Dgourmac's Blog

I usually start to prepare a meal with a question: “What is available?”  That leads to several attractive ingredients, each of which I try to prepare in a pleasing way, and then with an eye to integration, I put it all together into a supper.  I even did a flow chart/mind map for you with tonight’s meal as an example:

The first part was easy: reheat the lentils and cabbage once again as an appetizer, while I considered the next stage.  I did want to cook the beets, and potatoes are always a favorite, so I went down that path.  I had in mind the open bottle of Minervois, so the flavors of the meal needed to merge nicely with the warmth and pleasing fruit of this Southern French Carignan/Grenache red wine.

I had purchased some lovely organic zucchini at Trader Joe’s yesterday, which quickly brought to mind the Zucchini in Umido recipe of which I’ve written before (that’s the Venetian part of this meal) , so I now had my plan:

Appetizer: Lentils with Braised Cabbage and other veggies

Main Dish: Zucchini in Umido, Chopped Arugula, Steamed Beets with bean crema, and potatoes steamed, then sautéed in olive oil and a little garlic, pan deglazed with red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Enhanced with Sicilian sea salt from Trapani.

Wine: 2010 Château Coupe Roses Minervois La Bastide.

As I searched through the refrigerator for items near their perish date — before leaving for the island for a few days — I found some heirloom carrots and Treviso radicchio, the same ingredients Laura had used a few weeks ago in a delicious dish from Marcella.  I decided to make it again, to supplement the leftover pasta from last night.

Simple ingredients: four carrots (three different colors), two small pieces of Treviso, olive oil and salt.

Slow cooking of the carrots, cut into 1/4″ disks, in 4 Tbs. of olive oil on medium-low heat for 30-45 minutes, to evaporate the moisture that dilutes the flavors and to caramelize the carrots slightly for a richer flavor.  Note that the original recipe says cook carrots for one to one-and-a-half hours.  Perhaps her heat was lower, but this worked well.

Subtle is the effect of introducing the bitter radicchio leaves into the dish most of the way through the cooking, both to soften their bite and to contrast with the sweetness of the carrots when cooked in this manner.

Sumptuous is the result on the palate when all the essences are slowly combined in the sauté pan and enhanced by a small amount of Kosher or sea salt heighten the sensations.

The match with Occhipinti SP68 was very good indeed.

Tomatoes make a rich sauce on their own, but if you want to register very high on the mouth-feel scale, just add some homemade roasted red pepper puree.  That was my experience tonight with a pasta dinner I label “Sicilian” because it feels that way to me and the wine was definitely one of the best from that marvelous island.

Tonight was a minor (and private) celebration.  Our air conditioning was repaired after being out of commission for two very hot, very muggy weeks.  I had a burst of energy as the house cooled down, so I prepared for tomorrow’s class, set up the last four class sessions for the summer term, cut the little lawn, and weeded and watered my small vegetable garden.  By 7:15 PM I was ready to create in the kitchen.

I sort of made it up as I went along:

• take out the remaining Lavalle canned organic Italian whole tomatoes and juice (less than a pint) from the refrigerator
• supplement that with one plump Roma tomato, diced
• sauté some garlic in olive oil, to flavor the oil — remove garlic when lightly browned
• start the pot of pasta water on high heat
• add the tomatoes (fresh one first), sauté with some salt and pepper until it starts to blend well with the oil into a sauce, chunks still visible
• cut one small yellow squash in half lengthwise, then across in 1/4″ slices
• sauté the squash and brown on both sides, adding the saved garlic from above
• cover the sauté pan partially while cooking the squash, so it comes out tender
• add the remaining one cup of puree I made from grilling peppers last week to the tomato sauce, stirring and simmering slowly
• pit and coarsely chop 14 Kalamata olives
• when the squash is tender, add it to the tomato sauce, stir, and simmer to blend flavor
• add the olives and stir.  add chopped Italian parsley for color and flavor.
• meanwhile cook 132 g. of high quality spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente
• open a bottle of Occhipinti SP68, a blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato, usually known as Cerasuolo
• serve the pasta in a large bowl and the wine in a good-sized ballon shaped glass; the pasta was delicious, even without any Pecorino (are you reading that, Jan?)  Non-vegans can add Pecorino (preferably Sarde) or Parmiggiano, if desired.
• Buon appetito!

Here are the pix.