TrelayneNYC

Pollo alla cacciatora Pere al forno con marsala e cannella This version of chicken cacciatore doesn't contain tomatoes and is adapted from a recipe originally from Taverna Volpetti (Via Alessandro Volta, 8, 00153 Rome, Italy; tel.: +39 06 574 4306)

Some more information on Rummo pasta in case you're interested. It has replaced DeCecco as our go-to brand.

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

Thanks luv. For brunch today, we had: Cauliflower with eggs, olives and anchovies

I'm glad we went last month. I was a bit underwhelmed. Selection of oysters. Clockwise from lower right: Kumamoto; Wellfleet; and I don't remember what the ones in the rear were. Served with fresh grated horseradish (bottom ramekin), lemon wedges and shallot mignonette. These were ok. Paired with a 2016 pinot bianco from the Trentino-Alto Adige region in northern Italy. The wine had a crisp minerality with just enough acidity. This might be my newest favorite white wine, come to think of it. We had come by early, were seated immediately, then had to wait nearly 10 minutes before we were handed menus. I get it, it's the pre-theater dinner crowd and maybe you're understaffed. But first impressions count and, well, you know the drill. Celery root soup, with crouton, saba and golden raisins.Nice balance of flavors. Venison carpaccio, artichokes, aioli, sunchokes, sunflower seeds. I could have done without the seeds - which added nothing except texture. The aioli was underneath the carpaccio, probably no more than a teaspoon. This was "fine". But not something I would order again. Quail, kumquat, chard, farro. Very good. Kumquat with chard and farro isn't a pairing I would have thought of but according to B, actually worked. Striped bass, cauliflower, leek and chervil. Slight hint of curry in the seasoning coating the tissue-paper thin skin which shattered at the touch of a fork. Well-prepared, although the cauliflower florets were a touch undercooked. The fish was perfect: flaky, moist and flavorful. I found myself wishing for a small dish of salt. Sorry for the quality of photos. I didn't have my camera with me so had to use an iPhone. While iPhone photos can be great, you need proper lighting to shine. Semolina cake with huckleberries and pistachio. Lovely texture and not too sweet. Plating sucked though. The waiter came by with our desserts and almost served us, then realized that we had nothing to eat them with. (IOW, they had cleared our main courses and silverware but didn't replace the used silverware with fresh ones.) Cheese plate, paired with walnut-date bread. (Bread not shown.) Although you don't see it, B was given a paper strip to identify the samples. I've been at other places in town that served cheese, and found the paper a bit tacky. Maybe it's just me. You know, maybe it's great that Traci is tired of fine dining. Because for half of this dinner, the experience was not it.

We went to Le Central for a birthday lunch on Saturday. Lillet blanc, St. Germain, honey, lemon and champagne. The pictures you're about to see came out really well, and when you view them, you'll understand why I prefer to shoot food in natural light as much as possible. Pâté de Campagne, with cornichons and mustard. Roasted bone marrow, fig jam, bread. Onion soup gratinée. Butter lettuce salad, with apple, cherries and preserved lemon vinaigrette. Pan-roasted salmon, winter root vegetables, saffron fumet. Filet mignon au poivre, haricot verts, mushrooms. Pommes frites. Roast chicken, with parsnip chips, bacon-lemon brussels sprouts. I think this was the best dish on the table. Outstanding. Seared scallops, butternut squash purée, fennel. Banyuls. I was going to order a glass of poire eau de vie and I'm glad I switched at the last minute. Strawberry rhubarb crumble, vanilla ice cream. Grand Marnier chocolate flourless cake, chocolate rum sauce, candied orange, whipped crème fraîche. We'll be back, of that you can be sure. Le Central Bistro453 Bush Street (Grant Avenue)

We had meatballs for dinner tonight. I've posted my recipe elsewhere in this thread but here it is again for convenience. 170 g fresh breadcrumbs 60 ml whole milk 400 g ground pork 200 g ground beef 32 g chopped mortadella 1 egg 30 g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese a pinch of grated nutmeg 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint salt black pepper 800 ml crushed tomatoes 1 garlic clove 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 bay leaf This is my basic recipe for meatballs with the addition of 32 g (1/4 cup) chopped mortadella. The original recipe is from My Kitchen in Rome (which I highly recommend if you love Italian cooking). I've made about 4/5 of the recipes in Rachel's book so you know it's a keeper. Her recipe reverses the proportions of beef to pork but I love the sweetness of ground pork, so there you go. Quantities are also a bit different above and reflect my personal preference. We like our meatballs with not as much breadcrumbs and more herbs, but you might feel differently. Add the milk to the breadcrumbs. Soak for 10-15 minutes, then squeeze out liquid. Combine breadcrumb mixture, pork, beef, mortadella, egg, cheese, nutmeg, parsley and mint in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Since the cheese will be salty, go easy on the seasoning. It'll end up looking like this. Form meatballs with a teaspoon. Line a cookie sheet with foil, then again with parchment paper. Arrange meatballs on top of parchment paper. You'll end up anywhere between 15-20 meatballs. I like my meatballs golf-ball sized. In the beginning, I'd fry them in olive oil but those ended up greasy. Baking renders them lighter plus you don't need to roll them in flour or cover them in breadcrumbs. Preheat oven at 350 F. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. The sauce is really simple.Warm 3 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add some garlic cloves that you've crushed with the back of a spoon. Fry the garlic in the oil over low heat or until the garlic gives off a fragrance that makes your mouth water. This will take some time (at least 15 minutes) and you'll know it's the right moment when the garlic begins to brown. Next, add the tomatoes, a bay leaf and a pinch of salt. I sometimes like to add some water to the can, slosh it a bit, then add that to the pot. Raise the heat, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the meatballs to the pot, cover and braise for 30 minutes. Don't forget to stir every so often. I like to serve these as is, or with grated cheese.

For breakfast today, we had: Roast chicken salad with haricots verts and mustard vinaigrette Good Sunday morning! Adapted from Buvette by Jody Williams, page 80. 8 small potatoes coarse salt 1/4 kg haricots verts, trimmed salad greens (I used mesclun, radish greens, fava greens and arugula) freshly ground black pepper 120 ml vinaigrette (recipe follows) leftover roast chicken 1 tbsp. (14 g) Dijon mustard 1 tbsp. (14 g) whole-grain mustard 2 radishes, thinly sliced vinaigrette (page 258): 2 shallots, peeled and finely diced 1 tsp. (4 g) fresh thyme, finely chopped 1 small garlic clove, grated on a Microplane grater 3 tbsp. (44 ml) red wine vinegar 120 ml extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp. (15 ml) water pinch of sugar pinch of salt freshly ground black pepper Boiling potatoes whole is a technique I picked up recently. It ensures even cooking and less water-soaked vegetables. For a medium-sized potato, it will be completely cooked in about 15 minutes. Larger sized potatoes will take about 20 minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon, then plunge into a bowl of ice water. When cool, peel as normal (peel should slip right off), then use as desired. If you don't want to deal with boiling, you can also steam them whole. If you don't have a microplane grater, you might be able to achieve nearly the same texture by pounding the garlic in a mortar and pestle or by sprinkling the garlic clove with some salt and mashing it with the tines of a fork on a cutting board. Either way, you'll end up with a paste that looks a little like this. This is about 1 teaspoon (4 grams) garlic paste. Trim the haricots verts by removing both ends just like you would regular green beans. (I know you don't need to trim off the tapered end but this is just personal preference.) Prepare by simmering in boiling water (ideally the same pot you cooked the potatoes in) for five minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon and plunge into a bowl of ice water, then drain. For the vinaigrette, combine the shallots, garlic paste, chopped thyme, salt, sugar, black pepper and red wine vinegar in a glass measuring cup. Whisk in olive oil until you have about 2/3 cup (158 ml). Whisk until all ingredients are combined. Then whisk in 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard and 1 tbsp. whole grain mustard. Taste and correct for salt and pepper. Once the potatoes are cool, slice into 1/4" (6 mm) thick rounds. Or you can slice them into wedges. It'll work either way. To plate the salad, take some salad greens and toss with 1/3 of the vinaigrette, then arrange on a platter. Take the potatoes and green beans, place in a bowl, then add 1/3 of the vinaigrette and toss those with the dressing. Spoon vegetables atop the greens. Tear the roast chicken into bite-sized pieces, then top the potatoes and green beans with the chicken. Drizzle vinaigrette on top. Scatter radish slices, grind a little more black pepper on top, then serve at once. This recipe is sized for 4 people and takes about 1 hour from start to finish, including prep time.

Looks wonderful. I bet it was awesome too.

Soft-boiled egg with roasted asparagus and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Some pix from last weekend: Minestrone alla piemontese This version takes about an hour to prep and cooks for 5-6 hours. It doesn't contain any tomato and the recipe hails from a trattoria in northwestern Italy (Trattoria Razmataz located at Via Vincenzo Bellini 24, Alessandria, Italy 15121, tel.: +39 0131 223249). There was also this: Shortbread cookies with Meyer lemon curd. The curd was a tad overbaked. That's ok, my co-workers didn't mind.

It's not any more different than fish soup or clam chowder. I imagine you do have leftovers? The only difference is that this will be eaten tonight. The bonus is that the sauce can also be used for pasta and the flavors develop marvelously.

I'm pretty rigid. You haven't been paying attention.

No, but it's tasty nonetheless. If I made this again, I would probably salt and pepper a whole chicken 2-3 days in advance (per Judy Rogers' Zuni Cafe cookbook), slather on a spice paste and marinate for an hour, then roast.

Then I prepped dinner in advance for Monday and Tuesday this week: Pesce alla ghiotta, from Two Kitchens by Rachel Roddy, page 252. Her recipes are in metric, which isn't a big deal to me considering that I can convert easily but it might be a challenge for others. Quantities listed below are what I used tonight and differ slightly from the book: 1 onion 3 celery stalks, with leaves 790 g crushed tomatoes 3 g granulated sugar 30 g capers packed in salt, rinsed 60 g green olives 4 rock cod fillets salt freshly ground black pepper

Mussakhan, from "Zaitoun" by Yasmin Khan, page 179.

I subscribe to the Chronicle and the no-stars thing feels like a cop-out to me. We'll see how long it lasts. Every review is a judgment made by the author regardless of the metrics used in the assessment, and "we're not using stars" is kind of ironic given that she's being paid to provide her informed opinion. You'll probably want to read Corey Lee (Benu) on IG:

Yeah. Well, when I click on the link, nothing shows on my screen. Anyway, that photo is from Yasmin's cookbook. It's on page 56.

Thanks! That link doesn't show anything though.

It doesn't look like the SF Chronicle's new restaurant critic likes Chez Panisse. Or maybe, she just doesn't get it. The reason why I love the restaurant is precisely because of the simplicity of its food and the lack of ambition. https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/The-fantasy-and-reality-of-dining-at-Chez-13650410.php

Asparagus with eggs and Palestinian za'atar

We had lunch here today and as usual, a wonderful time was had by all. Fried oysters, cabbage, tartar sauce Miso black cod with cucumber pickles Silken tofu with pickled wasabi leaf and salmon roe Squid with Japanese mustard spinach and turnips in a mustard-miso sauce Mabodofu-don (spicy tofu with minced pork over Japanese rice). At right is a bowl of miso soup with shimeji mushrooms and razor clams. At top left are pickled watermelon radish and pickled carrots. Same lunch set along with a bowl of katsu-don (fried chicken with egg and sweet dashi over Japanese rice). Hōjicha panna cotta, served with a miniature pitcher of hōjicha syrup and sesame cookies. Hōjicha is a Japanese green tea and is distinctive from other Japanese green teas because it is roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal, whereas most Japanese teas are steamed. Total bill came out to $120 for two people. Very reasonable for the quality of food served.

Tonight was vegan night at Casa TrelayneNYC and I'm snacking on some chilled diced pineapple as I type this... The first two pictures are approx. 1 kg of wild and cultivated mushrooms. The first bowl contains black pearl oyster mushrooms and baby shiitake mushrooms, and the bowl in the bottom picture has yellowfoot chanterelle mushrooms. Clockwise from bottom left: porcini broth; yellowfoot mushrooms; baby shiitake mushrooms; black pearl oyster mushrooms; thyme leaves; red pepper flakes; sage leaves; flour; tomato paste; garlic paste (3 garlic cloves, smashed and pounded into a paste in a mortar and pestle along with a pinch of salt); diced onion; olive oil. The porcini broth consists of 10 g dried porcini mushrooms combined with 150 g diced onion, 100 g diced celery, 60 g diced carrots, 1 bay leaf and 710 ml water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes. Strain liquid into a small saucepot and keep on another burner, on low heat. You can smash the garlic cloves into a paste using the tines of a fork, or pound them in a mortar and pestle. It'll become something like this after a few minutes. Porcini broth. Leave this unseasoned since you'll be using it later on. Warm olive oil in a pan, then fry onions until browned. Season with salt and pepper, then transfer onions to a small bowl. Add mushrooms to the pan. Cook until the mushrooms begin to exude some liquid. Eventually they'll reabsorb the juices and begin to brown. At that point, add the garlic paste and herbs to the pan. Stir them in and cook for a minute. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onions back to the pan. Stir in the tomato paste. Fry for a minute, then stir in the flour. Cook for one more minute, then add in the porcini broth, a ladleful at a time. Cook until ragu reaches your desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper, stir in some chopped parsley, then serve at once. Curly endive salad with orange and oil-cured black olives Wild mushroom ragù, served over pearl barley and pigeon peas

If you're a vegetarian, you're probably going to want to skip this post. Every year, B and I invite our friends over for a dinner party the night the Oscars are held. This year, I decided to make pernil asado, inspired by a lunch I had at my firm's offices in Silicon Valley. That meal was so delicious that I *had* to learn how to replicate it at home. Pernil asado con mojo Arroz con gandules Green salad, house vinaigrette Sugar-free deep dark chocolate ice cream Blackberry-lime pie, whipped cream The ice cream was homemade and the pie from Whole Paycheck. (I decided to take a break from baking this weekend.) The sofrito for the arroz con gandules (for non-Spanish speakers, that's rice with pigeon peas) was decidedly non-traditional. Clockwise from left: minced onion; minced onion and garlic; minced green pepper; minced cilantro; minced celery. Not shown is 1 tablespoon lard melting in a pan. I ultimately decided to omit the cilantro in the sofrito. Essentially you're sweating the vegetables until they've softened, a process that will take about 20-25 minutes. Salt and pepper at the end. 710 ml chicken stock 85 g minced cilantro 120 g sofrito a pinch of saffron 14 g dried oregano 822 g canned pigeon peas 1 large onion, chopped 120 g pitted green and black olives 85 g bacon, diced 30 g tomato paste 350 g rice You can view the recipe here, and the above ingredient list has changed a bit from the original but the process is the same: https://www.saveur.com/…/Arroz-con-Gandules-Rice-and-Pigeon… Not shown is a Dutch oven with 1 tbsp. (12 g) lard which I substituted for the canola oil in the Saveur recipe. This is about 12 lbs. (a little over 5.5 kg) pork shoulder with skin and bone. We roasted it at 200 F(93 C) for 11 hours. Recipe is here: https://afoodobsessionblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/pernil-borinquen-a-slow-cooked-puerto-rican-pork-roast/?fbclid=IwAR1bRSsX3VyFd24q0sMdHWPsTRrAkYhCaYbuCn8Xyi5OjnvRFhaC2j_hcSM To go along with this, we made some mojo: 28 g dried oregano 28 g ground cumin 60 garlic cloves, chopped 940 ml orange juice 940 ml lime juice salt, to taste freshly ground black pepper, to taste We're definitely making it again. For sure.

Scarola affogata on the side. Better known as braised escarole. 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil6 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled1/2 kg escarole, washed, trimmed and coarsely chopped a generous pinch of salt a generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes Warm olive oil in a pot or Dutch oven, add garlic and fry garlic over medium heat until browned. The escarole is added raw to the pot, seasoned with salt and red pepper flakes, then covered and braised for 10-15 minutes or until tender.