The Italian Cook Meets Ottolenghi

So this is where I am. But it's not an excuse for lack of posting. It's my daughter's wedding and I am mainly showing up where and when she needs me. She sometimes calls and asks questions or sends me a photo of something - which is sweet of her - but she has her own style and the day belongs to Kirsten and Devon. The gown is vintage, her bouquet consists of brooches - from family on both sides. I won't give away the music. There has been one unexpected sweetness: a friend of mine was recently ordained. She sang at my wedding. And she will be officiating for Kirsten and Devon. That's a lovely, sweet circle.

I find my cooking has been circular. Somewhere in the midst of the 4th or 5th Polar Vortex - I decided to leave my comfort zone. Try some Mid-Eastern cooking. And so I turned to Ottolenghi. I invited my urban children (and the other soon to be child) over and devised a menu. My list of ingredients went something like this:

Eggplant, pine nuts, saffron, garlic, basil, olive oil ... do you see what I am getting at? If it wasn't for the mint and the yogurt - I was back cooking Italian! But even if dinner was a mish-mosh-mash between Italy and the Mid-East, it was:

a. delicious

b. healthy (every day we are below zero, I gain a pound.... that's a lot of pounds this winter!)

c. delicious 

Marinated Turkey Breast with Lemon, Cumin, and White Wine

This lemony-herb sauce was a nice change from the Thanksgiving dinner. It was a bright and comforting addition to a winter table. Start it a day ahead - it needs to marinate for 24 hours. It is worth the time. And it couldn't be easier. (Well, if you bought everything from a store - that would be easier.)

Serves 4-6:
4 tbs mint leaves
4 tbs Italian flat parsley leaves
4 tbs cilantro leaves
1 clove garlic, peeled
4 tbs lemon juice
4 tbs olive oil
1.2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2-3 pound turkey breast - free range is nice

Put all the ingredients (except for the turkey!) in a food processor and process 1-2 minutes for a smooth marinade. (A blender also works.) Put the turkey in a non-metallic container and pour the marinade all over. Massage the marinade into the meat.  Immerse the turkey in the sauce. Cover and put in fridge for 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 F/220 C. Remove turkey from marinade (save marinade) and put it on a baking sheet. Place in oven and roast for 15 minutes. Lower the temp to 400 F/200 C and cook for 15 more minutes. Then lower again to 350 F/180 C. Cook until turkey is done - about 30-45 more minutes. I use a meat thermometer to make sure. If the skin gets too dark, cover with foil.

For the sauce: heat the marinade in a small saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes - until it is reduced by 1/2. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Remove turkey from oven and let it rest for ten minutes. Slice thinly and serve with the warm sauce.  (Can also serve cold: let meat completely cool and then slice. Serve with cold sauce on the side.)

I doubled everything to serve 6 with leftovers. Leftovers are a must.

I served this with a few sides. The eggplant was a hit and it's coming back here this week.

Roasted Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt - serves 4

Saffron Yogurt
a small pinch of saffron threads
3 tbs hot water
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
2-1/2 tbs lemon juice
3 tbs olive oil
coarse sea salt to taste ( a pinch is enough)

To make the sauce, infuse the saffron in a small bowl of the hot water for a few minutes. Pour the infusion into the bowl containing the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and coarse sea salt. Whisk to get a smooth sauce. taste and adjust salt if need be. Cover and chill. This will keep for up to 3 days. This is also delicious on many roasted vegetables and potatoes!

Eggplant
3 medium eggplants cut into 3/4 inch wedges or slices (I peeled and sliced them)
olive oil for brushing
2 tbs toasted pine nuts (I omitted because of an allergy)
handful of pomegranate seeds
20 basil leaves
coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 475 F/220 C. Place eggplant slices on baking sheet. Brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-35 minutes - until they are a lovely light brown. (I turned them over.) Remove and cool slightly. (Ottolenghi says these can be made 3 days ahead of time and brought to room temperature - but I think that is not optimum.)

To serve: arrange eggplant slices on platter, drizzle the saffron yogurt over them, sprinkle the pine nuts and the pomegranate seeds and the basil and have at it. It's part summer and part winter. It kept the Polar Vortex at bay.

Below is my own Polar Vortex. (He thinks I cannot see the tail.) I am learning how to cook with Luce. It's like cooking with babies.*

*Please note photo was snapped after the baking was done. He is not allowed near any ingredients or pots and pans during prep and cooking.

And the only way to accomplish that is to wait for Luce to go to sleep. Mind you, I'm not delighted that his tail gets into the leftover flour on the table. But one day he won't be a little sneak-face getting into everything. Right? Tell me, I'm right.

Rosemary Bread

70 degrees F in Rome. -15 degrees F in MN. And going down to -25 degrees F this weekend. You bet I'm looking for the Mediterranean.

This is when everyone gets along. Everyone cuddles.

The angels are put away. The tree remains. There have been improvements. Luce doesn't always live in the middle of the tree.

Sometimes he sleeps under it.

(What's that joke? 2 cats are in a bar drinking. One cats says, "So they bring in this tree and hang sparkly, dangly things on it and expect me not to touch it. That's why I drink.") Luce doesn't drink. He goes for the tree!

I missed the blog. Your blogs. I missed the (somewhat studied) nonchalant way of putting words to paper. And connecting - that's what I missed the most. There's a lot of happy "throw-ricotta-and-herbs-and-olive-oil" together and celebrate in blogging. Playwrighting is more of the "tear-your-hair-out-bite-your-nails-my-last-ten-pages-were-crap" sort of thing. And inexplicably, I love it. Later. After it's written and I'm working on it with others.

So before I get to the bread - I was writing about bread I think - one more segue. During rehearsals for a reading of And the Universe Didn't Blink, I discovered how social my cats really are. Pippin slept at the foot of the actors and Luce - well Luce - he was in the midst of it. When a giggle came during a dramatic scene, you knew Luce was stealing the stage. It was even suggested that I write Luce into the script. Because every arctic explorer needs an arctic cat...

When the deep freeze came, my kitchen turned to bread and soups. I love these breads because they're small - personalized. A small boule for each diner. And even if it hurts to be outside, inside it's all about the warmth.

Rosemary Bread - from the Food network
1 1/4-ounce package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing and serving
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons rosemary (they called for dried - don't like those twigs - used fresh and used more)
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Stir the yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup warm water in large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer). Let sit until all foamy and frothy - 5 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the flour, 1-1/2 tablespoons of the rosemary, the fine salt and 3/4 cup warm water. Stir with a wooden spoon (or with dough hook if using a mixer) until a dough forms.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface (dust lightly with flour if necessary) until smooth and elastic - about ten minutes. (Or knead with dough hook on medium-high speed - about 8 minutes).

Brush a large bowl with olive oil. Add the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until more than doubled - about 2 hours.

Brush 2 baking sheets with olive oil. Flour a work surface and the turn the dough onto the flour and divide into 4 pieces.  Sprinkle some flour on the pieces, and working with one at a time (duh!) fold the top and bottom portions into the middle. Fold in the side to make a free-form square. Turn dough over (may use a spatula), tuck cover under to form a ball (I just formed a ball). Place seam-side down on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, placing two dough-balls on each baking sheet. Let stand, uncovered, until more than doubled - about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, brush with remaining olive oil, sprinkle with Kosher salt and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary Continue baking until golden brown - about 10 more minutes. Transfer rack to cool. Serve with olive oil sprinkled with pepper. (We slathered butter on it.)

It goes really well with this French vegetable soup I seem to made every week from Manger. Find that here.

I wish you magic and wonder for 2014. Look at the sky and wonder. Wish upon a star. Enjoy the winterscape if you have one - it will give birth to new wonders. (Even on my iceberg.) Happy 2014! May it be a fruitful journey.

Buon Natale

I couldn't let it pass and the day's not over. My sister and I created some of the traditional foods of our childhood Christmas. Waves of Christmastide have swept over us all day. The days of the 14 courses and ten-hour Christmas meals. If we're lucky, there's love in our live. Furry, human, nature, spiritual, angelic....

We hold on to some of the old and embrace the new - because life evolves. Traditions are both maintained and newly created. I hope this frazzled season brings you peace, merriment and joy. (And maybe some lasagne and a cannoli.)

Merry Christmas!
Later,
Claudia

Everyday...

I always think my anniversary is May 25th. The wedding was May 24th but that was the dice throw - not the destination. Everyday would begin May 25th. And the destination was life.

It was "everyday" with Paul that I craved. The errands, the cleaning, the planning, the joining, the yearning and the growing.

It isn't everyday that the azaleas are in bloom - but it's part of an everyday.

Everyday is writing or avoiding writing (rubbing cat tummies and deciding where I'd go in my time machine - I have a stellar talent for avoidance.)

It's something like this tilapia  (fish roll-up stuffed with shredded carrots) from Proud Italian Cook.

It's a simple fish roll-up. The fish is spread with pesto and then dimpled with shredded carrots. Add a little bread crumb topping, put in oven and the heat works it magic - and dinner is grand. Find Marie's recipe here.

The rhubarb is up and in Minnesota you learn to love rhubarb - because it's the first thing to make an appearance. It's even abundant along the highways. (Highways! Come on, that's everyday.)   

And because my daughter knows her mother, I am in possession of a lovely book Edible Twin Cities. Paul has already made the requisite strawberry rhubarb pie and there will be many more of those pies during the summer. But I was attracted to this - because it was a wee bit different - a rhubarb meringue pie. It's an old family recipe from the President of the St. Paul's Farmer's Market. The St. Paul Farmer's Market is a true local, farmers market. Everything must be local. Everything. You cannot get early Iowa corn - you must wait for Minnesota (and some of Wisconsin). Unlike the Minneapolis Farmer's Market where you can get bananas and citrus fruit - you cannot get that in the St, Paul market - it must grow within a certain radius of the cities or is ineligible.

The sweet meringue is a perfect foil the rhubarb. Dig down and the sweet tart taste is a wake-up call. And when it's enveloped in all that lovely meringue, it's welcome.

It's not remotely Italian of course. Let's just say it's in the spirit of the Italian tradition: fresh, local, garden-to-table. My grandfather Egidio who was an avid gardener would understand.

Everyday is Luce.

Lately everyday has been turkeys in the yard ... and ducks.

And lately - a fox! (Better watch out duckies!)

And now every day is this:

Part of the MN Fringe Festival. My everydays are better when focused on a show. The website info is here. And after last year's show about coping with grief, a zany, pasta show is in order! (And for chronic readers, an excerpt is here.)

There was another interview: "I Interview Playwrights."  (That would be me.)

And another showcase. Tease.

And - a lot of thinking. About the blog. I am at a loss without google reader and know there are other avenues to explore. But no time to go exploring. Everyday. It's crammed. It's sweet. The La Dolce Vita fairy has visited me. But it's packed.

And I am thinking about my focus with the blog - unlike with a play - do I even have a focus? I have no money/book deal/food writer aspirations. I don't want that. I love my work. And I do want that. For me, this has always been about community. But I think and ponder and obsess. "To blog or not to blog, that is the question?" But I'm not Hamlet and I'm not asking the audience. I'm everyday-Claudia and every-day Claudia needs to focus.  

And rub cat tummies.

Blossoms and Orange Olive Oil Cake

Tree blossoms. The yards are blanketed in them.

+

And the rhododendrons - they are late coming to spring's party - but they are here. They're pretty fleeting. One swirl of the Minnesota winds and they scatter. But everything is fleeting, isn't it? The days I thought I would never be able to walk through my home without stepping on a lego or a miniature racing car - are gone. A blip in our history.

And now one of the culprits of my "toy-carpeted home" is in China - for his work in plant pathology.. And his partner in crime is getting ready to go to Mexico - for her work in audiology. I received an e-mail from China today:

"I tried duck blood soup because I am adventurous. It was pretty good! And I took a photo because I am my mother's son."
I saved the photo. Yeah - I saved the entire e-mail. We scatter. But we don't go as far as we think.

I could make an analogy about cake - you bake it and it's fleeting. It's true but not important. What's important is you bake it and you savor. And if you're kind you share.

And if you're smart - you'll make this - for a homecoming, for a picnic or just because it's Thursday. Which is partly why I made it. It was Thursday and the day called for cake. Husband-person was working late again and I got it in my head that he needed to come home to cake. And so he did. And a good one. Just sweet enough (because I am not saccharine - just sweet enough).

I love how olive oil cakes crust on the top and then give way to delicate, melty crumbs. Yin and yang, crunch and smooth, yesterday and today. If I add some Orange Blossom Water - I could declare this an Orange Blossom Cake!

Orange Olive Oil Cake
from the blog: Where Women Cook

Ingredients:
Nonstick spray with flour
4-5 naval oranges (or shhh ...1-1/2 cups orange juice) - 3 zested and 4-5 juiced
3-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-3/4 teaspoons - Kosher salt (or shhh ... table salt)
5 large eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups mild extra-virgin olive oil
confectioner's sugar for dusting (I didn't dust - I frequently don't dust)

Preparation
Position rack in middle of oven. Remove upper rack. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan or tube pan with spray. Really coat it! Don't be shy. This is a sticky batter.

Zest 3 oranges. Squeeze the juice of 4 oranges. If you don't have 1-1/2 cups of orange juice, juice another one. (Or shhh ... add orange juice).

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl (and set aside).

In the bowl of a stand mixer (use paddle attachment) or with a handheld mixer and a la-r-g-e bowl, beat the eggs for one minute.

With mixer on, slowly pour in sugar and beat until well-combined - about 3 minutes. You should have thick, pale yellow ribbons.

On low speed, alternate adding the flour and the olive oil - starting and ending with the flour.

Pour in orange juice and zest and beat until well combined - just 10-15 seconds really.

Pour into prepared pan and cook for 1 to 1-1/4 hours - until a tester comes out almost dry - a few moist crumbs are fine. Mine took 65 minutes. If the top is browning too much, cover with a little foil. Mine did brown a lot. I didn't cover it - I like it. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Turn the pan upside down and flip and cool on rack. You can cool over night - just cover and let it sit. We ate it after 45 minutes!

Before serving dust with confectioner's sugar. Or not.

This would also be good with berries and cream. Or orange curd. Or lemon curd. Or tangerines... or - yes oranges.

Or toasted the next day for breakfast. Or dolloped with creme fraiche... it's a canvas. And it's pretty tasty on its own.

I am learning the secret of cooking with Luce. He passes out fifteen minutes after eating.

That's when you do your prep.

Or you open a window.

And let him sit.

I still don't have the secret as to how to let a pie cool without a paw indentation in it (yes - it's covered with something).  I really need kryptonite to cover my food. And that photo above is apropos of nothing. I just love those double-jointed back legs! I hope they're not fleeting.