chocolate

Orange and Pomegranate Sparkly Starter Salad

2015-04-25 19.29.42We broke way out of our comfort zone about a month ago and prepared a three-course meal for 12 strangers, in an unfamiliar kitchen in the South End of Boston. We’d volunteered to be part of an online auction, and someone actually bid on us—well, to be completely honest, I volunteered and Chip, with his eternal good nature, went along. We worked with the host to create a menu, which ended up as:

Orange and Pomegranate Sparkly Starter Salad (aka Jewels on a Plate)

Grilled rack of lamb with cilantro honey sauce

Cauliflower cake with roasted red pepper sauce

Roasted asparagus with hollandaise

Poached Anjou pears in a dark chocolate sauce

Almost all of the meal was prepped in advance and finished on site, which was essential, since we had no idea what we were going to encounter. We learned from our last experience and brought EVERYTHING we thought we’d need, including salt and pepper, because you never know.

Ingredients for the salad (serves 4):

4 navel oranges

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

1 hot red chili pepper, thinly sliced into rings

1/3 cup olive oil

salt & pepper

1 cup fresh arugula

1 cup feta or other goat cheese, crumbled

4 tablespoons fresh parsley

4 tablespoons pomegranate seeds

 Directions:

Peel the oranges, removing the white pith. I do this with a knife so that I can get all the pith off. (Yes, I know, pith off.)  Cut the oranges into ¼ inch thick slices.

Boil the vinegar and sugar for 3 minutes, then add the chili and cook for another few seconds, just so the pepper softens. Pour over the orange slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, drain the juices from the oranges into a bowl. Whisk the oil into the juices and add salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble the salad, starting with ¼ cup of arugula. Then layer the oranges over the top, and add the cheese. Top with parsley, and pomegranate seeds, and drizzle the dressing over the top.

The dinner party was a big success—maybe there’s a boutique business there someday down the line. All I can say for now—we had a ton of fun, everyone ate every bite and asked for more, and we would have been delighted to find this meal on our plates in any restaurant. We’re getting pretty good at this.

Maybe one of the top ten (20?) most fun days I’ve ever had.

Photo Apr 25, 7 48 45 PM

Pears poaching, asparagus ready to cook, salads all plated.

Photo Apr 25, 7 49 33 PM

Lamb marinated overnight in cilantro and honey, flash-grilled at home, finished in the oven on location.

2015-04-24 18.45.29

Cauliflower cake.

2015-04-25 17.55.45

We stayed calm and happy the whole time.

 

 

Last Supper

ThanksgivingWay back in November, we cooked a Thanksgiving meal, not for crowds of people, as we had the year before, but just for each other. It was a chance to try out some ambitious recipes and to please just ourselves. I had at first said, “no poultry,” but a trip to Whole Foods revealed some never-before-seen exotica that ended up as the basis for our meal.

There, in a freezer on the shelf nearest the floor, a place I admit I never look, we saw guinea hens. And marrow bones. And so the menu started to form in our minds. Neither of us had ever cooked a guinea hen—and we hadn’t eaten one, either. Same with the marrow bones, although we had tasted them before. So the marrow bones for the starter, the guinea hen for the main course, and we needed a side dish. No traditional Thanksgiving green beans or squash—we decided to make saag paneer, including the cheese. I am wild for cheese, and even took a course at the Boston University School of Culinary Arts, where I earned a certificate in cheese, which makes me a dairy queen, or a cheese whiz. I’d never made cheese before—it turned out to be easy, fun, and yummy.

The plan for the day, as much as there was a plan at all, was to take it very slowly, to start whenever we felt like it, and to eat whenever food was ready.

Maybe some other time I’ll write about the recipes. What was remarkable about the day wasn’t the food, which was glorious, but the conversation. It’s rare to have an entire day that can unspool at its own pace, where there isn’t a deadline or urgent errand or sense of a ticking clock and other things that must be dealt with. Even though we share a house and a kitchen, our time together is usually short and silly and then we ricochet off into our separate lives.

For the marrow bones, we chose Anthony Bourdain’s recipe from the book/web site My Last Supper. Roasted marrow bones—his choice for a last meal. At some point after we’d prepared and eaten the marrow bones and were hanging out (actually, lying down on the living room couches) while the guinea hens cooked, I asked Chip, “If you knew you were having your last meal, would you use?” His answer came fast and clear—no, he would want to be entirely present for his end.

Over the next few days, I asked this question of a few of my other friends in recovery. Pretty much everyone came to the same answer, although a few people admitted to being tempted. One friend with 28 years clean wants his clean time on his headstone, and that goal would keep him from using. Others said they had lost any cravings or desire to use.

I like to believe I would face my end with grace and presence…but I can’t be sure. I’m enough of a foodie to think that maybe it would be nice to have a glass of wine or two with my last meal…but when I think it through, I realize I’ve lost my taste for wine. Would I take something to relieve fear and anxiety? I don’t know. I hope not. Being alive, fully alive, until the moment I’m not, seems like a good death. On the other hand, I was very happy to get the epidural during childbirth…so who knows? My tolerance for physical pain is pretty high—less so for emotional pain. And after decades of reaching for a pill or a drink to get me away from emotional pain—I just don’t know how much courage or faith I’ll have, when faced with death.

Oh—what would be on my last meal menu? I don’t know exactly, but I think there would be ripe peaches and figs, rich dark chocolate, and sushi prepared by a master. Not in that order.

 

Veggie Chili with Chocolate

Image

Not everybody builds a meal around a few pieces of chocolate, but here, it’s the secret ingredient in a chili that’s delicious, sustaining, and tastes good-for-you-but-not-in-a-preachy-kind-of-way.  Chip, the dude, is the master of this recipe that’s infinitely adapatable.  It feeds a lot of people for a lot of days, and gets more and more flavorful over time.

Ingredients:

1 onion

3 medium cloves

3 medium carrots

3 celery stalks

1 medium fennel bulb

2 medium zucchini

2 medium yellow squash(es)

8 oz shiitake mushrooms

8 oz portobello mushrooms

1 ear of fresh sweet corn

1 12oz can of black beans

1 12oz can of kidney beans

2 jalapeño peppers

2-3 serrano peppers

1 poblano pepper

1 fresno chili

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

3 tbs chili powder (multiple kinds)

1 tbs cumin

kosher salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

2-3 oz. dark dhocolate  (70% cacao or higher)

1 16oz can peeled San Marzano tomatoes

1 12oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup chopped spinach

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

4 cups low sodium chicken stock

 

Prep: Cut the hot peppers and garlic into a fine dice. The onions and celery into a medium dice. The fennel, squash, bell pepper and mushrooms into bite size pieces.

In an 8 quart dutch oven, heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil over medium heat and add the diced onion and diced hot peppers. (Don’t add the bell peppers yet.) Let them cook for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes.

Now add the cumin and chili powder and stir. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add the carrots, celery, fennel, squash, bell pepper and mushrooms. Season with a couple of pinches of salt and pepper. Cook until they begin to soften, usually around 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices and bring to a bubble. We use “no salt added” tomatoes so we can control the salt level. Crush the whole tomatoes with your hands as you add them. (It’s always fun to cook with your hands.)

When the tomatoes bubble add the chicken stock and bring to a bubble then reduce to a simmer. Add the beans and corn and cook for 6 minutes. Then stir in the chocolate and spinach. When the spinach is wilted cut the heat and stir in the cilantro. Add salt and pepper if needed and serve.

There are many ingredients in this dish that need to be chopped into bite size pieces or cut to a fine dice. It’s a great dish to show off, or help develop, your knife skills. You can use a mandoline if you have one. Watch your fingers!  We speak from direct, recent experience when we say this…

This recipe is very flavorful and spicy. You can adjust the number of serrano and jalapeño peppers but don’t leave them out. The multiple pepper combination gives the chili a broad range of flavors. The sugar in the carrots and the corn balance out the acid of the tomatoes. The chocolate smooths the sharp edges of the peppers.

The rule for chocolate in cooking is like the rule for cooking with wine–use something that you like.  In our house, that means the darker the better.  And resist the temptation to add just a little more. If you want more chocolate, have it afterwards.

Image

This is what we have in the pantry right now. It won’t last long.