of her favorite treats.

The recipe makes a single layer measuring 8” across—and that is fine, just enough. The cake is so rich you only need a (very) modest portion to feel happy and satisfied. Sometimes it’s fun to build a dinner around dessert: have a simple tomato soup, a dark leafy green salad and a baguette and let this regal chocolate cake be the finale!

Recipe adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1983)

Ingredients

For the cake:
4 oz. semisweet chocolate (Buy the very best you can find! 4 oz is equal to a large bar of Ghirardelli’s chocolate. Scharffen Berger is also an excellent brand.)
2 tablespoons dark rum*
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup slivered almonds, finely ground
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup cake flour
3 eggs, separated

For the icing:
4 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoon rum*
6 tablespoons butter
Handful of slivered almonds for decoration

*If you don’t care for rum, substitute with strong coffee.

Process, Cake

Butter and flour an 8” round cake pan and set aside.

In a double boiler over medium heat, gently melt 4 oz of chocolate. Add the rum and set aside as well.

Cream the butter and 2/3 cup of sugar together in a ceramic bowl, then add the yolks and beat thoroughly.

With a clean set of beaters, whip the egg whites in a large bowl until they begin to foam. Add cream of tarter and salt and continue to beat. When the egg whites start to hold their shape, add the 2 tablespoons of sugar, bit by bit. When at last the egg whites are very stiff and can be “dalloped” into the shape of a candy kiss, stop.

Quickly return to the chocolate and rum mixture and stir until smooth. Pour the chocolate to the butter-and-sugar bowl, then add the ground almonds, almond extract and flour. Mix thoroughly.

Next, stir a forth of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate batter to lighten the texture. Fold the remaining egg whites into the batter, turning the bowl as you go. The goal is to blend the ingredients without over-mixing so that the egg whites will make the cake rise.

Turn batter into the floured cake pan and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Test for done-ness by inserting a toothpick or sharp knife 2- to 3- inches towards the center of the cake. If it is not clean, bake for an additional five minutes. The texture should be dense like a brownie.

Remove from the oven and let the cake rest for 10 minutes or so. Run a knife around the cake pan’s edge and turn onto a large plate. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Process, Icing

In a double boiler, melt 4 oz of semisweet chocolate. Add 1 1/ 2 tablespoons of rum and stir until smooth. If the chocolate “clumps,” start to add the butter and spoonful at a time and beat until you achieve a creamy consistency.

Ice the cake from the center out using long, curving knife strokes. I only ice the top and decorate with a half-handful of slivered almonds at the center to create a sort-of “sunflower.”

If there are any leftovers, securely cover with several layers of plastic wrap to keep the cake moist. Cake should keep for a day or so.

Pork Tenderloin

We’ve come to that odd phase in the year when it can get soft and springy in the afternoons but you still need a wool coat in the mornings. As the weather vacillates, so do your cravings, and the solution is pork tenderloin. Roast one up over the weekend, and when it’s cold and mean on Monday, serve it with some comforting sides like sautéed kale and baked sweet potatoes. But if it's warm on Wednesday, serve round two with something light like a salad of cous cous and baby peas. Then take a walk after dinner—it’s still light out.

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking (1997)

Ingredients:

1 pork boneless tenderloin, approximately 1.5 to 2 lbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme, rosemary or tarragon (Or use fresh if you are lucky enough to have some on hand. I’ve used a combination of “Provencal -Frenchy” spices like thyme, sage and lavender. Try some variations and see what you prefer.)

Process:

Position the baking rack to the center of the oven.

Select a Pyrex dish that will accommodate the pork loin, but is neither too snug nor too spacious. (If the tenderloin roasts all alone in a large pan, the meat will cook too quickly and dry out—never a good thing in a roast.) For a 2-pound loin, I usually use a 9” x 9” baking pan.

Rub the tenderloin with the spice and olive oil mixture. Put in an oven pre-heated to 450 for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 250 and let it roast for 65 minutes. Slow cooking keeps the pork loin tender.

Remove from oven and loosely wrap the tenderloin in aluminum foil and let it sit for 15 minutes to complete cooking. You can slice it right then or gently reheat it later. To avoid dry slices, do not carve the roast until you are ready to serve it.

Tofu Veggie Scramble

This is one of those go-to recipes that can make a quick dinner on a “school night.”A dash of turmeric and a generous handful of grated Pecorino Romano gives the dish a sunny flavor akin to scramble eggs and might persuade those who are suspicious of tofu to give it a try.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living, March 2008

Ingredients:

1 container (14 oz) of firm tofu

2 teaspoons of olive oil

½ red onion, diced

1 large orange of red bell pepper cut into ½” pieces

1 ¼ cup of cherry tomatoes cut into halves

1 ½ teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

3/4T teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon coarse ground pepper

6 tablespoons of grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

Process:

Drain tofu and place on a couple of paper towels on a dinner plate. Remove more water by covering the tofu with second plate weighted with a small, gently heavy object like a mortar and pestle or a paperweight. Leave for 15 minuets or so. Transfer tofu to a shallow bowl and “rice” into rough chunks with a fork. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the onions and peppers until soft. Add the tofu, tomatoes and spices and cook for three minutes more. Remove from heat and toss in the grated cheese. Serve immediately with rice and a steamed green veggie like broccoli or green beans for a colorful, nutritionally balanced meal.