David Lebovitz's Blog, page 34

Pasta Puttanesca

One of my favorite pastas is Pasta Puttanesca. For some reason, I don’t make it very often, because I always seem to be sautéing fresh greens in olive oil and garlic, or something like that, to toss with noodles. But I love all the ingredients in Pasta Puttanesca; capers, olives, anchovies, crushed red peppers, and lots of garlic, so when faced with what to make for dinner the other night, when I didn’t have any vegetables from the market, it became “what’s for dinner.”

The name “puttanesca” fits, because it’s one of the lustiest pasta (or dishes) that I know of. It’s a mélange of robust – or umami? – flavors, using what you have on hand, which is especially handy when you’ve come home from a long trip and haven’t had time to stock your refrigerator, or when you don’t feel like heading to the grocery store. All the ingredients you probably already have in your pantry or refrigerator. And if you don’t, you should.

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Bordeaux

If you haven’t been to Bordeaux in a while, you might be in for a shock, although it’s more like, you’ll be in for a treat. Previously considered a staid city, Bordeaux has rebooted itself, partially thanks to a tram system that makes getting around the formerly congested city a breeze, but also because the TGV now can get you there in around two hours, from Paris.

Because of that, and for a variety of other reasons, such as a more relaxed lifestyle and better weather, there’s a lot of fresh energy in town as a number of Parisians are moving south. And It’s easy to see why.

To ward off incoming hoards from the north, there’s a joke that bakeries are charging people €1,50 if they ordered a pain au chocolat, since the correct term in town is chocolatine. In addition to warmer temperatures (which can get quite hot in the summer, although more places have fans, A/C, and ice), there’s a pleasant Spanish vibe in the food and drink categories, due to its closeness to Spain. And there’s also a big river, the Garonne, that runs through town, and prices are gentler. (Unless you get charged €1,50 for a chocolatine, which to an American, seems like a bargain.)

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One Pan Harissa Chicken

Let me start by disclosing something. As soon as I saw the title of this book, and subtitle – Dinner: Changing the Game By Melissa Clark, I knew it was going to be a great book. With a title like that, how could it not be? It’s eclectic, exciting, fresh, do-able, and most important, it answers the question: What am I going to make for dinner?

The book gets right to the point, and the diversity of recipes includes everything from a Chinese-inspired Spicy Stir-fried Cumin Lamb and Duck Breasts with Plums and Garam Masala, to Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese and Seitan Enchiladas, so everyone will feel welcome around Melissa’s dinner table. And yours, too.

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The Best Apple Tart in Paris

I take a tough line at calling something “the best.” As anyone who’s tried to get the best chocolate shop, the best bakery, the best bistro, etc., out of me knows I’m always coy with an answer. (Someone, however, once got so upset about it that they went on an online tear about me on one of those bulletin boards. Ouch.) Lest you think I’m not happy to point you in the right direction, I have pages on the blog where some of my favorite bakeries and restaurants in Paris can be found.

To be honest, the best doesn’t really exist, at least not always. The baker might be having a bad day, or a bakery changes hands entirely. A favorite bistro may have served wonderful classic French food ten (or so) years ago, but has taken a turn toward the dark side. I hate when that happens too, but you take the good, you take the bad, because those are the facts of life.

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Asparagus Mimosa

I came to the conclusion a while back that there isn’t a vegetable that’s not better roasted. I backtracked a bit, not just because that idea was too many double-negatives in one sentence, but thought that peas probably aren’t better roasted. I haven’t tried them; the idea of tiny peas being reduced to a shriveled bb’s doesn’t sound appealing to me. And while I know a lot of people like to roast radishes, boasting that they’re better than fresh ones, don’t believe them.

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Jerusalem Bagels

I’ve been meaning to make Jerusalem bagels ever since I went there, and saw the loopy breads dangling from wagons and off pegs in shops. With all the hummus being consumed everywhere, it was easy to understand why so much bread was necessary. It was the perfect foil for scooping the stuff up, that somehow, kept showing up on tables wherever we went.

It took me getting a copy of The Palestinean Table, a book I’d been eagerly anticipating reading after I read Reem Kassis’s article, How Conflict Has Eclipsed the Region’s Food. It also made me want to meet her.

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Bonnat Chocolate

I learned about Bonnat chocolate on a trip to Voiron way-back-when, well over a decade ago, when I wanted to visit the Chartreuse distillery, to learn how the mysterious herbal elixir was made. It was an interesting trip, especially because one of the smells coming from the infusing vats filled with herbs reminded me of the smell of some of the herbs you’d smell on the streets of San Francisco, specifically in the Haight-Ashbury, near where I lived.

What stood out most from that trip wasn’t that smell, or learning that the liqueur had a secret recipe that only two monks knew, or that there was a gift shop filled with all-things Chartreusian (not Carthusian, like the monks were). It was the ovals of chocolate, wrapped in golden foil. When I unwrapped the foil and popped the whole thing in my mouth, a few seconds later there was an explosion of flavor like I’d never experienced before. I was hooked.

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Martinez Cocktail

There’s a lot of discussion, and some dissension, about the origin of the Martinez cocktail. It’s made with gin and vermouth, and is served up (without ice), so there are certain similarities for sure. Plus the name, which has led people to speculate that the cocktail was invented in Martinez, California.

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Eating, Dining, and Drinking in Edinburgh (part 2)

Continuing our edible (and drinkable) adventures in Edinburgh, I insisted after we hit the farmers’ market that we stop at Mary’s Milk Bar. A gazillion readers recommended it, and Charlotte and my friend Lani, were happy when we herded ourselves into Mary Hillard’s cozy shop.

I love meeting ice cream makers and Mary was one of the nicest I’ve ever met. She started as a chocolatier but ended up churning gelato. Her gelato is made mostly from milk with a little cream, and sugar. The first flavor I tried was simply labeled “Milk.”

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Eating, Dining, and Drinking in Edinburgh

One of the many places on my bucket list of places to visit has been Scotland. In each place on that ever-growing list, there’s usually a food or drink that is associated with the place, that makes it even more compelling for me want to visit it.

Okay, who am I kidding? There are usually a number of things (invariably, edible) that make me want to visit a place. In this case, the main one was Scotch whisky, something I wanted to learn more about. Sure, you can buy a few bottles and read up on it. But I’ve learned from visiting places, such as the Jura to see how Comté cheese is made, to Normandy, to watch copper cookware being hammered out, that the best want to understand something is to see, and taste it, where it’s made.

Last fall, I was staying with my friends Paul and Lani in Philadelphia, who are about to head on a multi-year voyage around the world with their three kids. They’d done the trip twice before (and yes, joining them for a month on the boat is also on my bucket list, too), and are packing up to hit the open seas again for a few years. Over breakfast one morning in their kitchen, we started going through places we both were interested in visiting, and Edinburgh rose to the top of the list.

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