Yes, it’s cold and snowy out there and I already only want to eat meat until spring, but I also work in New York, where it’s impossible to spend any time at all without having meatballs thrust upon you. (Er, “without encountering meatballs”? “Without reading about them” or “passing a restaurant that has them on the menu”?) Just off the top of my head, there’s The Meatball Shop, a recent meatball feature in The New York Times, Eataly’s braised brisket meatballs (Woe is me, they’re across the street from my office!) and Deb at Smitten Kitchen happened to run a beautiful post a few weeks ago about Canal House Cooking’s Scallion Meatballs. So who can blame me for having balls of meat on the brain?

Naturally, I wanted something a little bit different (not Italian, not Asian-inspired), so I searched for lamb meatballs recipe with a middle-eastern riff, which I found from Nigella Lawson/Food Network. Shall we all take a minute here to breathe a contented sigh as we picture the lovely Ms. Lawson? (aaaahhhh)

Her recipes have always worked for me, so tinkering was minimal, limited to replacing the semolina with quinoa flour to make these gluten-free. (Get the recipe here.)

Please ignore the Eddie Murphy welfare burger appearance of this meatball.

I decided to add a pomegranate glaze just because I wanted a bright contrast to the earthiness of the lamb. It worked so well, it’ll become a permanent part of the rotation, I believe. If it’s not too frou-frou, maybe I’ll even make it for a Super Bowl appetizer (though it won’t go well with the inevitable cheese dip).

But it was a late lunch for us today, so I served it with apricot and caramelized onion brown rice to make a meal of it. The rice was superfluous; we could’ve made an entire meal of the meatballs and lived happily to tell the tale.

recipe after the jump

Pomegranate Glaze adapted from Epicurious
Serve this with lamb meatballs from Nigella Lawson/Food Network. 

1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon molasses
1 4-inch strip of orange zest
2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

Place all ingredients in a small pan and boil until reduced to scant 1/4 cup glaze, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Season glaze to taste with salt.

While glaze is still warm, spoon/brush over individual meatballs or place meatballs in a large bowl and toss with the glaze.

I haven’t come close to using everything I picked up at the market this weekend, but here’s a good sampling of what we’ve had.

Strawberries. Oh, yes. Divine, luscious, sweet, knock-your-socks-off strawberries, the memory of which will drive me away from the display at the grocery store that tries to tempt me, so redly and smugly. “Hey Amy, it’s still summer. Doesn’t a large, mealy strawberry sound delicious right about now?” Erm, no. Even more so (possibly) than tomatoes, they’re just so much better from the local growers.

They deserved a more special treatment than sliced over homemade yogurt (though they popped up there, too), so I worked up a strawberry salsa to top caramelized scallops. I tempered the fruity salsa with red wine vinegar so it would balance the naturally sweet scallops.

And we both loved it — if only I’d made more than just the appetizer portion you see here! But I set some aside for a very different, but still delicious appetizer, inspired by this post at Chocolate & Zucchini. Instead of using smoked sea salt, I smoked the remaining scallops with alder chips in my Camerons Stovetop Smoker, but otherwise stuck to the general recipe, then topped them off with fleur de sel.

It wasn’t difficult, but was a bit more trouble than the original would be. I think I’d happily feature the radishes with smoked salt for a party, just for ease of assembly.

My refrigerator is also seriously stuffed with all sorts of greens which I haven’t delved into (much) yet, but weeknight dinners are looking up!

recipe after the jump

Caramelized Scallops with Strawberry Salsa

This salsa is a delicate balancing act between sweet and sour. If your strawberries are especially sweet (as mine were), you might need a touch more red wine vinegar. If they aren’t especially sweet, you could try adding a little sugar or maybe swapping red wine vinegar for balsamic vinegar to get something that tastes good to you. As always, experiment until you find the proportions you like.

2 handfuls ripe strawberries, cut into small dice
1/2 medium shallot, minced
2 tablespoons minced arugula & basil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or to taste)
1/2 lb. medium-to-large scallops, tough membrane removed
salt & pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
a few leaves of arugula & basil, cut into thin ribbons

Mix strawberries, shallot, vinegar and minced arugula and basil in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Adjust seasoning till you get a nice balance between sweet and sour. (If your strawberries are as ripe as mine were, you might need a little more vinegar. If they’re not especially sweet, you could add a little sugar or use balsamic vinegar instead.)

Heat butter and olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Dry and season the scallops with salt and pepper. When butter and oil begin to shimmer, add the scallops to the skillet (be sure not to crowd them) and cook, not turning, for about 3 minutes, or until you see the white/cooked portion of the scallop rise to about halfway up the side. Flip scallops and cook for another minute or two, until cooked through.

Remove scallops to serving plate. Top each scallop with a spoonful of the salsa and garnish with ribbons of basil and arugula. Spoon a little of the vinegar sauce around them, if you like. (I do.)

We went straight from winter to summer around here, and not a moment too soon. I’m stuck in an office today instead of out enjoying perfect grilling/hanging out/whatever weather, but at least it gives me time to reflect on last weekend’s fixin’s.

We’re going to have some green on this blog and lots of it now that our local farmers’ market is back for the season! It was a bittersweet opening, as some of you know — our market is now dog-free. Poor Gil looked like a lost soul just wandering around without the boys, while I did what I always do and loaded up on good stuff to carry home. We’ll probably venture out to other markets that are dog-friendly in upcoming weeks, so stay tuned for a full report.

I felt like an appetizer to get the ball rolling, and ended up with one that would be just as good for barbecues as for a light dinner during grilling season — grilled potato rounds with radish-green pesto and shaved asparagus. It’s vegetarian, nutrient-dense and good hot or cold (though I give the nod to hot-off-the-grill because crispy grilled potatoes just can’t be beat).

It’s easily adapted to use what you have in the house. The radish-green pesto came about because I hate throwing anything away, and a pesto is just about the easiest way to use extra greens. If you don’t have radish greens or just don’t like them, use any kind of pesto you prefer. I had some garlic confit in the fridge, so I tossed the asparagus with garlic oil and lemon juice, but go ahead and use olive oil if that’s what you have.

For lunch, I rejiggered my triple-garlic pizza, adding quick-pickled wild garlic & spring onions and shaved asparagus and radish-green pesto leftovers. Really good stuff.

These quick-pickled wild garlic & spring onions were inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s pickled onions.

A thin layer of mozzarella and grated parmesan and garlic confit (natch) tied the whole pizza together. We made short work of it, I’m afraid, but I still have the makings for one more pie, which should be just the thing to kick off this next weekend.

recipe after the jump

Grilled Potato Rounds with Pesto and Shaved Asparagus

You can easily adapt any of the elements in this appetizer to suit what you have on hand. No potatoes? Try thick-sliced eggplant. Radish-greens aren’t your thing? Any kind of pesto will do, and now that I think about it, I need to try one with sun-dried tomato. If you’re not into asparagus (or just don’t like taking the time to shave it), maybe throw it on the grill instead, then cut it into manageable segments.

Potatoes
4 medium yukon gold potatoes
salt
olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced

Wash potatoes thoroughly, then cut into 1/2″ rounds. Parboil in lots of salted water just until they begin to soften. While potatoes are cooking, spread olive oil on a large, rimmed baking sheet and spread evenly with minced garlic. When potatoes are ready, drain and immediately place on tray, turning to coat. Let them sit for at least 1/2 hour to soak up all of the garlicky goodness, then fire up the grill. (You can also toss them with spice blends if you like, but I wanted to keep things basic.) Cook over medium-high heat, turning once, until the potatoes have nice grill marks on them and are cooked through. Liberal sampling is encouraged at this stage.

Pesto
1 bunch radish greens, thoroughly washed and dried
1 clove garlic (or more, if you really like the stuff), chopped
Parmesan cheese (as much as you like)
A handful of nuts (Pistachio, almond, pine nuts all work well here. Pecans are good, but you really have to love them.)
olive oil
salt to taste

Throw the first four ingredients into a food processor and pulse until well-chopped. While processor is going, add olive oil in thin stream until it’s the consistency you like. (I tend to make a thick version that I can thin out later.) Add salt to taste.

Asparagus
1/2 bunch thick asparagus spears, washed and dried
oil (olive oil or even flavored oils are fine)
lemon juice
salt & pepper

Grasp the thick, woody end of the asparagus and run a vegetable peeler down the length of the spear to make ribbons. Toss together with remaining ingredients to taste, keeping the dressing light so it isn’t a mess to eat.

Assembling
Spread a little pesto on each potato round and top with a few asparagus ribbons. Devour.

Mirliton’s kind of sneaky. Your odds of finding it by that name outside of Louisiana are about as good as a collection agency making a successful phone call: “You’re looking for Mirliton? Yeah, sorry, he just stepped out. … Who, me? I’m, uuuhhh, Chayote. Oh, and Mango Squash is around, too, if you’d like to talk to her.” If you can’t tell, it goes by any number of aliases, so finding them in your neck of the woods shouldn’t be especially difficult.

Like a summer squash, it’s not exactly assertive on the flavor front, but does a great job absorbing seasonings from its dish-mates. My grandma used to make a wonderful mirliton bread (similar to zucchini bread) and a mirliton casserole with fresh shrimp and crabmeat that would be pretty familiar to most people of the Cajun persuasion. I may have to recreate that casserole soon, but first I had to attempt the pickles my cousin Darrin made last Christmas. Slightly sweet, spicy and just crispy enough to provide some resistance… well, I just had an envie, cher.

Luckily, chayotes were abundant at my grocery, so I picked up what felt like 10 pounds to my pipe cleaner arms for the recipe I’d chosen from Chef John Folse’s site. I knew these pickles would really cure any homesickness I was feeling thanks to the Zatarain’s bath and copious amounts of garlic that were featured.

Before getting started, I recalled my previous encounters with mirliton and pulled out the most important items for dealing with it in its raw state:

Seriously, these things are paradoxically slippery and sticky once you cut into them, so you’ll dearly regret it if you don’t invest in a cheap pair of gloves. They’re not especially hard to slice or to peel, but I’m a big proponent of sharp knives and it made for a better picture.

They really resemble mutant, juicy apples, at least in cross-section.

I didn’t bother canning them proper-like because I was sure that: 1) Refrigeration, plus the vinegar in the brine would keep them from spoiling, and 2) They wouldn’t be around for very long, anyway.

And I’m very happy to report that success was achieved. No picture of the finished product because they’re pickles, ya know? But they really set off a spicy Bloody Mary, and anyone I’ve shared them with has raved. Could be mere politeness, but I prefer to think Chef Folse hit another one out of the park.

You know, they also resemble shriveled centenarian mouths.

recipe after the jump

Pickled Mirliton Sticks from Chef John Folse & Company

18 large mirlitons
1 bag Zatarain’s Dry Crab Boil Seasoning
2 quarts rice wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
1/4 pound dried whole cayenne peppers
4 pods fresh garlic, peeled
36-40 bay leaves

Slice the mirlitons lengthwise, carve out the seedpod and discard. Peel the skin from the mirlitons and cut them as you would 1/4-inch thick French fries. In a large stockpot over high heat, add crab boil, rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt and bring to a rolling boil. Add sliced mirlitons, lower heat when liquid returns to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Taste the mirlitons for doneness. They should be slightly tender on the outside yet crisp on the inside. Remove the mirlitons from the pickling juice and reserve. Line up 12 pint-sized Mason jars and, using tongs, arrange the mirliton sticks as if standing on edge in the jars. Pack each jar tightly with mirliton sticks. Evenly divide the cayenne peppers, garlic and bay leaves into the jars. Divide the pickling juice evenly between the jars. If more liquid is needed, add water and white vinegar to ensure that all surface areas of the mirliton are immersed in juice.

Cover and allow to cool. Let stand for a minimum of one week before serving.

The Ringwood Farmers’ Market opened this weekend, and not one minute too soon! I’ve been craving their fresh produce since the weekly market closed last November; winter market (new this year) only took place once a month, and the pickings were slim. It was winter, after all.

But now we’re back to greens, berries, honey and meats from small local farms, so let’s dive in.

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What I missed most about the early markets was the amazing spinach and arugula from Bialas Farms, not to mention the rest of the veggies and fresh herbs that always make up the bulk of my shopping experience on weekends. Because I was impatient to try the first haul, I made brunch as soon as we got home — a quick pesto with the spinach and arugula, some walnuts and grated locatelli, all smoothed out with a Ligurian olive oil. The pasta was a gluten-free selection from Fontanarosa’s, which I only visited for the first time this weekend. I now plan to shop there all summer long.

[About the gluten-free thing: I cut out the major sources of gluten about a month ago after reading The GenoType Diet. I'm highly suspicious of any diet at all (and definitely didn't try this to lose weight -- so don't worry, those of you who know me), but thought I'd give this one a try since a lot of what the author said about my type rang true, given my experience. Anyway, I can honestly say that the mild-to-moderate joint pain I've had for the past few years has completely disappeared since I cut the out the gluten. (Other things I won't go into here have cleared up as well.) Maybe it's all unrelated, and I hope it is, but we'll see how I feel when I re-introduce regular pastas and whole-grain bread into my meals.]

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Even though we were invited to a BBQ Sunday afternoon, I had to get in a little grilling of my own this weekend, so I threw together a quick-ish lunch. The appetizers were inspired by this post at Smitten Kitchen and I was thrilled with the way they turned out:

That’s a lot of good stuff packed into a couple of bites, and it came together with almost no effort on my part. I just grilled 1/2-inch-thick slices of homemade bread till they were toasted, smeared them with loads of truffle butter, some room-temperature robiola (one of my favorites, but you could try whatever you like here), and topped them off with ribbons of asparagus, crunchy fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper.

To make the ribbons, just grasp the tip of the spear and use a vegetable peeler to shave down the length of the asparagus.

Our main course was a kofta salad. The spinach and arugula made another appearance here, tossed with tzaziki sauce for the salad base. I had a few extra asparagus ribbons from the appetizers, so I threw them on as a garnish. But the real draw was the kofta made with ground lamb from Snoep Winkel Farm. I used the recipe that’s become my standard, substituting walnuts for pistachios since those were, um, about 18 months out of date. Oops.

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And then we went to a BBQ where I consumed lots of steak and delicious veggie skewers, so I was pretty meated- and veggied-out by Sunday morning and took it easy with a little goat’s milk yogurt with fresh strawberries, blueberries and honey. (Sadly, the blueberries were store-bought since they aren’t quite in season here, but the The Orchards of Concklin’s strawberries are as perfect as ever, and their peonies aren’t half-bad either. I’ll bring my camera next time we go so I can show you just how popular Rufus and Otis are with the proprietor. The honey is local, too — from Nina’s Red Barn Farm, where we buy our fresh eggs and where I’m evidently known as Rufus’s mom.)

Hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Memorial Day Weekend.

A couple of months ago, I was inspired by Maggie Mason’s Mighty Life List (a Bucket List for the young, healthy and positive-minded) to make my own (though I’m not so young and some might argue the other two points). As you probably could guess, quite a few cooking-related items are on there, despite their relative unimportance to the bigger stuff. But I’d argue that perfecting my smoker technique or turning out a sublime focaccia could add more value to my daily existence than seeing the Northern Lights, becoming fluent in French or going on an Auntie Mame-style journey around the world. (OK, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea.)

Not one to dawdle when I have a goal in mind, I took my first steps to making the Weber Smokey Mountain my bitch this weekend. I’ve selected Gary Wiviott as my mentor/guru/pitmaster for this journey, based on Jason Perlow’s review of his program at Off the Broiler. I used my smoker a few times last year with imperfect results, so I consider myself enough of a novice to follow Wiviott’s program to the letter (begging forgiveness for changing the marinade to something more of my liking). The entire thrust of this book is that everything you know about BBQ is dead wrong and what you really need to do is learn to build a proper fire, arrange the meat correctly, leave it the hell alone and trust your instincts. No futzing with a fancy thermometer or different fire-building techniques for different meats for him; because I run from complicated grilling/smoking setups, this works wonderfully for me too. He gives explicit instructions in the book, so I’m confident that someday I’ll be able to get all Jedi on that BBQ.

Anyway. I marinated chicken halves in harissa with some olive oil, sauteed onion and the juice of a small (and old and somewhat withered-but-still-going-strong) lemon. Building the fire proved a bit, um, challenging with the windy day I chose, but I eventually got the whole thing built to spec, assembled the smoker, and let it go. An hour and a half later, I opened the lid to find The Most Gorgeous Chicken I’ve ever seen (at least at my house):

Daaaaamn…

After the chicken came off at the perfect temperature and at the exact moment Wiviott said to start checking for doneness, I threw a few hard boiled eggs on the top grate for smoked deviled eggs. As a mini experiment, I peeled three of them and heavily cracked the shells of the other three before smoking, hoping to get a Chinese tea egg effect on the whites. (It didn’t work; the eggs were much less smoky-tasting even with the cracks in the shells, so live and learn.) Because the fire was so low after 90 minutes with the chicken, I smoked the eggs for about 45 minutes, until the shelled ones turned a gorgeous amber color.

Homemade mayo has been vexing me lately, separating at the drop of a hat just to mock me. For these eggs, I wanted to give it one more try, and used the milk mayonnaise recipe from Food52 (which I’ve just joined – yay!). It came out thick, creamy, thoroughly delicious and was much, much easier for me to make than egg-based mayos (but also much, much messier).

I made a couple of fillings for the eggs and was pretty happy with both (though I lean more toward pickle flavor in my deviled eggs – personal preference).

with sun-dried tomatoes, up front

also, chives

So all told, it was a pretty good weekend for the Life List (which I’ll have to rename for myself sometime). Changes I’ll make for next time:

• Marinate chicken for 8-12 hours — it was a pretty powerful marinade, but didn’t come through as strongly as I wanted, which was also the fault of…
• Use pecan wood instead of hickory for chicken — hickory was delicious, but overpowered the marinade
• Peel all eggs before smoking (and make the deviled eggs right away — a night in the fridge didn’t do them any favors in the looks department)

Recipes after the jump

Smoked Deviled Eggs — Sun-dried Tomato Version

12 smoked hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup mayo
2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes packed in oil, or to taste
4 teaspoons Dijon
4 teaspoons capers, plus a splash of brine
1 medium shallot, minced
salt & pepper to taste
smoked paprika, for dusting

Cut smoked eggs in half lengthwise, scoop the yolks into a small bowl and mash with a fork. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until thoroughly combined and creamy, then fill the egg whites with the mixture. Dust with smoked paprika.

Smoked Deviled Eggs — Chive and Hot Pickle Version

12 smoked hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup mayo
1 medium shallot, minced
4 teaspoons Dijon
2 tablespoons chives
4-8 hot pickle slices, minced (amount to taste), plus a splash of pickle juice

Cut smoked eggs in half lengthwise, scoop the yolks into a small bowl and mash with a fork. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until thoroughly combined and creamy, then fill the egg whites with the mixture.

Finally.

It took two weekends of tweaking, combining and adapting recipes, but I finally settled on a Concord grape focaccia (inspired by schiacciata, but less desserty) we couldn’t stop eating. Gil did his damage to it while I was away at work, but each night before bed, I stood at the counter nibbling on tiny pieces that always added up to the one large piece I should’ve just cut for myself at the start.

Apart from the focaccia, I didn’t really do any cooking last weekend because I was working on my first (paying) portrait shoot! Last winter, Cara Packard, the super-talented owner of Cara Linn Cakes, hired me to take some promotional pictures for her business. She’s getting married next month, so her sister did a little sleuthing to find me and arrange a surprise bridal portrait session in the city. I had a great time working with someone so natural and relaxed in front of the camera, and found that taking pictures of humans is even more fun than taking pictures of food. Go figure.

a few bridal pictures and focaccia recipe after the jump

On a tiny, nearly-deserted street in Tribeca.

Cara does her best Jessica Molaskey impression.

Train service was surprisingly not slow, despite repairs on 99% of the lines last weekend.

Adjusting.

Beautiful bride, isn’t she?

Gil took a bunch of pictures at the shoot, too, and managed to get video of a stranger serenading Cara in Washington Square Park. It’s cliché, but I love NY.

Rosemary Focaccia with Concord Grapes adapted from Epicurious and Eating Out Loud

Because it’s nearly impossible to remove the seeds from Concord grapes, you’ll either have to deal with the crunch — which I don’t mind — or spit them out as you’re eating. It’s a minor inconvenience, really.

sponge
1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

focaccia
1 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 quart Concord grapes, washed and dried
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/3 cup turbinado sugar

for sponge
Place 1/2 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves and mixture is cloudy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour and sugar. Cover with plastic. Let stand until very bubbly, about 45 minutes or less.

for focaccia
Place 1 cup water in small bowl. Stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves and mixture is cloudy, about 10 minutes. Stir dissolved yeast mixture and 1/4 cup olive oil into sponge in the stand mixer bowl. Attach dough hook and stir in 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary and 2 teaspoons kosher salt at low speed. Add remaining flour in 2 batches, mixing until well blended after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high and mix for four minutes. Reduce to low, add walnuts, then resume mixing at medium high for another minute.

Oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat with oil. Cover with plastic. Let dough rise in warm area until doubled, about 1 hour 15 minutes. (My kitchen was cold, so the dough had to rise for about 3 hours till it doubled. The moral of this aside is, “Don’t rush it.”)

Oil an 11×17-inch baking sheet. Punch down dough and transfer to prepared sheet. Using oiled hands, press out dough to cover bottom of pan. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-3 days. (This improves the texture and allows the dough time to develop.)

Remove pan from refrigerator when you’re ready to bake. Press dimples in the dough with your fingertips and push dough to edges of pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary and Concord grapes. Cover with towel. Let rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, position rack in center of oven and preheat to 500°F. When dough has doubled, sprinkle the top with 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt and 1/3 cup of turbinado sugar. Place in oven and immediately lower temperature to 450°F. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the pan 180°, and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until golden and center of focaccia registers 200°F.

See, my parents sent me a lovely care package a few weeks ago, and that Zatarain’s had been taunting me every time I opened the pantry, so I decided on a shrimp boil seafood salad, using good gulf shrimp and lump crabmeat liberated from my parents’ freezer when I was home last month. Since Gil and I were the only two eating, I didn’t fire up the crab pot, but kept the whole thing indoors. I boiled water, salt and Zatarain’s seasoning together for a couple of minutes before tossing in 4 small yellow onions and a whole head of garlic to season the water to perfection. Once they were cooked through, I fished them out and added baby red potatoes, then shrimp in the last couple of minutes. I turned off the heat as soon as the shrimp went in, and when they floated to the top, the salad was ready to assemble.

I diced the potatoes along with carrot, avocado and red bell pepper, added some of the boiled garlic, salted capers (soaked in water and chopped) and the seafood, then tossed everything with a gorgeous Creole remoulade from Chef John Folse. Shame I didn’t make more, but there were tacos and cake to look forward to at Sela’s party and it would’ve just put us over the top.

But if you’re looking for something more properly French on this date, you could take a gander at my Paris pix from our seven-month anniversary. What I wouldn’t give to go back…

As you can see, I’ve been cooking. Oh, how I’ve been cooking. But there hasn’t been a lot to say about the food. I mean, we can all get behind a great roast chicken, but really, what more could I possibly tell you about it? Well, OK, just a word about this one, then we’ll move on…

I was craving another Zuni roast chicken for dinner during the week, but my way-back machine was in the shop and I couldn’t have one seasoned in time for that evening’s meal. So I did the next best thing; I used Thomas Keller’s method of seasoning and dry roasting a chicken in a 450-degree oven for an hour. (Thanks for the heads-up, Dietsch.) It’s very similar to the Zuni method, only it requires no advance planning. It’s also very similar to my grandma’s roast chicken: 500-degree oven for an hour, but she bastes it in butter whereas this one stayed completely dry, the better to crisp the skin, my darlings. It was a delicious bird, only not seasoned through the way it would have been if I’d started the project three days earlier. Live and learn.

One thing among many I’m grateful for is that my husband remains unmoved by chicken butt. Rufus and I go crazy for it, so there must be some primal instinct that Gil’s missing. Whatever — more for me. (What? You don’t really think I’d actually share this little morsel with a dog, do you? He got a few bites of chicken skin after we’d finished eating, which was all the reward he was getting. Did he help me lift the heavy cast iron pan into the oven? No. Did he help me make gravy from the salty pan drippings? No. He just napped cutely while I did all the hard work.)

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Yet another craving from last weekend, I think — spaghetti and meatballs. Nothing special about them, but it was the perfect meal for a blustery day. I didn’t even mind eating these leftovers, which should tell you something.

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And then there were tea eggs. I was lucky to take my last vacation day of 2008 this past Wednesday during the snow/ice storm and thought I’d try these since they didn’t require a trip to the grocery store. Chinese new year had come and gone, but wasn’t so far in the distance, so they were very nearly on trend.

To be honest, I made them mostly for the pictures.

But they were ridiculously good — savory with just a touch of sweetness — so I’ll definitely be making them again.

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UPDATE: I forgot to mention these!

I first read about the lure of olives, harissa and goat cheese with honey over at Orangette, but it took cook, eat, FRET’s hearty endorsement to get me to try it last year. And ever since, I’ve gone through long periods where I’ve wanted nothing else for breakfast. The craving struck again last weekend, when my kitchen was sadly depleted of both flatbread and olives, but there was no way that could stop me. For the wrap, I tried my hand at crepes, adapting the helpful article/tutorial in Martha Stewart Living to make a heartier version with whole wheat flour to stand up to the fillings.

Hmph! I turned out only a few crepes that didn’t tear, bunch up, or otherwise look “off.” It didn’t help that the article’s opener kept running through my mind:

If you were to tell a French friend that you find making crepes rather intimidating, she would likely smile incredulously. You see, in France, even the average home cook has been flipping crepes since she was barely tall enough to see above the stove top.

Being quite a bit taller than my stove top, I felt enormous frustration, but I took those few, those proud, those unblemished crepes as my base, added goat cheese thinned with Fage yogurt and a few dabs of freshly made harissa before folding them up. With a few of these tempting pockets on my plate, I added a liberal drizzle of honey and tucked in.

You know, I really can’t say why I ever eat anything else for breakfast. I didn’t even miss the olives and the flavor wiped out all memory of the crepe-making debacle, at least in the short term.

Basic Crepes from Martha Stewart Living

Makes thirty-two 6-inch or twelve 10-inch crepes

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups whole milk, room temperature, plus more if needed
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 ounces (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together milk and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture, whisking to combine. Whisk in butter. Strain mixture into a medium bowl, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 1 day). Batter should be the consistency of heavy cream; add more milk if needed.

Heat an 8- or 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, and brush with butter. Ladle or pour 3 tablespoons batter (for small crepes) or 1/3 cup batter (for large crepes) into pan, turning and tilting skillet to coat bottom evenly with batter. Cook until top of crepe appears set, bottom is firm and golden brown in spots, and center is lifted by pockets of air, about 1 minute. Run a spatula around edge of crepe to loosen. Slip spatula under crepe, and gently flip in one swift gesture. (If it doesn’t land quite right, that’s OK; use the spatula to unfold or rearrange it.) Cook until bottom is firm and golden brown in spots, about 45 seconds. Transfer to a plate, and cover. (The first one will not be your finest.) Repeat with remaining batter, brushing pan lightly with butter as needed (every 2 or 3 crepes). Serve immediately.

Chinese Tea Eggs adapted slightly from Steamy Kitchen

6 eggs
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 star anise
2 tablespoons black tea (or 2 tea bags)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn

Gently place the eggs in a medium pot and fill with water to cover the eggs by 1-inch. Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the eggs (leaving the water in the pot) and let cool under running cool water. Using the back of the teaspoon, gently tap the eggshell to crack the shell all over. The more you tap, the more intricate the design. Do this with a delicate hand to keep the shell intact. (I went a bit too far with a few of them, but my enthusiasm only harmed the final pattern on the egg white, not the flavor.) To the same pot with the boiling water, return the eggs and add in the remaining ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes, cover with lid and let eggs steep for a few hours to overnight. The longer you steep, the more flavorful and deeply marbled the tea eggs will be. (I steeped mine for 5 hours.)

Harissa adapted from Global Gourmet

3 1/2 tablespoons dried chili flakes, soaked in the same amount of hot water
1 1/2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons caraway seed
2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, dry roasted then ground
1 teaspoon salt

Place ingredients in small food processor and blend or grind in mortar until a paste is formed. I stored the extra in the fridge with a small amount of olive oil floated over the top. Not sure how long it lasts, but I’m not going to keep it much longer than a week because of the fresh garlic in the paste.

This slushy winter weather has pressed my cast iron skillet into heavy rotation lately. As our mothers and grandmothers knew, cast iron cookware is perfect for homey meals or stove-to-oven cooking with a minimum of mess.

Awash in laziness last weekend, I decided to try my hand at a Spanish torta, as it required the relatively simple journey from living room to kitchen instead of a more arduous trek to the grocery store. The recipes that turned up in a Google search varied only slightly from each other, so I got the gist of them, used Martha’s (yes, we’re on a first-name basis) as a guide to ingredient amounts and oven temperature and set out to create my own vegetarian version.

To the basic recipe, I added diced red bell pepper, sautéed broccoli rabe (leafy greens only), garlic and a hefty dose of hot pimentón. (Several of the recipes I found called for chorizo, which I agree would be a superb addition, but there was that whole going-out thing to avoid. The pimentón seemed an acceptable substitute under the circumstances.) Since I don’t have much experience with cast iron pans, I was concerned that the potatoes would stick, but with the pan preheated and coated with a thin film of oil, that wasn’t a problem in any way.

The torta alone was our lunch, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve for dinner. OK, only one trick, but what a beauty — Zuni Café roast chicken. I made the turkey version for Thanksgiving and was so shockingly pleased with the outcome, I had to try the chicken sooner rather than later. And it didn’t disappoint. All of the raves you’ve probably read across the internet are absolutely true — the chicken is moist and perfectly seasoned with delicious crispy, browned skin. Mmmmm. We managed to keep some of it for leftovers the following day, but only just. I think it’s likely to go into the weekly rotation.

recipes after the jump

Spanish Torta adapted from Martha Stewart

Olive oil
1 medium Spanish onion, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick half moons
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 bunch broccoli rabe, leafy greens only, chopped
3 medium Yukon gold or other floury potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
7 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Pinch freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon pimentón (smoked paprika)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté, stirring, until golden, about 8 minutes. Add chopped garlic to pan and sauté, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl.

Return the skillet to heat, and add 1/2 tablespoon oil. Sauté bell pepper until soft, then add chopped broccoli rabe and sauté until wilted and just beginning to char, about 3 minutes. Add to bowl with onions and garlic.

Return the skillet to heat, and add 1 tablespoon oil. Add potatoes, cover, and saute until soft, stirring, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with onions, sprinkle with pimentón and combine.

Whisk together eggs; add salt and pepper. Transfer to the bowl with onions and potatoes, and combine.

Return the skillet to the heat, and add 1 tablespoon oil. Add egg mixture, and cook until edges set and start to brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Cover, and bake in the oven until set, about 10 minutes. Remove cover, and broil until top is golden.

Zuni Roast Chicken courtesy of The Zuni Cafe Cookbook via the NBC website

The length of this recipe seems daunting, I know; the instructions are detailed and precise, but not difficult or time-consuming to follow in any way. If you haven’t made this yet, please don’t be put off by the number of words, but do follow them to the letter. You’ll be rewarded with the best roast chicken you’ve ever made.

One small chicken, 2-3/4 to 3-1/2-pounds
4 tender sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary or sage, about 1/2 inch long
Salt (about 3/4 teaspoon per pound of chicken)
About 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
A little water

Seasoning the chicken
(Can be done 1 to 3 days before serving; for 3-1/4- to 3-1/2-pound chickens, at least 2 days)

Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough — a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.

Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove and herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.

Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper (we use ¾ teaspoon of sea salt per pound of chicken). Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don’t otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.

Roasting the chicken

Preheat the oven to 475F. Depending on the size, efficiency and accuracy of your oven, and the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the heat to as high as 500F or as low as 450F during the course of roasting the chicken to get it to brown properly. If that proves to be the case, begin at that temperature the next time you roast a chicken. If you have a convection function on your oven, use it for the first 30 minutes; it will enhance browning, and may reduce overall cooking by 5 to 10 minutes.

Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle. Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.

Place pan in the center of the oven and listen and watch for it to start browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn’t, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking, reduce temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over — drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking. Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to recrisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. Total oven time will be 45 minutes to an hour.

Finishing and serving the chicken

Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat.

Lift the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Carefully pour the clear fat from the roasting pan, leaving the lean drippings behind. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it.

Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings.

Set the chicken in a warm spot to rest for 5 minutes. The meat will become more tender and uniformly succulent as it cools.

Set a platter in the oven to warm for a minute or two.

Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard golden drippings. Taste-the juices will be extremely flavorful. Cut the chicken into pieces and serve.