Dgourmac's Blog

Union Square Greenmarket – NY June 2018

Posted on June 26, 2018 by dgourmac

This gallery contains 28 photos.

NYC Trip – June 2018

Posted on June 26, 2018 by dgourmac

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you will know that I make short pilgrimages to NYC a couple of times each year for FFW — i.e. Friends, Food, and Wine. This year is unusual, in that my previous trip was in March, and just 3 months later, I am back again. Usually I drive down, stay two nights in an Airbnb, and drive back with a few cases of very good wines not available in our Boston market. Instead, this trip was by the LimoLiner bus (inspired by their special $69 fares each way vs. the normal $89), I stayed in a hotel that was new to me (Arlo Nomad), stayed three nights, and returned with only 6 bottles of wine stuffed into my backpack. Still, it was a delightful interlude, and a healthy one.

Here is a brief summary of the highlights:

Wednesday — lunch with Jeremy at The Modern, dinner with Judy at Antonucci Cafe
Thursday — lunch at Il Tinello, short stop at Paul Stuart to say hello to friend Patrick Young, then dinner at L’Artusi in the West Village, walking a total of 5.4 miles
Friday — visit Union Sq. Greenmarket in AM, stop at Eataly Vino, lunch at Masseria dei Vini , dinner at abc Cocina, walking another 4.5 miles
Saturday — stop at the Greenmarket again, breakfast at Essen cafeteria, early lunch at Blank Slate, catch the 1:15 bus home, and go to the music festival that evening at home

This post will provide pix for each day, and a separate post will give you a gallery of the market photos.

Arlo Nomad Hotel, Antonucci Cafe

Il Tinello

Il Tinello is a more fashionable, upscale location, more formal and expensive than the others, but I had a very good lunch of Beet Salad with Arugula, followed by Pasta with Fresh Porcini. The chef provided a complimentary plate of delicately-battered Zucchini strips that were first-rate. These were accompanied by a glass of a fine Chianti. Instead of dessert, I finished with a glass of Amaro (Montenegro). In the background the conversations of investment bankers, financial advisors and their clients, and well-heeled global travelers did little to distract me from the joys on my table.

….and L’Artusi

I had been to this restaurant last year and loved it. Once again, it delighted. This time I had my table for one upstairs. It had more light than the first level, and there was an upbeat energy about the place that was satisfying. My server, Nick, was extremely helpful and insightful, answering all my questions about the dishes and their preparation. The Primo as a crudo of Escolar and Avocado, perfectly executed. The Pasta was Bavette Vongole, featuring real imported Manila Clams, all nicely matched with the LaStaffa Verdicchio. My cheese course was a Pecorino Gregoriano, which had a nice creaminess to it and was just the right size piece. Finally, we capped the dinner with a tasting of three different Amari: Nonino from Friuli, del Capo from Calabria, and SantaMaria al Monte from Liguria. All three were new to me, all were very good. Nonino was my favorite.

That same morning I had made a long-postponed stop at Kalustyan’s, a widely-renowned store with an incredible array of spices, condiments, ethnic delicacies of all kinds. and staples including rices, beans, pulses and peppers with astonishing variety. One could spend hours there. I bought 9 small items that intrigued me most. Here I provide just a very small sample with three snapshots.

Masseria dei Vini

I chose this for lunch based on a description in a listing on OpenTable’s website. It turned out to be a great choice. Not far from Columbus Circle on the West side of town, this place is not attractive from the outside, especially with all the construction around it and metal scaffolding in front. Once inside, however, I felt very comfortable, in a restful, Pugliese-themed space, where most of the staff and patrons were or at least spoke Italian.

My server brought a small basket of delicious breads, a little whole grain bread and grissini, plus some semolina bread, too. I added some of the lentils in olive oil in a small bowl to top the bread slices, and it was a new and successful pairing. The soup was a purée of zucchini and potato, smooth and creamy, made with only vegetables and olive oil. The pasta was Gnocchi Sorrentina, a light spinach gnocchi floating in a creamy sauce of tomatoes and olive oil, with mozzarella and basil on top. A fine glass of Pecorino wine accompanied the meal, and I took home the leftover gnocchi for the bus ride back. All together, an excellent meal and a good value.

abc Cocina

This was a repeat from my visit in March. It was a light meal at an outside table, seafood in both dishes, and quite tasty:

crudo of fluke
crispy fish tacos
and a glass of Godello from Spain

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More Italian Dinners

Posted on June 25, 2018 by dgourmac

Two recent meals at home were definitively Italian. One was Cianfotta, about which I wrote last November. I made the dish pretty much by the book, except for the addition of some excellent fresh spinach. You can check the recipe via the link provided.

The next day, the leftovers were even better than the dinner version. I piled the vegetables onto some toasted whole grain bread of mine (which I sliced and froze a few days after baking). It made a magnificent lunch, served with a glass of Aaron’s 2017 Rosé, Idiopinkracy, from Arizona.

A few days later, it was pasta time. The dish was Gnochetti Sarde with Vegetables, purely my own invention.

In my wine cellar I have a tall rack where I store my artisinal specialty food items — pastas, sauces, cases of Italian tomatoes, dried porcini, etc. One of the pastas in there is a high-end American product, Baia Gnochetti, made with special American Durum wheat. I made a sauce with available ingredients:

onion
tomato (peeled, chopped)
zucchini
yellow squash
chickpeas (already cooked a few days before)
home roasted and peeled peppers

These were cooked individually, and then all they needed were some toasted homemade bread crumbs and lots of good olive oil to bring it all together. Add the cooked pasta and some pasta water, heat through for 2-3 more minutes, serve with freshly grated Parmiggiano and a glass of Tollara Malvasia di Candia from Emilia Romagna (imported by Nick Mucci), and I was transported back to the Mediterranean.

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Pammy’s

Posted on June 19, 2018 by dgourmac

We did go out to dinner a few times. Far and away the best of those occasions was dinner at Pammy’s in Cambridge with our friends, Nick and Kelsey. This new American Trattoria was alive with energy and full of creative and superb approaches to food and drink.

The place was lively but not overpowering, and the food was marvelous. We enjoyed everything, starting with 1/2 a Negroni on draft and continuing through the three courses and a bottle of Reale Aliseo wine, which Nick imports and which Barbara and I enjoyed during a visit to that winery in Italy last year.

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May Food Highlights

Posted on June 19, 2018 by dgourmac

This was a busy month, with schoolwork, travel, and some cooking. Here are some of the brief highlights of Spring, when we did get into the kitchen.

Spicy Guacamole

Now that I’ve learned how to make guacamole with some zip, it is becoming a more frequent topping for my breads at lunch. Here’s what it looked like on May 23rd:

Ramps Mean Springtime

One of my seasonal favorites is the wild leek known as Ramps. I don’t always buy them when I see them, because they can be very expensive ($15-$20/lb.) and frequently look terrible by the time they make it to the market. I did find one lovely batch at Russo’s in late May. I pickled a few and cut up some of the rest of them, cooing the greens separately from the bulbs. Here is an artistic rendition of those two components:

The greens were much sweeter and tastier than I remembered from previous attempts.

Baked Pasta

One night I played with a large, ribbed pasta, making a baked version with tomatoes and chopped greens. The dish was a good match for a Nebbiolo I bought recently in NY.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

For variety one night, I decided we should do some Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Vegan and delicious. I even remembered where we had some of the dried rice paper needed as the wrapper. Naturally, this called for Barbara’s pastry/dough handling skills, which are considerable and transcend many cultures.

Miscellaneous Vegetables

One night we did a cabbage braise, and another featured the other half of the cabbage, in a Baked Rice with Vegetables.

If it looks like we were losing enthusiasm for long, involved dishes, you are correct. But it was a short interlude, not a lasting change.

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Leek and Six Onion Risotto

Posted on May 8, 2018 by dgourmac

The refrigerator is low on fresh vegetables, since we’ll be traveling soon, so I had to be creative with what we had available to make dinner tonight. I decided to make a risotto with seven members of the allium plant family.

Leek and Six Onion Risotto

No need for a long post here. Everything you need to know is in this recipe:

Closeup – feel the umami of the onions, almond milk, and Parmesan cheese

Oh, yes, and the wine was a 2014 Fiano by Cris Cherry of Villa Creek in Paso Robles. Sadly, this is the last of my stash of this lovely wine. At least I was able to have one of the 94 cases produced.

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Mussels Marinière, Brittany Style

Posted on May 2, 2018 by dgourmac

Barbara has been helping out at our library in town, getting things ready for the annual book sale there. Sometimes she spots a cookbook I would like, and she brings it home for me. A few days ago, I was thrilled to receive Heart of the Artichoke, by David Tanis. It’s a beautiful book, very well-written, and it has some excellent recipes. Today’s lunch, Mussels Marinière, Brittany Style, was perfect for the pound of mussels I bought at Quarterdeck Sea Foods this morning.

Recipe

It was easy to follow. I used only a little butter plus a little olive oil, and I didn’t bother with the parsley because I was too hungry to take the time to find, clean, and chop it. Twenty five minutes later, I had a delicious lunch and photos to display. Not even close to vegan, but it was a good source of B-12 vitamins. And flavor.

in the pot

steamed open

served in the big bowl

second helping, with Rustic Italian bread from Clear Flour, for sopping par excellence

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Experimenting

Posted on April 30, 2018 by dgourmac

This weekend I did some experimenting with ingredients. One effort was built around two artisan flours from Italy, Pane Nero and Maiorca, from Sicily. Gustiamo is the source for these in the US. I decided to try making ravioli, using the leftover filling of almond milk ricotta and cavolo nero from Barbara’s baked Eggplant Parmigiano. I tried the dough with 20% Pane Nero and 80% Maiorca.

It was a challenge, since I had not used these before. I tried my standard pasta-making recipe of 200 grams of flour, one large egg, salt, a little olive oil and a little water. Unfortunately, I probably needed more water, because the dough was very hard and had difficulty staying together. I persisted, and eventually was able to make 16 hand-cut ravioli. I cooked them in a wide pan of salted water, and then finished with a sauce of fresh tomato, chopped onion, garlic, and ginger. The final results were good, served with an outstanding Sauvignon Blanc from Italy.

My other experiment was with seitan — made from vital wheat gluten, whose texture is somewhat akin to that of meat. Since sautéed veal cutlets and veal tidbits grilled over a wood fire were among my favorite meats in my omnivorous days past, I tried to get a bit of that feel in the dish. I sliced the seitan like a few cutlets, and also cut some smaller pieces to resemble tidbits. After dusting them with flour and salt, I sautéed them in olive oil in a good cast iron skillet. Then I cooked some chopped red onions, and after that, some cubed potatoes. Finally, they all went back in the pan to heat up and serve. Results were tolerable. It’s not veal, but they were close enough to conjure up the images.

Seitan with Red Onions and Potatoes

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Uruguayan Wine Dinner at La Bodega by Salts

Posted on April 30, 2018 by dgourmac

One of my favorite dining choices some time ago was a Uruguayan restaurant, Salts, in Cambridge. They closed that location a few years back. Then, the chef, Gabriel, decided to build their own place, and with the help of a Kickstarter campaign and lots of toil and travail, they recently opened La Bodega by Salts in Watertown, MA. I’d been looking for an opportunity to go, and when they announced a special dinner based on the wines and food of Uruguay, I signed up and enlisted my friend Chris to join me.

The Invitation

Both the food and the wine were wonderful. There were several highlights, not the least of which was the amazing Vermouth Gabriel made from one of the wines featuring the Tannat grapes of the country. The crowning touch was the service in lovely etched glasses.

House-made Vermouth

Cerro Chapeu Tannat de Reserva

The bar

Menu and Wine List

“Picada”

Wood Grilled Maine Oysters

Buñuelos de Algas — Seaweed Fritters

Hearts of Palm

Uruguayan Ribeye

Each dish was distinct and beautifully-executed, and Francisco’s discussion of each of the accompanying wines was instructive. Obviously, I set aside my vegetarian/vegan ways for the night, but the plates were small, and I kept my quantities even smaller, so it worked just fine.

If your travels take you anywhere near La Bodega by Salts, I can highly recommend the food, ambience, and service. So does the Boston Globe: La Bodega

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Late April Meals — Vegetables and Beans of All Kinds

Posted on April 30, 2018 by dgourmac

Asparagus that is good and fresh — even if not local — is an early sign of Spring. It begins a long procession of long-awaited vegetables, usually accompanied by grains and/or beans. So it was this late, cold, damp April.

My first batch of asparagus was thick and juicy enough for gratinée under the broiler.

Just out of the broiler in roasting pan

On the plate — with a Calabrian Pecorino

After the asparagus appetizer, we moved on to the Beans. I love beans of all kinds, especially the more obscure and unusual ones. Inspired again by Judith Barrett’s book, Fagioli, I spent the next two weeks building meals around them. Here is a sampling.