I met Gordon about 10 years ago when he was a guest at an Interactive event I led. The dinner had been a party in honor of his birthday. The hostess had alerted me that Gordon was in a wheelchair. Though he would not be able to participate in the Interactive cooking, she knew he would appreciate the demonstration of how the meal was prepared.

Seared Sesame Crusted Tuna Sashimi with Pickled Ginger and Asparagus Relish

Striped Bass with Sauteed Pea Tendrils in a Green Curry-Coconut Broth
with Jasmine Rice Cakes

Jasmine Tea Crème Brulee.

He recalls that night fondly, “I've always loved tuna sashimi and the jasmine rice cakes were wonderful. Mom and I made them a few times after your training and they were always a treat.”
As it turns out, that first party was the only time Gordon ever tasted my food. Nonetheless, he loves to entertain! Over the years, Gordon regularly emails me with “an unusual request” for a distinctive cuisine event: An ice-cream party for his colleagues at work, a going away party for dear friends from his church, a pool party for 75 of his closest friends.

Gordon has been in a wheelchair since he was 8 years old, a result of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He is now close to forty-five. A tracheotomy tube in his throat assists him in breathing, and though he used to be able to swallow, the disease has taken that away from him, too. Gordon speaks slowly and quietly, but is always charming. It’s worth waiting to hear him. With limited mobility he can type and works for a networking company. He controls his wheelchair with a joy-stick.

The going away party at his church was one of the first times he socialized when he could no longer swallow. “I was so worried how people would react if I didn't eat, and was scared that I would lose such an important part of socializing. You prepared a wonderful meal at church, and between your understanding as well as that of my friends, I realized it would be OK. Phew.”

The disability does not prevent him from relishing the hospitality that food creates. “You know, probably better than I, that food is a sensual experience, and such an important factor in building relationships. From sharing food off each others plates to cooking for someone, food is so integral to friendships. I know that is one of the many things that attract me to you and your gifts. You prepare, present, enjoy and respect food in a way I wish I could.”

After each event, I receive a lovely thank you note. He recalls the wonderful aromas, the lovely presentations, and the sounds of “oohs and aahs” as his guests enjoy each morsel. Invariably, he will have a favorite dish. In one note, after many praises, he referred to his one regret of the evening, “My only disappointment is that three people did not show up. Alas, you cannot dictate good manners.”

On a crisp fall day, the air lingering with warmth of the summer, Gordon planned for a walk in the Wellesley Horticultural Garden with his friend Patricia. He wanted to surprise her with a picnic in the rose garden. Though Gordon would not eat or drink at the picnic, we planned the menu, with corresponding wines for each course. I arranged for linens, a table and chair, and china. Gordon requested two long stem roses in a simple vase.

As they walked casually by the garden, Patricia could see the table and commented on how romantic it looked and wondered who would be dining there. As they approached, I appeared from the hedges with champagne and hors d’œuvres. They sat down to a three-course lunch, chatting leisurely and laughing often. At the end of the lunch, they walked away, Patricia with roses in hand. They thanked me for the wonderful afternoon, and presented me with one of the roses.

_____________________________
If you would like more information about muscular dystrophy or wish to donate for research, Gordon suggests contacting the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

In order to get the duck legs for my experiments with Alinea’s book, I had to buy a whole duck. For the breasts, I decided to take an east meets west angle. The “east” came from a 5-spice rub on the breast and hoisin and sake in the sauce. The “west” incarnated itself in a timbale of broccoli raab, chanterelles and rice. The sauce nodded to France with a swirl of butter at the end.

4 duck breasts
1 tsp. Sichuan pepper
1 tbs. five spice powder
salt
¼ cup sake
1 tbs. hoisin
pinch of chili flakes
1 tbs. chopped shallots
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup chicken broth or stock
butter to taste

Score the skin side of the duck breast. Season meat with salt, pepper and five spice. Cook duck, skin side down over low heat for 10 minutes, or until the fat is rendered and the skin is crispy. Cook breast for 1 minute on flesh side for medium. Remove duck from pan and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

To the duck pan: drain off excess fat. Return pan to heat. Add the shallots and chili flakes. Cook for 2 minutes until the shallots are soft. Deglaze the pan with sake. Stir in hoisin and nutmeg. Add chicken broth, and let reduce by half. Swirl in butter to taste.

Carol from French Laundry at Home cooked her way through the French Laundry Cookbook. Having cooked many recipes from that book, and derived so much inspiration, I was wholey impressed with Carol’s effort. When she finished French Laundry, she began to tackle Alinea. Without any thought, I bought Alinea’s cookbook as well. It arrived last week.

Thumbing through it, I realized it was more a coffee table tome than a book to derive inspiration, much less cook from. The organization of the book, the pictures and the wording or recipe names make it a difficult to figure what the recipes are all about. Carol, I bow to you in admiration. Nonetheless, I decided to try something from it.

First challenge: finding a recipe that didn’t require specialty ingredients or equipment. I opted for Venison Encased in Savory Granola. And then I changed everything… I made duck confit instead of the venison. Instead of making the granola, I served the fried components separately. And I pureed macomber turnips instead of celeriac. But I did make the dried-cherry port sauce. Other than that, it was exactly the same.

The puffed wild rice was a fun novelity, and offered a good textural contrast. Flavor-wise, I don't think it contributed to the dish. Perhaps if I had made the granola as Achatz recommended it would have benefited from the potato shreds and onion rings.

Duck Confit
Duck legs
1 tsp. each cumin, coriander, cinnamon
3/4 tsp. each allspice, dried thyme
¼ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. each cardamom ginger nutmeg
lots of garlic
half a lots of shallots
salt and pepper
duck fat

1. Combine spices.
2. Season duck generously with salt, pepper and spice mix on the flesh side.
3. Press in garlic and shallots.
4. Let sit for 24 hours.
5. Cook duck legs in 250 oven covered in duck fat for 2-3 hours, or until meat is very tender.
6. Store in fat.

Deep Frying
Onion Rings
1 onion, thinly sliced on a mandolin
1 tbs. corn starch
Wild Rice
Potato Shreds, soaked in water to remove starch
Oil for deep frying

1. Heat oil to 450. Add wild rice. It should puff instantly. After 30 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on a papper towel and season with salt.
2. Turn oil down to 375. Toss onion slices in corn starch. Fry until crispy, about 5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel and season with salt
3. Fry potato shreds until lightly golden. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

Macomber Turnips
2 turnips
¼ cup cream
Salt, pepper and lemon juice, to taste

1. Peel and cubed turnips. Put in a pot of cold water. Season with salt.
2. Bring water to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until turnips are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.
3. Puree turnips with cream. Season with salt pepper and lemon juice.

Port Sauce
1 small shallot diced
1 cup port wine
1 cup chicken or duck stock
Butter
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

In a small sauce pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add shallots, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until soft. Add wine and dried cherries, and let it reduce to about 1/4 cup. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil and reduce by ½. Turn heat the heat off, and whisk in butter, 2 tbs. at a time - for a total of 1/4 -1/2 # depending on your taste. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and a small squeeze of lemon juice.

Thanks to David for taking pictures. He blogs about editing food photos here.

The original story of Channukah (or Hanuka, Chanuka, or Hanukkah) recounts the rededication of the second temple of Israel. During the first century C.E., the Holy Temple of Jerusalem was under Greek rule, and the Jews could not enter and pray in this sacred and holy place. Miraculously, in 148 C.E. the Jews defeated the Greeks and reclaimed their temple. It had been desecrated and needed to be rebuilt and cleaned up. The rededication of the temple lasted eight days, and included burnt offerings. This celebration became the annual holiday of Hanukah (the spelling my computer spell-check prefers).

Centuries later, the story is retold in the Talmud, and is embellished with the miracle of oil: When the Jews were cleaning up the temple, they need to oil to light the “Eternal Light.” They found an oil flask that seemed to contain only enough to last for 1 day, but instead lasted for eight. It is through this story that foods cooked in oil become the central theme of the holiday.

To me, the real theme of the holiday is potato pancakes (latkes in Jewish), a further stretch of imagination from the original story – since the potatoes are cooked in a only a modest amount. The shredded potatoes are mixed with onion and perhaps a little flour and egg for binding, and are served with either sour cream or apple sauce. Modern culinarians have adapted the original recipe to include zucchini, parsnips or sweet potatoes.

My preferred recipe is a blend of regular and sweet potatoes. I make homemade pink applesauce – the pink coming from the skin of red apples.

1 sweet potato
2 medium new potatoes
Idaho potatoes
2 onions
2 tbs. flour
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ cup plain oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel potatoes and onions. Grate using the largest whole of a cheese grate or food processor. Pour into a colander and squeeze out the liquid.
2. Mix potatoes with flour, egg, salt, pepper and baking powder.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium high flame and add about 2 tbs. oil. Spoon about 2 tbs. of batter per latke – about 4 latkes per batch. Cook for about 5 minutes or until brown, flip and cook on other side. Repeat until all the batter is used
4. Serve with apple sauce or sour cream or both.
5. Latkes can be pre-made and recrisped in a 450F oven just before serving.

Pink Apple Sauce
3 empire apples, cored with the skin on
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
a few drops of lemon juice

Put apples, sugar and water in a sauce pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, covered, until apples turn mushy. Remove from heat. Press sauce through a food mill to extract the peels from the sauce. Add a few drops of lemon juice.

Like most vegetables, there are many cultivars of celery. Some are grown for the stalks and some for the root. The root, called celeriac, has a mild celery flavor with a hint of turnip. When I planted celery this spring, I had visions of utilizing the stalks through the summer and then enjoying the root in the fall. When I dug up a plant a few weeks ago, I discovered I planted the wrong variety.

Nonetheless, celeriac is a prominent feature on my winter menus: pureed with a little cream and lemon juice, poached in cream and tossed with pasta or raw in a remoulade. The globes should be firm. With their knobby, funky shape they’re easier to peel using a paring knife rather than a peeler. If you cut them and discover a hollow, stringy center, you should it cut out and discard.

Smoked Salmon - Celeriac Cigars
4 oz. smoked salmon slices
1 small celeriac knob
spring roll wrappers
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

1. Peel celeriac, and cut into ¼” x 1/4” x 1” pieces

2. Put in a pot of cold water, salted water. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Let cook for one minute more, or until celeriac is tender. Drain.
3. Cut salmon slices into 3 pieces. wrap each piece around a slice of celeriac. Wrap each salmon/celeriac in a spring roll wrapper.

4. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Fry cigars until golden brown on all sides.

5. Drain on a paper towel. Serve with green goddess dressing.

It was only in the past few months, as I’ve been reading about sustainability and participating in the Cambridge Recycling Committee, that I finally understood the dictum, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” You can see it on grocery bags at Whole Foods, or any sort of green initiative. Reuse and recycle are obvious – for example, the plastic water bottle you purchased – reuse it by refilling it with filtered water, instead of purchasing a new bottle, and when you are done with it, recycle it. People often justify wasteful behavior by explaining that they will recycle. “Yes, I took more paper napkins than I need, but I will recycle them, so it’s okay.” Reduce was a harder concept for me to grasp. Reduce means only taking as many paper napkins as you need. Sure, it’s great that you’ll recycle, but we must also consider the energy expended and the chemicals used to create the napkins – the tree that was cut down, the plant that processed the paper and packaged it, the truck that shipped the napkin to the supermarket, etc.

When it comes to food and entertaining, the mantra would be “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Compost.” With cooking, I find it much more challenging to reduce. In terms of shopping, the stores often dictate the quantities I purchase: I must buy a 1 cup container of sour cream, even though I will only use 2 tablespoons. I’ll admit it’s getting better: I can now buy chicken broth in one cup packages instead of one quart. Most grains are sold in bulk bins. Even celery is sold by the stalk. Most challenging is gauging what quantity to prepare for dinner parties, especially buffets.

So it happened when Dina and I hosted Mole cannoli – a feast of two of our favorite foods. The final guest count was a moving target – between the quest for finding a babysitter or the new boyfriend we didn’t realize would be coming. And we wanted a nice variety of moles, salads and garnishes. Needless to say, we did not do a very good job of reducing – there were ample leftovers. The best I could do was reuse and recycle. We ate leftovers for a few days, and the excess of black beans and mole sauces went into the freezer.

Last week, inspired by Lydia’s black bean dip post, I pulled the black beans out of the freezer. I intended to make the dip for a friend’s party, but as I set out to make the recipe, I realized I didn’t have most of the ingredients on hand. But! I did have ½ cup of leftover green mole from that same evening that generated the black beans. I pureed the two together and, Voila! Black Bean dip. (P.S. The sour cream on top was leftover from another dinner the previous week)

I rarely complain about the size of my kitchen. And it’s tiny at 9 feet long by 7 ½ feet wide -- and that’s the area according to the ceiling. When you consider a few appliances, cabinets and a sink, there’s barely enough room for me in there. I joke that my refrigerator has a self-regulating mechanism that prevents me from over-eating and becoming too big. If I gain too much weight, it’s a logistical impossibility to open the refrigerator to eat more food. And yet, when friends visit, they are always surprised by the coziness of the space. More curious to them, when I talk about renovating my house (a pipe-dream in its own right), I talk about adding a fireplace or a foyer, but never do I suggest that I want a bigger kitchen. Would it be nice? Yes! Are there other places I’d rather spend my money? Most definitely! So until I become independently wealthy, I’ll make do.

Mark Bittman’s Manhattan kitchen is even smaller – 7 feet by 6 feet. Yet he manages to test all the recipes for his cookbooks and newspaper articles. In today’s New York Times, he writes that most chefs, food writers and cooks that learned their skill pre-world war II agree that size does not matter. Fancy equipment does not make a better cook; skill, practice and taste do.

Working in restaurants, I learned to contain my work to the area that’s just as big as my cutting board, plus about a 6 inches perimeter. Other cooks would encroach on my space from either side. I learned to work efficiently and neatly. Cooking at home, I’ve become a bit sloppy, but I can only go so far because my kitchen is still small.

My saving grace is the mini speed-rack I had custom built. The shelves hold 9 half-sheet pans. It’s a standard counter height with a wood block on top to match the size and shape of the other counters. I use the sheet-pans for cooking and as shelves. When things come out of the oven they slide right onto the speed rack until they’re cool. I can also store prep on the shelves until ready to be used. It’s an incredibly efficient space-saving piece of furniture/equipment.

Though I’ve been a professional chef for over 15 years, I haven’t worked in restaurants for the last 10. Most people don’t understand how I can earn a living as a chef but not in a restaurant. To assuage their desire to define my career, I tell them that if I did have a restaurant, the food I’d serve would be just like Peter McCarthy at EVOO.

Peter cooks clean, simple food with interesting flavor combinations. He focuses on seasonal, local ingredients and draws inspiration from around the globe. He writes his menus with a flair for whimsy: “Fried Green Monsters” a dish that evokes Fenway Park and my summertime favorite soft shell crabs. The monster crabs are green from a basil batter. “Duck Duck Goose” combines duck foie gras, duck confit and sautéed goose breast.

But the dish that keeps me coming back is the Smoked Rabbit Confit, Eva's Organic Wild Greens, Port Soaked Cherries and Toasted Pecan Salad with Shaved Vermont Cheddar and Grain Mustard - Rosemary Vinaigrette. Eva has been selling herbs and greens to Boston area restaurants for as long as I’ve been here. And her salad greens – each leaf has a unique flavor and texture. They taste tart, spicy, sweet and hardy, as they should, unlike the generic “mesclun” lettuces coming out of California.

The salad masterfully combines the full spectrum of flavor: sweet (dried cherries) with tart (balsamic vinegar) tangy and rich (cheddar cheese) earthy salad greens, smoky and rich (rabbit confit) with a well balanced mustard vinaigrette. I’m sure the pecans add a wonderful crunch if you do nuts, I do not.

One of my most impressive hors d’oeuvre is also the easiest: Baby Potato Skins. I usually fill them with truffle Carpaccio and tallegio cheese, but they would also be delicious with a more traditional filling of cheddar, bacon and scallions.

Start with tiny yellow potatoes, less than an inch in diameter. I pick through the supermarket bins of new potatoes to find the smaller.

Cut the potatoes in half. Scoop out the center with a melon-baller.

Toss the potatoes with olive oil, garlic and salt. Roast at 425F, cut side down, until the potatoes are browned on the bottom and tender.

Flip the potatoes over. Fill with truffles slices and tallegio. Put them back in the oven until the cheese melts. Serve hot and gooey.

I'm submitting this recipe to this month's potato ho down, a monthly round-up of recipes from around the blogosphere featuring this illustrious tuber. This month's ho-down is sponsored by the fine women at Where's My Damn Answer?

My fall growing season was cut short by a long frost in the middle of November. The temperatures didn't rise above freezing for almost a week. After the first overnight frost I thought to myself, "Terrific, the brussels sprouts need this to sweeten them up." And I know from talking with Brett that the lettuces can withstand an overnight of below freezing temperatures as long as they during the daylight hours.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The broccoli raab began making valiant efforts to recover, but with the first dusting of snow followed by another bout of freezing temperatures, I think I will need to wait until spring.

Throughout the summer, I enjoyed stalks of celery. I never did harvest a full head. Flacid celery is unattractive, but the flavor is fine. So I continue to harvest stalks when I want the celery boost.
The leaves on the brussels sprouts are droopy but the flavor is sweet and bright. The sprouts continue to grow and been enjoying them a handful at a time. The scallions seem to be content and sturdy despite the snow and frost.
And surprise, surprise... the sage still looks full and lush. A few sprigs made a wonderful accompaniment to Dina's braised duck legs with lentils.

Marinades serve many purposes. Often they are used to tenderize tough cuts of meat, others just to add flavor. In Chinese recipes, they are designed to add texture in addition to flavor.

I recall a meal in Montepulciano, Italy, in Tuscany: red wine braised rabbit over creamy polenta. What made this dish so memorable was that the meat was bursting with flavor straight through to the bone, a rare occurrence in many US restaurants. When preparing dense cuts of meat (leg of lamb, whole beef tenderloin, short ribs or veal shanks), I like to begin marination the night before cooking. This gives the marinade ample time to penetrate the meat and ensure that every bite is flavorful. [[As a side note, I was quite impressed to see cook eat FRET does this too, as she describes in this post]]

For my style of cooking, I’m more concerned with adding flavor than tenderizing meat. I add salt, pooh-poohing the notion that it will draw out the moisture. And just in case I’m wrong, I add olive oil… so what the salt taketh away, the olive oil giveth.

For 1 whole beef tenderloin:
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup chopped garlic
2 tbs. chopped fresh sage
1 tbs. chopped fresh thyme
2 scallions, cut into rounds
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander
1 tbs. salt
1 tsp. pepper

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic, and simmer until the shallots are soft and translucent

2. Add the herbs and continue cooking for 2 minutes.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the spices are aromatic. Remove from heat.

4. Let marinade cool before using

My friend Benny opened The Savant Project in Mission Hill last year. We met in business school, both coming from the hospitality industry (he was a bartender, I was a chef), and became fast friends. Though I knew I didn't want to be in the restaurant business anymore, I was intrigued by his vision of restaurants and lounges (a "lounge empire" he modestly called it).

Benny has succeeded in creating a lounge: the vibe is hip and funky, blending perfectly with this fringe neighborhood -- on the edge of the prominent Longwood Medical Center and the up-and-coming Mission Hill. Hospital employees mingle with young hipsters. The tiny kitchen produces fun and funky dishes, variations on the typical bar food... a steak frite with yuca fries instead of the typical potato, quesadillas trios with homemade mango salsa, and a home-made veggie burger. They have received props from Boston Magazine (Where to Dine and Best of Boston Awards), the Phantom Gourmet, the Boston Globe and Chronicle.

When Benny asked if I could help streamline the menu, I had to say yes. How fun to be part of his exciting venture! Benny's two big challenges: the food costs were too high and the kitchen could not execute the menu fast enough on busy nights. We made a few adjustments with the current recipes (like slicing the pork tenderloins into medallions before cooking -- yielding more yummy 5-spice crust and cooking faster). We also removed some of the slow selling items and replaced them with new dishes that cook quickly and have a lower food cost - we were even able to reduce the prices on some of the menu items!

The general approach to the menu was to simplify. The menu consisted of numerous items some of which did not move as quickly as we would have liked. As opposed to having numerous options all the time (which kills labor costs from excessive prep, and food costs due to waste and spoilage) the menu is focusing on its strengths. Now, the menu will switch out about 30% of the items every two months in order to provide the clientele with the options they so desire!

The most popular addition: Beer Battered Fish Tacos with a Chipotle Slaw and Guacamole. Although intended for the dinner menu (where it thrives) it also does quite well on the lunch menu. Priced at $15 it is cheaper than the traditional dinner entrees. It is priced higher than the veggie burger or the stuffed burger, however. These were the two most popular (and most affordable) dinner entrees. When a customer switches to the fish tacos from the burger, that means an extra $1.50 of revenue per entree or an 11% increase in food sales!

This month Benny is going on an all out promotions spree with the new changes to the menu. With the new menu in place, the restaurant now does three full turns for dinner with comfort and ease, and Benny plans to fully take advantage of this! Some of the promotions include 2 entrees and a bottle of wine for $50 any Sunday, Monday. In addition there is a 3 course NYE Dinner with a champagne toast and a glass of wine for $33.09 (designed by my friend and former co-worker Estuart Rojas) and he is even beginning a late night menu Thursday through Saturday till close with all items under $5. Enjoy some music and get some quality grub....in Mission Hill! (who knew?)

He is also happy to offer anyone who says the code words "we love Hoolia" (his idea, not mine) a complementary tapa with your meal or even just a drink! And Benny insisted I add his little blurb, "If you read Julia's blog and come on in, please ask for me! I'm here all the time and Julia has helped out so much (often just for bottles of wine...) that I owe her friends and fans the best of times."

And for those of you not in Boston, here's the recipe for the famed Fish Tacos.

¼ cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 chipotle (or more to taste)

½ cup shredded red cabbage or lettuce
2 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
¼ cup finely sliced red onion
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
¼ cup chopped cilantro
salt and lime to taste

1 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. salt, or more to taste
1 cup beer
1 egg
12 6-in soft, white corn tortillas
Canola for frying
1 lb. fluke, cod or any firm white fleshed fish, cut into strips 1 inch wide and 2 -3 inches long

2 limes, cut into wedges

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, cumin and chipotle salsa. Toss in cabbage, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, garlic and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and lime juice.
2. In a large bowl, make a beer batter: whisk together 2/3 cup flour, cornmeal, salt, egg and beer.
3. Preheat oven to warm, or its lowest setting. Spread tortillas on a baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Place in oven.
4. Pour 1 inch of peanut oil into a deep saucepan and place over medium-high heat. When it is hot enough to brown a bread crumb, begin coating the fish. Dust fish with the flour, and then dip into the batter. Add the pieces, one by one, to the oil. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary. Drain on plate lined with paper towel. Repeat process with remaining fish.
5. Fill each warm tortilla with 2-3 pieces of fish, a generous spoon of the cabbage slaw. Squeeze a wedge of lime and sprinkle a little salt over the filled tortilla. Fold in half and serve.

In a previous life, I must have been Chinese. My refrigerator shelves are loaded with different soy sauces, chili pastes, bean sauces and a host of other condiments necessary for many of my favorite recipes. I’m just as happy to whip up a spicy pork stir-fry as I am Chicken Picatta on an idle Tuesday. And I rarely tire of the flavors – even after three weeks in China eating “authentic” food 2 meals a day.


With a well stocked pantry, most Chinese recipes are easy to execute. The condiments I don’t have in the refrigerator, I have in the garden: ginger, scallions and celery.

Spicy Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin, cut into thin slices
1 egg white, beaten
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
½ teaspoon salt
¾ tsp. sugar

Sauce
2 tsp. double dark soy sauce
1tsp. sugar
1 tablespoon Shao-Hsing wine
2 tablespoons sweet bean sauce
1 tablespoon Lan Chi chili garlic paste (more or less to taste)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tsp. vinegar

1 tbs. chopped ginger
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1 stalk celery
3 scallions diced.
1 tablespoon plain oil

1. Marinate pork with egg white, tapioca, salt and sugar.
2. Combine ingredients for sauce.
3. Heat a large skillet or wok over high flame. Add pork slices and cook until golden brown. Add garlic, ginger, and celery and stir fry for 1 minute.

4. Add sauce and continue cooking until pork is cooked through. It maybe be necessary to add a tablespoon of water or chicken stock if the sauce gets too thick. Add scallions
5. Serve with steamed rice and sautéed mustard greens.

As a line-cook working in restaurants, I can tell you Saturday nights are ugly. As my old boss, Lydia Shire always said, this one’s for the house. With the majority of the restaurants’ business on one night, we worked at break-neck speed to serve as many dinners as possible. The specials were designed for speed not creativity. By contrast, Sunday nights were for the kitchen. With the head chefs taking the night off, this was my opportunity to try out my menu ideas as specials. It was also a chance to have fun with the staff. The spirit in the kitchen was lively and jovial, unwinding from the craziness of the previous night. Sunday nights we also got a little lazy.

On one Sunday night, I ran out of watercress on my station. I raced to the walk-in refrigerator to get another bunch. And as I ran back to my station, I tried to untwist the rubber-band that held the bunch together. I dressed the watercress, mounded it on the plate and put it in the window. Michael Murphy grabbed the plate to bring to the table. Not five minutes later, Michael returned with the plate and a rubber-band on top. Whoops! Apparently, I had not effectively untwisted the rubber band from the watercress.

To have a little fun, I ran back to the walk-in and pulled the rubber bands off of everything I could find: watercress, scallions, leeks and celery. I mounded them on a plate and garnished it with a sprig of watercress. Into the window, I called Michael back to the kitchen. With my apologies, I said, this is how the salad had meant to be presented.

Michael one-upped me, and served the “salad” to his customers. His guests were very good natured, and we all had a good laugh!

Braised Endive with Watercress and Apple Salad

2 large endive, cut in half lengthwise, or 4 small endive
1 bunch watercress
1 red apple
3/4 cup grated gruyere cheese
2 lemons, juiced
2 tbs. sugar
1 shallot, diced
1 tbs. cider vinegar
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to tastea


1. Put endive in pot with sugar and lemon juice. Cover with water. Season water to taste with salt and pepper, and additional lemon juice or sugar as necessary. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to simmer. Let endive simmer for 30 minutes, or until tender.

2. Meanwhile, Core and slice apple (do not peel). Toss apples and watercress with vinegar, olive oil and shallots. Season to taste with salt and pepper (and fresh thyme if you’d like).

3. When the endive is tender, remove from liquid. Put endive in an oven-proof dish. Cover with cheese. Melt cheese in oven (350) for 5 minutes.

4. Serve half a large endive, or 1 whole small endive with a small watercress and apple salad.

Watercress Picture comes from Mochachocolatarita.

Entertaining season is upon us. When I have guests over, I like to make a special cocktail in addition to wine and beer. I don’t have the capacity of serving a full bar, but with one special drink, I can find the balance.

Tamarind Sours taste like Hawaiian Punch with a boozy kick. This recipe is adapted from Douglas Rodriguez’s Nuevo Latino. I use Pom Pomegranate Juice instead of his suggested grenadine syrup. You can adjust the sugar and lime to your taste. Tamarind Juice is available at both Asian and Latin markets.

For 4 cocktails:
4 oz. Southern Comfort
1 lime juiced
2 tbs. sugar
2 oz. Pom pomegranate juice
1 cup tamarind juice

Combine ingredients, shake vigorously and serve over crushed ice.

While we think of sweet potatoes as a winter vegetable, they are actually grown in the summer. Shooting up green vines from the earth, each plant will yield up to 5 pounds of this sweet tuber. They last for months if stored properly in a root cellar. Two months after harvest, I'm still enjoying my stash that I brought back with me to Cambridge.

An interesting factoid about sweet potatoes: they actually get sweeter after they've been harvested. Once the plant is cut away, a chemical reaction occurs turning the starches into sugars. As such,the sweet potatoes need to cure for at least one week after harvesting before eating or cooking.

There are dozens of varieties of sweet potatoes -- both white and orange. Typically, in New England, you'll find jewel. To hear Brett describe them, they are pure sugar. His favorite varieties are white hamon and beauregard. These offer sweet, nuanced and balanced flavor.

Here are some more thoughts from Brett about sweet potatoes:

Very large sweet potatoes are unjustly scorned by novices, but old-time Southern cooks treasure the mammoths for ease of use. They also know that a slowly grown but big sweet potato is more flavorful than a typical conventionally grown, smaller sweet potato whose growth was rushed and babied with agricultural chemicals.

Different sweet potato cultivars have markedly different flesh colors and flavors. The white types (actually beige, to my eye) usually have a nuttier, nuanced suite of flavors, and often a less creamy and more stringy texture, than the orange types. White Hamon is an exception, being both very sweet and creamy and with a unique beige-pale green flesh when cooked in certain ways. We will let you know the names of the types you are receiving. I personally prefer the white kinds for savory roasted uses and the orange types for pies, but there is naught more subjective than palate opinions.Sweet Potato Vichyssoise is a fantastic summer-time chilled soup, but can also be served hot on a cold winter evening.

3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk
4 garlic clove
1/4 cup white wine
2 medium large sweet potatoes
4 cups water
2 leek -- washed
1/4 cup cream

1. Heat pot over medium heat. Add 2 tbs. butter. Add onions, garlic, leeks and celery. Sweat for about 5 minutes. Deglaze with white wine

2. Add potatoes and water. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

3. Puree soup. Add cream. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice

4. Chill soup.

5. While soup is chillin', heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add remaining butter, corn, shallots and garlic. Sauté without shaking the pan, for 3 minutes, or until the corn becomes sweetly aromatic. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Puree chipotle peppers with 1/4 cup water and 1 tbs. red wine vinegar

7. When soup is chilled, garnish with
a- corn and a drizzle of the chipotle puree, or
b- spicy sausage and scallions

Brussels sprouts are the number one underrated vegetables, with beets coming in a close second. Of course, I love them both, perhaps because they are perfect vehicles for bacon. Or that they are both nutritional powerhouses. It wouldn’t be beyond me to love them because they are both beautiful: brussel sprout plants are so fun, and beet puree – how can you not love that color??

This year, I planted 4 stalks. All survived the aphid attacks on the brassicas, though one plant’s growth was stunted because it was sowed into what became a rather shady spot. The sprouts grow just above the leaves. You can harvest the sprouts when they are just ¼ inch in diameter or you can wait until they are larger. Since the sprouts don’t uniformly grow at the same rate, its best to harvest just the ones that are the desired size. While the whole stalk makes an impressive presentation at the Farmer’s market, it’s not the most practical.

My favorite preparation is roasted with bacon and horseradish, though the olive oil roasted brussels sprouts at Toro fall into a close second. Blanch the sprouts first in salted boiling water and toss with rendered bacon. Roast the brussel sprouts with the bacon in a 450 oven until the sprouts are tender. Toss with prepared horseradish.

Brussel sprouts are the number one underrated vegetables, with beets coming in a close second. Of course, I love them both, perhaps because they are perfect vehicles for bacon. Or that they are both nutritional powerhouses. It wouldn’t be beyond me to love them because they are both beautiful: brussel sprout plants are so fun, and beet puree – how can you not love that color??

This year, I planted 4 stalks. All survived the aphid attacks on the brassicas, though one plant’s growth was stunted because it was sowed into what became a rather shady spot. The sprouts grow just above the leaves. You can harvest the sprouts when they are just ¼ inch in diameter or you can wait until they are larger. Since the sprouts don’t uniformly grow at the same rate, its best to harvest just the ones that are the desired size. While the whole stalk makes an impressive presentation at the Farmer’s market, it’s not the most practical.

My favorite preparation is roasted with bacon and horseradish, though the olive oil roasted brussel sprouts at Toro fall into a close second. Blanch the sprouts first in salted boiling water and toss with rendered bacon. Roast the brussel sprouts with the bacon in a 450 oven until the sprouts are tender. Toss with prepared horseradish.

When I tell people my lettuce crop is in full swing in November, they are usually surprised. Most people think of lettuces as a summer crop (maybe spring?). In fact, lettuces prefer the cooler weather. In the summer, they get bitter and bolt – the stalks spring up woody and the plant starts to flower and go to seed. In the cool weather they are sweet and a little spicy. The plants can survive a frost and even a light dusting of snow.

These lettuces fall into the “cut and come again” category. If you harvest properly, about 2 – 3 inches above the root, they will keep growing all season. While I don’t typically pick the lettuce in advance, sometimes I will harvest over a few days so that I have enough for a larger gathering. Each day, I pick only the biggest leaves, and the others keep growing. Unlike store-bought lettuces, my backyard lettuce lasts an impressive 10 days in the refrigerator – no need to worry about picking lettuces a few days in advance. Even better, they can last over night after they've already been dressed. This comes in handy if you pre-make sandwiches for lunch or dress too much salad for a dinner and want to eat it the next day.

I’m growing three types of lettuce for my Mesclun mix:

Tatsoi....


Mizuna...


Arugula....
Portobello and Mesclun Salad

3 portobellos
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 shallot, diced
2 sprigs of thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 pound mesclun
2 tablespoons truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
freshly grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

1. Put portobellos on a baking sheet, fins up. Sprinkle garlic, shallots and thyme on top. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinergar on them and season with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until they are tender. Remove from oven and let cool.

2. When mushrooms are cooled, slice them. Toss lettuce first with truffle oil. Then season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Top with mushrooms and parmesan cheese.

Psychgrad at Equal Opportunity Kitchen gave me my first blogging award! This is quite an honor for two reasons:

1. As you know, I just started blogging a few months ago. I've enjoyed the practice of writing on a regular basis and forcing myself to try new recipes and think about food in a different way. It's flattering to know that others are enjoying my blog as well!

2. The award comes from Psychgrad, quite an accomplished food-blogger. She and her mother co-write their "living cookbook with colour commentary." I started reading their blog soon after I started my own. I've enjoyed reading about their culinary adventures, especially their perspecitve on Jewish holidays and food. I'm always inspired by their recipes, and they help get me out of my own cooking rut.

If you were in Cambridge, I would make you a thank you present:


Cappuccino Brownies with Cinnamon and Chocolate Glaze
8 oz. semi sweet chocolate
6 oz. soft butter
2 tbs. instant espresso, dissolved in 1 tbs. boiling water
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs.
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt.

1. Melt chocolate and butter together. Mix in espresso, vanilla and sugar.

2. Beat in eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated.

3. Mix in flour and salt.

4. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes in a 9” x 13” pan.

5. Remove brownies from pan and let cool. Spread cream cheese frosting on top, and let cool in the refrigerator.

6. Pour chocolate glaze ontop of frosting. Let set. Cut into bite sizes pieces.

These freeze well so you can eat just a few at a time and save the rest for later.

Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese
6 tbs. soft butter
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together

Chocolate Glaze

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate
2 tbs. butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbs. instant espresso dissolved in 1 tbs. boiling water

1. Melt everything together in the top of a double boiler.