Our Collards

Fresh collards braised in a sweet-smoky liquor.  Yes, northerners can do this. We love these collards alongside  baby back ribs or baked ham and biscuits.  This week we’re having them with the leftover roasted pork loin and cole slaw. See yesterday’s  Wordless Wednesday Collards posting for pretty photos of the process.

Our Collards

Makes about six 1/2-cup servings

3 lbs fresh collards  greens- stems stripped off, leaves rinsed and sliced into 1/2 pieces (large rough chop)

1 ham hock (smoked turkey leg or smoky bacon are good substitutes)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (cuts bitterness)

1 14-oz can low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon hot sauce or 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

Prep the greens as instructed above and toss them in a large pot with the remaining ingredients.  Cover the pot and cook at a low simmer one to one and half hours until greens are soft and olive green. (Start checking after 45 minutes.)  Taste and adjust seasoning (adding more salt, black pepper or hot sauce).  You might also like some dill in your collards.  Add it later if you are the only “diller” in the house.

Collards cook beautifully in a slow cooker.  Start on the high setting and turn it to low after an hour—cook on low another 2 hours.  Or start and finish on low—about 5 hours. 

Like great stews, collards taste even better the next day, if you can hold off.

Wordless Wednesday Collards

Raclette Night

                              After a day on the ski slopes or bundled up by a cozy fire, try this sophisticated dinner that combines the practical elements of a grilled cheese sandwich with the convivial atmosphere of fondue.

My father did business in Switzerland when I was a teenager and he frequently brought back new culinary treats and techniques for us to try, chief among them, Raclette.  Raclette means to scrape in Swiss dialect and on wintry nights around Lake Geneva and along the eastern border of France, shepherds melted their buttery, fruity local cheese and scraped it over potatoes and pickled vegetables.  All three components keep well during the winter, as do cured meats, which also came to be part of the dish known for its cheesy main ingredient, Raclette. 

When my parents announced we were having a Raclette Night, we knew we were in for a fun evening.  Each of us would concoct our own meal suited to our individual tastes matching melted Raclette cheese with an array of delicacies.  The smallest waxy potatoes my mother could find were boiled with their delicate skins left on.  An expensive jar of French pickles, cornichons, with little onions stuffed alongside the gherkins was opened.  Cured meats, grilled mushrooms, a hearty baguette and some sliced pears filled out a platter and the melted cheese experiments began.

Fondue has been back in style in the U.S. for a few years now and perhaps those electric non-stick pots with matching multi-colored skewers were never really put away. Now that Raclette is far easier to find at your local grocery than it used to be, try a Raclette Night of your own.  It’s quite easy to put together and is not a bad way to use up a few leftovers (like ham) and pantry hangers-on (break open that jar of giant caper berries).

In restaurants on the continent, half and quarter wheels of Raclette are brought to the table and the cut side is melted under a hot burner or under an electric grill.  (To see some of the professional equipment follow the links at the bottom of this post.)  Each diner scrapes the melted, bubbly cheese onto potatoes while the next layer of cheese cooks.  Diners keep scraping until everyone has had their fill.  Some restaurants use a specialized grill with individual pans to melt and serve the cheese to guests.  These are available for home use but suffer from the one-use appliance curse. 

My mother came up with a method that was easy and used equipment most of us have in the kitchen.  She cut away the rhind and placed slabs of sliced Raclette on stainless steel steak platters and melted the cheese in a very hot oven, 450˚F for 2-3 minutes. The cheese is so buttery that it stays melted on the hot plate with time to toss cooked hot potatoes and cornichons on the side.  She was able to serve up to eight people at the same time.  Use a fajita or steak pan that can withstand high oven heat and has a matching holder or wooden plate to avoid scorching the dining room table.  Metal pie plates (event the disposable ones), roasting pans and cookie sheets also work.  Don’t worry about whether you pans are not “non-stick;” Raclette is high in fat and will slide off of most surfaces. 

Either a Swiss or French Raclette is perfect for Raclette Night and available at markets that house a specialty cheese department.  Several brands are made from raw milk and aged a minimum of 60 days to kill off any harmful pathogens.  Raw milk versions have an excellent taste however , if you can’t find Raclette, try Swiss Emmenthal and Gruyere cheese.

Raclette is a buttery cheese with a fruity flavor that is complimented by smoked and sweet-salty foods.  Along with the de rigueur boiled potatoes and cornichons pickles served with the melted Raclette, lay out cured meats like prosciutto, spec, bresaola plus pickled onions and to compliment the fruity notes, add some sliced pear to your platter.  There is room for some experimentation as well so check your cupboard for ideas.  Other pickled vegetables like okra, asparagus, green beans, caper berries, marinated artichoke hearts and olives are options.  Grilled mushrooms and even sweet grilled onions (like tiny cippolini cooked whole) and roasted peppers.  French bread doused with a bit of black pepper also compliments the cheese. 

Wine, Beer and Non-Alcoholic Matches
Experts and Raclette fans seem fairly evenly split over red or white wines with the meal so experiment and try one of each.   Beers and sparkling wines also fit the category and can be chosen based on what you are serving at your Raclette Night.  Lots of cured meats and smoked fish may point you towards beer or perhaps an Alsace or Riesling kabinette. 

A paired down pure Raclette Night with potatoes and cornichons calls for a local wine that plays off the cheese’s fruity nature or cherry kirsch, which is not sweet. Try a white that is moderately fruity with a mineral twist.  Whites made from the chasselas grape (called fendant in Switzerland) are a specialty of the regions that produce Raclette (the Savoie in France and the region around Lake Geneva on the Swiss side).   Look for a Vin de Savoie for a great pairing.
A classic red is often enjoyed with Raclette.  Cabernet Franc, Beaujolais or even Bordeaux that bend toward a merlot blend is a nice match if you are serving grilled meat and earthy vegetables like mushrooms. 

Beer
Belgian pale ale like Duvel and if you can find it, a cherry beer.  At our house a wheat beer is the beer of choice.

Non-Alcoholic
For the children of the household, apple cider served hot or cold will provide a complimentary note to the meal. If the elders are enjoying something sparkly, serve a  sparkling grape juice with a shot of pomegranate juice to bring out the fruity flavors of the cheese.

Dessert?
Continue dipping pears and other sliced fruit into melted gooiness. Try a chocolate and butterscotch dip then roll your fruit in chopped nuts.  Or serve a dessert of fresh cherries drizzled with a little Swiss chocolate.

For more on Raclette:
This Raclette Suisse website (http://www.raclette-suisse.ch/fr/meta/home.html) is based in Berne in Switzerland.  Even if you don’t speak French or German (Swiss German), the languages on the site, you’ll enjoy the videos of people at Raclette parties. Clips show how the cheese melts, even the ideal thickness of the cheese slices and many foods to serve alongside.  There is also a substantial recipe section with photos for other ways to use Raclette cheese, melted or not, in appetizers, main dishes and desserts.  A fun site.

To see the melting equipment restaurants along the Swiss/French border territories use, check out Raclette Corner at http://www.raclettecorner.com/melter.

Happy Family Valentine

Valentine’s Day is a strained holiday for many.  Too many expectations and unspoken wishes can make it a difficult day whether one is attached or not. This year, Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day are on the same day and that concurrence opens the door to a bit more creativity and togetherness and a bit less heartache and solitaire.

Chinese New Year provides plenty of red-themed symbolism for the romantic in you and plenty of optimism and good fortune for pragmatist pining for a mid-winter lift.  The lunar New Year is the overture to spring and new beginnings.  Many of the traditions and foods celebrate this theme as well as ones of togetherness, luck, prosperity and long life.  This year, have a Lucky Shared Meal out on the town (Chinatown that, is) or in your own dining room following the easy menu below.

If you live near or in a city with a Chinatown, check out the festivities planned.  You can expect firecracker ceremonies, lion dancing and whirling dragons, lunar New Year parades and restaurants serving lucky foods. Red, considered a lucky color, is everywhere.  Children are handed red envelopes filled with coins to buy candies and fruit portending a sweet year.

Lucky foods earn their status based on the sound of their names or their resemblance to a lucky theme.  For example, the word for lettuce sounds like the phrase for rising fortune in Chinese so lettuce is often included in the meal.  Sweet desserts like sticky rice cakes made with glutinous rice flour and dried fruits also symbolize good fortune and a sweet life.

Whole chicken or fish is symbolic of family togetherness, wholeness and a good start and finish to the year. Long life is symbolized via dishes that encourage diners to see and experience length. Noodle dishes made with uncut or unbroken long noodles and green bean stir fries are typical.  The Chinese long beans measuring from one to three feet are often served.  These beans are also called snake beans or asparagus beans in markets.  They are a bit softer than conventional green beans and the flavor may remind you of asparagus (another long vegetable served at this time of year).

Citrus fruits like tangerines and oranges (in season now) are considered lucky since the words for them in Chinese sound like the word lucky.  If there are any leaves still attached there is an added bonus of connecting to others, especially lucky for couples.

The night’s menu offered here is suitable for friends, family groups or just the two of you.  Red Glazed Whole Roasted Chicken is marinated overnight turning the chicken a ruby red before baking.  Sesame noodles can be spicy or mild as suits your table and can be prepared ahead.  Green bean prices are up this year due to inclement cold in the south so our menu features asparagus finished in the oven while the chicken rests. The whole meal can be eaten with knife and fork or scooped into lettuce cups for a bit of extra New Year luck.

Lucky Shared Meal (serves 4-6)

Red Glazed Whole Roasted Chicken

Roasted Sesame Asparagus

Long Life Peanut-Sesame Noodles

 Dessert: Oranges with almond or sugar cookies make a simple dessert to share

Based on a Cantonese Cha Siu barbeque marinade for spare ribs, Red Glazed Whole Roasted Chicken uses a vinegar-based red marinade that tints the skin with a becoming blush. Like the rib version, the meat is slightly sweet and has hints of orange from the marinade and the orange quarters baked in the cavity.  Instead of artificial red food coloring typically used in the recipe, this pure version employs beets to create the red tinge.  You will not taste the beets in the final result.  Like red cabbage, beets need an acidic environment to retain their ruby color thus the vinegar base.   Heat also affects the tint so the cooked chicken will not be as deeply red as the marinated raw bird.

Love note:  If you have never used a meat thermometer, one is highly recommended for this recipe. The red marinade makes it difficult to go by color for "degree of doneness."  A thermometer will help you roast the perfect chicken to 165˚F every time no matter the weight of the chicken or true temperature of your oven.


While the chicken roasts prep the asparagus and noodle sauce. Invite family togetherness by allowing someone to help with this step.  Prepping these ingredients will make it easy to finish off the meal while the cooked chicken rests.

Red Glazed Whole Roasted Chicken

Ingredients
1 small red beet, or the juice from a small can of beets. Citrus—will help fix red color of beet dye

Juice of 1/2 orange, plus orange quarters for roasting stage. 

Juice of 1/2 lime

1/4 cup brown sugar;

1 inch of a knob of grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons dry sherry

1 4-pound whole chicken

Method

1. Peel and quarter beet and cover in 1/2 cup water in a small sauce pan.  Simmer for 15 minutes until tender. Uncover and continue to cook on low until liquid is halved—1/4 cup.  Remove the beet quarters and set aside. If using canned beet juice, heat the juice and proceed with step 2.
2. With heat still on low, add citrus juice and brown sugar.  Stir to completely dissolve sugar.  Turn of heat.
3. Add remaining ingredients and allow marinade to cool completely. 
4. Rinse chicken and remove any parts from cavity (neck, liver, giblets). Reserve for soup or other use.  
5. Place the whole chicken in a re-sealable plastic bag and set in a large plate or bowl to catch any drips.  Pour the cooled marinade over the chicken, squeeze out excess air and seal the bag.  Lay the chicken breast side down in the dish and marinate overnight.  The next morning, turn the chicken and leave until ready to roast.  Marinate at least 6 hours. 
6. About 1 1/2 hours before dinner, preheat oven to 450˚F and remove chicken from bag.  Wipe away moisture with a paper towel, but do not rinse.  Place chicken on a roasting rack in a roasting pan.  
7. Place orange quarters inside bird and tie legs together with butcher twine (OK to leave untied).   Spread vegetable oil over skin (about 1/2 tablespoon) and place in oven.  
8. Roast 15 minutes at 450˚F then lower the heat to 350˚F and roast 15 minutes per pound until a meat thermometer reads 165˚F in the thigh.  Figure about 1 hour for a 4-pound bird, but test for internal temperature after 45 minutes.  Check the bird 2-3 times during cooking and brush will drippings from pan as needed. 
9. When the internal temperature has reached 165˚K, remove bird from oven and cover lightly with aluminum foil.  Let rest 20 minutes allowing temperature to rise a few more degrees and juices to be reabsorbed into the meat.  This will ensure a moist chicken.  
   
   Roasted Sesame Asparagus 
   Ingredients
   1 pound aspargus
   1 T sesame oil
   1 teaspoon soy sauce
   1 T sesame seeds
   freshly ground black pepper
   
   Method
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Leave oven on to roast asparagus while chicken cooks.  
   2. Break off tough stem ends and rinse asparagus.  (If you are following the Chinese New Year tradition of leaving things whole this night, steam them as is and warn diners to avoid the woody stem ends.) 
   3. Place asparagus in a skillet with about an inch of boiling water. Cover and cook until asparagus are just getting tender, 3-5 minutes.  
   4. Drain and toss with sesame oil, soy sauce.
   5. Place asparagus on a baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle on sesame seeds and freshly ground black pepper.  
   6. Roast at 350˚F for 10-12 minutes until spears are beginning to caramelize. 
   
   
   Long Life Peanut-Sesame Noodles
   In a large bowl, suitable for serving, combine:
   3 T dark sesame oil
   3 T soy sauce
   2 T red wine vinegar
   
   
   Processed until smooth in a food processor or blender:
   2 cloves garlic, peeled
   Two 1-inch square knobs fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
   1/2 -1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
   1/3 cup natural peanut butter
   1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
   5 tablespoons soy sauce
   1/4 cup rice wine or sake
   1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
   1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
   6 tablespoons chicken broth or water
   
   
   3/4 pound long, thin noodles
   Optional: crushed red pepper flakes
   
   
   1. In a large pot of well- salted water, cook noodles as directed.  You may use Chinese egg noodles, somen, angel hair, whole wheat spaghetti, anything you like provided noodles are long and unbroken. We often use angel hair for this recipe. 
   2. When noodles are cooked, drain them then toss with the marinade in the serving bowl. This step favors the noodle at a deep level and makes for a more complex taste.  
   3. Stir in the peanut sauce prepared in the food processor ensuring that the noodles are all covered.  The noodles may be served hot or at room temperature.  
   4. Serve with a small bowl of additional crushed red pepper for those with hotter tastes.
      
      
      Happy family.
      
      Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days and concludes with the Lantern Festival (set on the night of the first full moon of the lunar New Year). This gives you plenty of time to make this dinner if you have other plans for Valentine’s Day.
      

Three Winter Salads

When I decided to write this article, my biggest problem became selecting just three of my favorite winter salads. This season may not appear to be a natural for the salad bar but the apparent lack of ingredients turns out to be a creative catalyst for possibilities one might not consider when everything is in abundance. With so many ideas, I decided to think of this entry as Winter Salads, part one and return with more winter salads at a later date.

 During winter turn first to citrus, herbs and root vegetables and pull in support from nuts, seeds and cheeses to make salads an everyday part of your meals no matter how chilly the temperature outside.

Even with the cold snaps we've had this yer, winter is citrus season.   A wonderful and ridiculously easy intermezzo salad from the northern region of Italy is made from orange slices drizzled with a flavorful extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with dried oregano and black pepper. My version adds shaved fennel and a pinch of salt but the original is terrific and child-friendly. Oranges handle that special thirst you get from being in dry, indoor environments during the cold months. You may not think of combining herbs and olive oil with citrus but this is a cool way to enjoy oranges. Any Italian meal will show this salad off well. I also like it with fish and poultry.


Orange and Fennel Salad
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 –3 medium sized oranges, seedless preferred
1/2 fennel bulb
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves)
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus extra

Method

Prepare the oranges by removing the peel and pith with a sharp knife. Then slice the oranges to reveal pretty rounds.  Remove frond top from the fennel bulb and cut in half. (Reserve unused halve to roast or put in a salad another day.) Use a mandolin to shave fennel slices or slice paper-thin with a chef’s knife. Arrange oranges and fennel on a platter or large plate. Sprinkle with oregano, black pepper and salt. (Salad may be prepared up to this point, covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated.) Just before serving, drizzle olive oil over oranges and fennel.

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Fresh herbs help boost flavor in winter salads. These days it’s much easier to find fresh herbs at the grocery store and my Spring Roll Hand Salad takes full advantage of the availability of cilantro and mint. This salad features another basic winter salad ingredient, root vegetables, in the form of shaved carrots in the salad and grated carrots in the dressing. The dressing is also infused with fresh ginger, a spice that provides a warming heat to the cold days. This dressing will remind you of ones you have tasted at Japanese restaurants served over ice burg lettuce.

Wrapped in a flexible rice wrapper, the salad is fun if you have children in the house and travels well to school or office. It is equally good and has lots of eye appeal without the wrapper so don't skip this one if you'd like to serve it simply but beautifully on salad plates. This is a nice side salad to seafood meals, Asian stir fries and veggie burgers.


Spring Roll Hand Salad with Ginger-Carrot Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients
Dressing: carrot ginger- makes 1/2 cup, easily doubled
2 medium carrot, grated finely
2-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled and grated finely
2 T rice vinegar
2 t soy sauce
2 t sesame oil
1 t honey
2 T water
6 T vegetable oil

Salad
Lettuce- try outer leaves of iceberg, red leaf and green leaf varieties or a combination
Cucumber- peeled and julienned
Carrot, in thin slivers—use a vegetable peeler to get thin flexible slices
Avocado slices
Radishes- paper thin slices
Mint, basil, cilantro-- whole leaves

Wrap
4 rice wrappers

Method:
Prepare dressing. Grate carrot and ginger with a fine grater. Use the back of a spoon to easily remove the peel from ginger and store remainder in the freezer to use anytime. (Thank you Martin Yan for teaching me about ginger in a cooking demo years ago.) Place grated ingredients in the bowl of a small food processor or immersion blender. Add remaining ingredients, holding back on half the water and oil. Process to a smooth consistency and taste. Add oil and water to thin and adjust strength. (If you do not own a food processor or immersion blender, place ginger and carrots in a small, lidded jar with remaining ingredients and shake well. Your dressing will still taste great but will be a more "au natural" texture.)

Next, prepare salad filling ingredients. Thinly slice and lay ingredients out on a plate or chopping board so you can easily assemble hand rolls. Use a vegetable peeler to shave paper-thin slices of carrot. Julienne and thinly slice the other vegetables. Use herb leaves whole and leave a few leaves of lettuce in large pieces. Chop peanuts finely and set aside in a small bowl. If you are serving the salad without rice wrappers, arrange ingredients on large lettuce leaves in separate piles and allow diners to serve themselves from the shared platter. Pass the dressing.

The rice wrappers are easy to roll and very forgiving. Go for it. To make spring rolls, pour very hot water in a shallow pan, wide enough to fit a wrapper laid flat. Working one at a time, lay a wrapper in the hot water. In 20-30 seconds, the wrapper will have absorbed water and be completely flexible. Lay the wrapper on a tea towel to absorb excess moisture. Lay carrots strips and a few herb leaves in alternating stripes across center of rice wrapper and cover with a lettuce leaf. Fill the lettuce leaf with remaining ingredients placing peanuts in the center spot. Each roll will hold about 3/4-1 cup of salad. Now roll the lower side of the wrapper over the salad mound and bring the two adjacent sides in as if you were folding an egg roll or package. Roll the top side of the wrapper over the lower edge. The moistened rice starch in the wrappers will hold the rolls together without any extra binding. The rolls can be made a few hours ahead and wrapped in a moist tea towel then placed in a plastic bag to hold until dinner-time. To bring them to school or office wrap them well and place on an ice pack in you lunch box.

Serve Spring Roll Hand Salads with dip on the side. Everyone will enjoy an individual ramekin of Carrot-Ginger Dressing to enjoy.

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Our last salad is popular at our house almost nightly during the winter months.  Variations occur with available ingredients but it always includes a cheese, nuts or seeds and a starring role for a vegetable.   I mentioned that root vegetables are a great ingredient in winter salads. Northern cultures in cold climates accross Europe handle fresh vegetable cravings year-round with salads that include carrots, beets, celery leaves, radishes and more.  Cheeses, nuts and seeds contribute complimentary tastes.   Lettuce takes on a supporting role while these flavorful ingredients step forward. The key is to create a salad with just a few items. This salad of roasted beets, goat cheese and roasted pistachios over red leaf lettuce is a good example. Another variation is celery leaves, radishes, blue cheese and walnuts over lettuce. A simple vinaigrette is recommended.

Beet, Goat Cheese and Pistachio Salad
For each person:
1 small roasted beet
1 ounce goat cheese
2 teaspoons pistachios
1-2 cups lettuce

Method
To roast beets, preheat oven to 450˚F. Wash beets but do not peel. Wrap each beet in tin foil and bake 30-50 minutes, depending on size of beet. 1-2 inch diameter beets take about 30-40 minutes, larger beets will take 50 minutes. Beets are cooked when a fork pierces the flesh easily and beet feels tender in center. Carefully open foil wrapping and allow beets to cool about 15 minutes before peeling skin off. To peel, cut top from beet then, with a paper towel run skin off. Skin will peel away easily. If you are preparing a large quantity of beets, wear food-grade plastic gloves to prevent skin from staining. If you are making just a few, wash red stains from your hands with soap and a shake of salt to act as a mild abrasive.

To roast nuts, preheat oven to 350˚F. Place nuts on an un-greased cookie sheet. You may leave the nuts plain or toss them with a touch of olive oil and salt. Roast for 1-2 minutes, checking frequently. (Nuts burn easily and different varieties torch faster than others. Pistachios, walnuts and pecans need less time than peanuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds. Roasting nuts brings out more flavor, your goal for winter salads.

Slice or quarter beets and lay them on a bed of lettuce. Garnish salad with goat cheese and nuts. You may use soft or aged goat cheese for this recipe. Both are divine. Even cream cheese sprinkled with some herbs is a good foil for beets.

This salad accompanies all kinds of grilled and roasted meats, stews and vegetable bakes.

Party Bites

Last month I co-hosted a cocktail party as a board member at Greenwich House in New York City’s Greenwich Village.  Greenwich House is a venerable institution that is so many things to so many of the city’s residents that it sometimes defies easy explanation. 

As a charitable foundation, this can be a development director’s nightmare but the excellent staff and volunteers are not daunted.  Rather, they are enthusiastic ambassadors of the diverse programs including mental health services to seniors, a Children’s Safety Program unique to the city, chemical dependency programs and HIV and AIDS services.  Greenwich House also provides a home to a nursery school, senior center, music school and the world famous Greenwich House Pottery (100 years old this year). 

At the party, we highlighted and celebrated just two programs as a simple way to introduce the wide-reaching charity to our guests.   We followed the same theme for the food by serving simple, pure bites with individual importance.

Here is a sampling of hors d’oeuvres from the night. Roasted grape tomato and goat cheese crostini, mushrooms duxelles, skewered baby potatoes and pulled pork quesadillas are all easy finger food.  They are simple to put together and delight guests because they present the essential flavor of each food.  This is nice anytime of year but particularly welcome in the middle of winter when fresh flavors can be more elusive. 

If you are contributing to a Super Bowl Party in the coming week or like us, working by day and entertaining by night, add these to your repertoire.  All can be prepared ahead and can be served either hot or at room temperature. (The pulled pork quesadillas are tastiest served hot.) These also travel well with little or no final assembly.

Roasted Tiny Tomatoes with Goat Cheese Crostini

There are lots of recipes online for roasting small tomatoes, each with a specific fresh herb.  Basil, thyme, chives or dill are all good choices.  Some use cherry tomatoes and some the diminutive grape tomato.  We were surprised when we tasted the sweetness of the grape tomatoes in stores last week and opted to go minimal, roasting the little rubies at a very high temperature (425˚F) with coated only olive, salt, pepper and 2 garlic cloves (for 4 pints of tomatoes).  No herbs were added this time.  When the tomatoes began to burst, (about 15 minutes) the result was a sweet concasse of summer tomato flavor supported but not overwhelmed by garlic.  We topped soft goat cheese on a crostini with a tablespoon of the roasted tomatoes and sent it out to mingle with some white wine. 

Mushroom-Mushroom Duxelles

Mushrooms chopped superfine and cooked down to a spreadable paste is also not new to drinks parties.   This was also served on crostini but our take left out the usual shallots, onions and garlic and let the mushroom flavor develop into its own in a skillet laced with only olive oil, salt and pepper and placed over medium heat.  We debated adding a shot of truffle oil, but this lily did not need gilding after we cooked the mushrooms down to their essence and even allowed bits to caramelize.  Red wine drinkers found a great match with this offering.

Boiled Baby Potatoes with Aioli Mayonnaise

If you can’t find really small potatoes, reasonably small ones cut into bite-sized halves will do the trick.  Boil small potatoes whole for about 15 minutes, until just tender.   For larger potatoes, boil 15 minutes then slice in half and roast on oiled baking sheets for 15 more minutes at 425˚ to seal the cut edge.  The potatoes can be served hot or room temperature.   To make your own aioli quickly and safely, take one cup of good quality store–bought mayonnaise and add a tablespoon of a very rich extra virgin olive oil (I like Goya for this) and a clove of crushed garlic.  Taste and add more garlic if desired.  Remember that the garlic flavor will intensify with time.  Serve the potatoes in a wide bowl with toothpicks and the aioli in a smaller bowl nestled in the center of the potatoes. 

Pulled Pork Quesadillas

A trimmed pork shoulder slow cooked for hours with your favorite salsa, smoked chipotle powder, oregano and cocoa powder is a simple weeknight dinner served with rice, sour cream and lime.  To make it party-ready we needed to provide single servings that held the sauce inside without any spills.  We sandwiched the chopped pulled pork between whole-wheat tortillas and used shredded cheese to make sure everything stuck together.  They were put together ahead of time and oven heated and sliced into wedges with a pizza cutter just before serving. Since the pork was cooked days ahead, this came together quickly and provided the protein anchor for the event.

Pulled Pork Quesadillas

Makes 60 wedges

3 pounds pork shoulder in large chunks

1 1/2 cups salsa

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons smoked chipotle powder

2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

20 whole wheat tortillas

1 pound shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup fresh chopped cilantro

1 cup sour cream

Juice from one lime

Trim visible fat from the meat and set aside.  In a large bowl mix salsa, oregano, smoked chipotle powder, cocoa and salt together.  Add meat and mix to coat pork completely.  Transfer to a 4-6 quart slow cooker and cook on high for 4-5 hours, low for 6-8 hours.  Allow pulled pork to cool before assembling quesadillas. Once meat has cooled, shred pork into bite sized pieces.  Place a single tortilla on wax paper and cover sparingly with cheese.  Follow with a layer of pork.  Sprinkle some cilantro on pork and finish with another light layer of cheese.  Place a second tortilla on top and press down firmly to secure layers together.  Set quesadilla aside covered with another piece of wax paper or a tea towel to prevent the tortilla from becoming brittle. Use the same method to make 9 more quesadillas.  Stack quesadillas between wax paper.  At this stage you can place quesadillas in large re-sealable plastic bags (about five will fit in each bag) and refrigerate up to 2 days.  When you are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 400˚F and place quesadillas on cookie sheets in single layers.  Two cookie sheets with two or three quesadillas will heat up in about 8-10 minutes.  Slice cooked quesadillas into sixths and serve immediately.  These taste good plain or with a simple dip of lime-spiked sour cream (Squeeze some lime juice over the sour cream, that’s it.)
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Enjoy the game.

The 8th Annual A Taste of Greenwich House with samplings from New York's finest restaurants is on Monday evening, March 8th at the Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street in Manhattan.  Proceeds from the event benefit Greenwich House's 14 services for at-risk and abused children, seniors, and other New Yorkers in need.  Tickets are on sale now at www.greenwichhouse.org.