Tag Archive: Vegetables

The glory of Cicero

Sunday, March 18, 20120

110501---chickpea-stew_5801378932_o

Buenos Aires Herald
On Sunday supplement
Food and Wine

You all of course remember Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher from the 1st century B.C.E. – famed orator and enemy of the emperor and empire. What you likely don’t know is that his name, Cicero, was an insult – his family was in the business of growing and selling chickpeas, cicer, in Latin (and still the genus of the plant). When he entered politics numerous advisors pleaded with him to change his name, but he declared that he would make the name Chickpea, umm, Cicero, one of glory.

Locally, and through most of the Spanish speaking world, chickpeas are called garbanzos, a name that traces back to calavance in 17th century Spanish, simply meaning bean, though some have suggested it came from the Basque, garau-antzu, meaning dry seed. Regardless, these days it is one of the most widely grown beans in the world, and popular in cuisines from the Mediterranean to the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent, to pretty much all of Latin America. What’s interesting is that it is virtually never eaten fresh, but dried and then rehydrated, a practice that seems to stretch back most of the last millenium – with only a few exceptions, such as Mexico, where under-ripe, green chickpeas, guasana, are eaten much like edamame, quickly roasted and popped straight from the pod with a little salt.

Here in Argentina the most common places we see them used are in Middle Eastern restaurants, either as hummus or falafel, or as part of the traditional mondongo, or tripe stew. Though I’ve not encountered them while dining out in a restaurant in other guises, that’s not to say that they don’t have a tradition here. Older Argentine cookbooks list recipes for both cazuela de garbanzos and cocido de garbanzos, the former a stew of chickpeas, chard, tomatoes, chilies and onions, while the latter is a fascinatingly over-the-top sounding stew of chickpeas with stewing beef, chorizos, morcillas, bacon, ham and chicken with some pasta, peas and cabbage thrown in for good measure.

I’ve tackled the latter, which is very reminiscent of the traditional Catalán dish cigrons amb tomáquet, or, chickpeas with tomato. The dish is already a healthy one – chickpeas are great for helping lower cholesterol and a great source of both fiber and near fat-free carbohydrates – it’s an easy one for my mission, I’ve just spiced it up a bit. You might also remember I promised you this as a great side dish to last week’s merluza recipe.

Cazuela de Garbanzos

500 gm dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight
2 liters of vegetable stock
2 large onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1-2 fresh chilies of your choice, chopped (optional)
1 handful (roughly 30 gm/½ bunch) of parsley, chopped (stems and leaves)
150 gm hazelnuts (optional)
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
large pinch of saffron threads
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
salt and black pepper to taste

Drain the chickpeas and place in a pot with the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, until al dente. (Note: If you want to use canned chickpeas reduce the simmering time to 15 minutes, just to absorb the stock flavor and 1 liter is probably enough.)

In a frying pan saute the onions in the oil until lightly browned. Add the garlic, chilies, parsley and hazelnuts, turn up the heat and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar and saffron and continue cooking and stirring until the liquid has been absorbed and the sofreito, as this is called, is a paste like consistency.

Drain most of the stock off of the chickpeas, leaving just enough to create a sauce when mixing in the sofreito, which you should do at this point. (Better to drain off extra and keep it aside, you can always add some back in.) Add the lemon juice and season to taste. Serves 4 as a main course or 6-8 as a side dish.

A series of recipes and articles that I started writing for the Buenos Aires Herald Sunday supplement, Food & Wine section, at the beginning of 2012. My original proposal to them was to take local favorite dishes and classics and lighten them up for modern day sensibilities. We’re not talking spa or diet recipes, but at the very least, making them healthier in content, particularly salt, fat and portion size. As time went by, that morphed into a recipe column that, while emphasizing food that is relatively “good for you”, wasn’t necessarily focused on local cuisine. At the beginning of 2013 I decided to stop writing for them over some administrative issues, but it was fun while it lasted.

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Buenos Aires Herald, Newspaper articles

Behold the child of sea beet

Sunday, March 4, 20120

acelga-a-la-crema-003_6908974308_o

Buenos Aires Herald
On Sunday supplement
Food and Wine

Sea beets are a wild vegetable that grow along the coasts of Europe, northern Africa and Asia. Though often referred to as wild spinach, it isn’t related. It is, however, related to this column as is the ancestor of two vegetables that while wildly unpopular in general in my country of birth, are just as wildly popular here in Argentina. Perhaps this is the “root” of our differences? Those vegetables are the beet and the silverbeet, or chard, or as seed catalog hucksters call it, Swiss chard.

Today I’m going to tackle the chard, here called acelga or acelgas, the singular and plural seemingly used interchangeably. Either way, it’s a leafy green vegetable that looks kind of like very, very large spinach leaves on thick stalks, and for the most part they can be and are used in place of each other in many recipes, though they do have distinctive flavors. Chard leaves are typically separated from their stems, and here, most of the time, the stems are simply tossed, a shame, as they’re highly nutritious and in their own way, just as flavorful as the leaves.

And while perhaps I should be telling you how to use those stems (sauteed in olive oil with garlic, onion and pinenuts, then wrapped in phyllo with brandy soaked raisins, dusted with sugar and cinnamon and baked until golden brown), I’m not going to, as my focus is lightening up some of our commonly found Argentine favorites. Today’s recipe, found in every bodegón out there, is acelga a la crema, creamed chard, generally ordered as a side dish to be shared by the table. If you’ve never tried it, you should, it’s as good or better than creamed spinach (which is found on many a steakhouse menu back home though no one ever really orders it except to pretend they’re eating vegetables).

The traditional approach here, and probably almost everywhere, is to quickly boil chopped chard leaves in salted water, drain them, toss them in butter, cream and salt, and then cook them over a low flame until they meld into a limp mess, top with mounds of cheese, stick under the broiler, and, ya está! And truthfully, I love this version, fat laden as it is, and often indulge my inner Paula Deen, mixing grated cheese and crispy bacon or prosciutto into the hot chard as well. But, alas, this is not a column on how to create a heart attack.

Acelga a la “crema”

3 tablespoons/45 ml olive oil
3 tablespoons/15 gm flour
500 ml cold lowfat or skim milk
1 shallot or small onion, chopped
250 gm chard leaves and stems, chopped
100 gm grated hard cheese of your choice
½ teaspoon ground pepper
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt

Fill a pot big enough to hold the chard with water and add a couple of spoonfuls of salt and bring to a boil. Add the chard, bring back to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. You can also “shock” the chard if you want in very cold or ice water to help set the bright green color, just for aesthetics. In a skillet over low heat, cook the onions in the olive oil until they’re soft. Add the flour, and cook, stirring steadily, for about five minutes to lightly toast it. Add the milk and turn the heat up slightly to a low-medium and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly. Once it reaches a simmer continue cooking for 7-8 minutes until it gets a thicker, velvety consistency. Remove from heat and season with nutmeg and pepper. Add the precooked chard and about a third of the grated cheese and then add salt to taste. At this point, you can serve it as is, adding in more of the cheese if you wish, or, you can put the mixture in a baking dish, cover with the remaining cheese and stick it under the broiler to brown. Serves 4 as a side dish.

A series of recipes and articles that I started writing for the Buenos Aires Herald Sunday supplement, Food & Wine section, at the beginning of 2012. My original proposal to them was to take local favorite dishes and classics and lighten them up for modern day sensibilities. We’re not talking spa or diet recipes, but at the very least, making them healthier in content, particularly salt, fat and portion size. As time went by, that morphed into a recipe column that, while emphasizing food that is relatively “good for you”, wasn’t necessarily focused on local cuisine. At the beginning of 2013 I decided to stop writing for them over some administrative issues, but it was fun while it lasted.

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Buenos Aires Herald, Newspaper articles

Ears of gold

Sunday, February 19, 20120

Humitas en la olla

Buenos Aires Herald
On Sunday supplement
Food and Wine

If you read the modern food press, you couldn’t be faulted for coming away with the impression that corn is the root of all evil. Movies have been made, books have been written – it makes us fat, it ruins our lives, it steals our money, it kisses babies, causes polygamy. I don’t know, I grew up with fields of corn surrounding us, stalks waving in the breeze, and we ate the stuff all the time, fresh from the field, packaged from the grocery store, and in a wide variety of forms. I’ll give you that there may be some evidence for the evils of high fructose corn syrup. Some. There’s debatable evidence on both sides of the argument.

But in its natural state there’s little more glorious in the grain world than corn. Despite being a grain, or cereal, it tends to be treated as a vegetable (except in dried form where we have polenta, grits, and porridges), and is more often cooked in ways that a vegetable would be. It’s reasonably nutritious, by no means the most, though it is one of the few grains or vegetables out there that supplies any quantity of the amino acid lutein, a necessary nutrient. Oh, and it tastes delicious, right?

An indigenous grain to southeastern Mexico, it was domesticated by the Taino people and due to its relative ease to grow, spread throughout the Americas, where it is the principal grain grown. Not all of it is grown for food, a large percentage (in the U.S. alone some 40%) these days goes to the making of biofuel. Here in Argentina, while not the largest crop grown (although until the introduction of massive soy farms, it pretty much was), some 13 million tons of corn is produced annually, making it the sixth largest producer of corn in the world.

And, Argentine cuisine makes good use of corn. Whether it’s rounds of choclo in a stew, dried white corn in locro, toasted corn kernels as snacks and garnishes, ground, dried corn in tamales, or, ground fresh corn in the local favorite, humitas, it’s all around us.

Now, many of us have tried empanadas filled with either whole or fresh corn, and also the steamed, corn husk wrapped humita version, one of the most common things I hear about them is “they’re too sweet”. Look, we all know that Argentines, particularly here in Buenos Aires, have a bit of a sweet tooth. It’s just built into the culture, and, we get used to it – it’s not that hard of an adaptation. But not all versions of these dishes are sweet, and one of my favorites is the humitas en olla, a classic of Salta that’s even got a bit of spice. I’ve spiked it up a notch or two and replaced the traditional beef fat with olive oil and the cheeses with lower fat versions, but I guarantee it’ll put humitas in a whole new light.

Humitas en Olla

6 ears corn on the cob
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 wedge or slice of yellow squash, in small dice (about 200 gms)
1-2 jalapeños, minced
100 grams olive oil
120 ml of low fat or skim milk
150 grams light port salut, cut in cubes
basil, chopped or shredded
salt, pepper to taste

Scrape the kernels from the cobs – it’s best to actually use a grater to do this, if you don’t have one, cut them off and give them a quick whirl in a food processor or blender, or even chop by hand.

In a pot (“en olla”), cook the onions , squash and chili in the oil with a little salt and pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the grated corn, and just enough of the milk to keep it a wet mixture. Cook, stirring regularly, as it absorbs the liquid – add more milk as needed. When the corn is cooked through, add the cheese, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture pulls away from the sides. Season to taste and garnish with basil.

A series of recipes and articles that I started writing for the Buenos Aires Herald Sunday supplement, Food & Wine section, at the beginning of 2012. My original proposal to them was to take local favorite dishes and classics and lighten them up for modern day sensibilities. We’re not talking spa or diet recipes, but at the very least, making them healthier in content, particularly salt, fat and portion size. As time went by, that morphed into a recipe column that, while emphasizing food that is relatively “good for you”, wasn’t necessarily focused on local cuisine. At the beginning of 2013 I decided to stop writing for them over some administrative issues, but it was fun while it lasted.

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Buenos Aires Herald, Newspaper articles

Getting Your Greens

Saturday, January 6, 20070

Time Out
Buenos Aires for Visitors
Summer/Autumn 2007
Page 34

Getting Your Greens
If you can’t stand the meat get out of the parrilla. Dan Perlman goes foraging.

timeout0702vegI’m a vegetarian, and…

Look, it’s not easy being green here. A simple admission that one “doesn’t eat much red meat” brings on a range of responses from abject criticism, to concern for your well-being, to an all pervading suspicion that something’s just not quite right about you. A flat out statement that you don’t eat any meat at all is tantamount to a request to be put in a psych ward for a 72-hour suicide watch.

All I hear about is beef, there must be something else to eat?

There’s a bizarre conception here that the mere elimination of beef from the diet somehow automatically makes you a vegetarian – no consideration will be given to your consumption of lamb, pork, fowl or fish. So, those who want to dine green find themselves in a quandary. What many restaurants consider vegetarian cuisine here contains chicken or beef stocks, bits of panceta “for flavor”, eggs, fish, shrimp, and anything else that someone who doesn’t understand your world thinks they can slip onto your plate.

So how do I avoid that without long discussions with waiters?

I almost hate to recommend it, but the simplest way is to stick with things that are overly basic. Virtually every restaurant here offers fresh salads, many of them with some great combinations. They’re fresh, they’re cheap, and you can pretty much guarantee nothing from the animal kingdom. Pastas are extremely popular in Buenos Aires, and the standard fileto is a basic tomato sauce, no meat, the blanco, which is a bechamel sauce, contains dairy, the scarparo is an onion, garlic, and tomato sauce, and pesto is common, though a pale imitation of it’s Italian roots, here generally being a basic puree of basil and olive oil, mixed with chunks of garlic.

Okay, but I’m not going to live on salads and pasta, what else?

Interestingly, even at the most hard-core bastions of red meat there are often offerings of a parrilla de verduras – a grilled vegetable platter, of course keeping in mind that it comes off the same grill as your neighbor’s steak. Many places have a milanesa de soja, which is the tofu or tempeh, or sometimes seitan, version of a milanesa – Argentina’s version of a weiner schnitzel. Most of these aren’t all that exciting, but then, generally neither are the meat versions. Pizza is also quite good in Argentina, in fact easily the best in Latin America, and in some places as good as anything you’d get in Italy, and it’s quite easy to get an individual sized pie at many places, topped with just the things you want.

Alright, so there are some possibilities when I go out with friends to the places they want to eat, what about when it’s their turn to tag along?

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. There are surprisingly quite a few possibilities. The most common are the Chinese vegetarian buffets. Most ubiquitous are the tenedor libres (all-you-can-eat), which are often good bargains, with unlimited trips to the salad bar, hot food tables, and dessert trays, for under AR$10. That said, most of them offer the sort of food you might expect for the style and price – decent salad bars, lots of fried foods that keep well on a hot tray, vegetable tarts, and stir-fries. The best of these is probably Los Sabios (Corrientes 3733, 4864-4407) in Almagro. (Take the subway “B” line and get off at Medrano.)

And that’s it? Chinese-Argentinian all-you-can-eat buffets?

There are also a small number of non-Chinese spots of this sort. Without question the best of these is Granix (Florida 165, 4760-0307) on the first floor of the Galería Güemes which has the added advantage of being central. This place is run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, but there’s no preaching happening, just really high quality food and drink for a flat AR$18.

How about non-buffets?

There are the better quality setups where you pay for what you order, more cafeteria style – often with a more intriguing and appetizing selection. These are a little less common, and for some reason lean towards the world of macrobiotics. The best known is La Esquina de las Flores, but it’s neighbor, Lotos, Córdoba 1577, in the Centro area, 4814-4552, is far and away a better option, with an incredible salad selection, a wide variety of hot dishes, and some great tofu based desserts.

Okay, there’s got to be something that’s more of a traditional restaurant, yes?

There are the better quality setups where you pay for what you order, more cafeteria style – often with a more intriguing and appetizing selection. These are a little less common, and for some reason lean towards the world of macrobiotics. The best known is La Esquina de Flores, but its neighbor, Lotos (Córdoba 1577, Microcentro 4814-4552) is far and away the better option, with its incredible salad selection, a wide variety of tasty hot dishes, and some great tofu based desserts.

Okay, there’s got to be something that’s more like a traditional restaurant, yes?

Possibly our two favorite vegetarian spots are in the more creative, eclectic vein. Bio (Humboldt 2199, 4774-3880) in the heart of Palermo Viejo, serves up some amazingly creative macrobiotic cuisine based on whole grains and vegetables. They’re not big on the tofu score which is a nice change of pace. They also make some great fresh juice drinks (here known as licuados). Across town in San Telmo there’s Flor de Lino, (Pasaje San Lorenzo 356, 4362-0128), a vegetarian catering company has opened up a dining room offering truly inventive, delicious pizzas, pastas, and other main dishes, along with an extensive wine list and full bar.

Are there any options for going more upscale or elegant?

As of right now, just two. The first is Artemisia (Cabrera 3877, 4863-4242), where they offer up beautiful presentations of some wonderfully creative vegetarian dishes in an elegant white-tablecloth setting. There’s also the advantage, if you want to take non-vegetarian friends along, that they offer a small selection of fish dishes. The second option is verdellama (Dorrego 1588, 4778-1889), a new venture from well-known chef Diego Castro, who for the last year or so ran a one night a week in-home raw food vegan restaurant. By popular demand he’s closed up the in-home version and renovate a nearby building top open a full restaurant serving the same kind of food.

In mid-2006, I started writing for Time Out Buenos Aires. With changes in their way of conducting business, I decided to part company with them after my last article and set of reviews in mid-2009.

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Magazine articles, Time Out Buenos Aires

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Priorities!

Wednesday, March 10, 20040

Outlet Radio Network
March 2004

Priorities!

Bombs in Iraq, bombs in Pakistan, terrorism threats, the rise of anti-Semitism, banning of head scarves in French schools, gay marriage and a bad white truffle harvest. It’s clear we’re headed for some sort of disaster… or, to paraphrase the Ghostbusters team:
Real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together. Mass hysteria!

Now I know this stuff is important. But my cholesterol is up and I put on a few pounds. I’m supposed to go on vacation and lay around a pool with some friends in a few weeks. While that may not sound like a disaster of Biblical proportions, it certainly borders on Rubenesque proportions.

I have to admit, that occupies more of my concern than any of the above, except perhaps the white truffle harvest. I don’t want to start taking Lipitor, that would just seem like license to go out and eat badly. I didn’t put on enough weight to “go on a diet”.

It’s more like I actually have to make use of my gym membership and eat more carefully.

Top that off with some of my readers actually demanding that I provide vegetarian and fish recipes! I was all ready to share some sort of spring lamb extravaganza and then the weight of the world is dumped on my shoulders. Well, if Atlas can shrug, so can I. Have some fun with these dishes:

Pan Seared Salmon in Shallot Sauce

Serves 4

4 6-8 ounce salmon fillets, 1″ thick
garlic powder
coarse salt
olive oil
2 dozen small shallots, peeled and quartered
1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon almond or hazelnut oil
2 branches of fresh rosemary
green lentils
butter or olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Start the lentils cooking according to package directions (plan on 20 minutes cooking time). Melt the butter with the nut oil, salt and sugar. Add the shallots, rosemary, salt and pepper, toss to coat. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, until shallots are soft and caramelized (plan on 15 minutes). Lightly coat the salmon fillets with salt and garlic powder. Sear in olive oil until lightly browned on both sides. Cook until medium rare-medium. Drain lentils, toss with butter, salt and pepper to taste. Put into individual serving bowls, top with salmon fillets and portion the sauce over each fillet.

Okay, there’s butter in this recipe. Deal with it… (actually, I’ve found this great “butter-flavored” olive oil spread from Fleishmann’s that I’ve been using as a substitute).

Farfalle with Peas & Radishes

Serves 4

1 pound package of dry farfalle (bowtie pasta)
8 ounces fresh green peas
8 ounces french breakfast radishes with greens
1 tablespoon chopped mint
salt & black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Follow package directions for cooking farfalle to “al dente” texture. Simmer peas in water with one tablespoon of the butter until tender. Drain. Thinly slice the radishes, salt lightly and cook slowly in the other tablespoon of butter. Rinse the green thoroughly and roughly chop. Quickly saute in the olive oil. Add peas and radishes and season to taste. Add drained pasta to vegetables. Toss with the mint, adjust seasoning and add additional olive oil if needed to coat pasta.

I started writing food & wine columns for the Outlet Radio Network, an online radio station in December 2003. They went out of business in June 2005.

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Online Publications, Outlet Radio Network

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Cooking with Spring Vegetables

Sunday, May 5, 20020

Q San Francisco
May 2002
Pages 46-47

Cooking with Spring Vegetables

Vegetables are the Elaine Stritch of the food world – delightfully crunchy raw, but even better when just a bit fried. When spring arrives, the markets fill with a riot of colorful gems from local farmers. Where meat basically covers a color palate that runs from white through pink to red, vegetables provide a kaleidoscope of possibilities.

Beyond the rainbow visual effects, vegetables also give new meaning to depth of flavor. Cooking method has a radical impact on the final flavors of the simplest veggies. Quick methods lock in bright, fresh flavors, while slow cooking draws out complex, intense tastes. Mixing very different vegetables together creates surprising harmonies, proving that the sum of parts is indeed greater than the whole.

Fava beans, English peas, white eggplant, Vidalia onions, radishes, fennel, squash blossoms, rhubarb, fiddlehead ferns and ramps. These are few of my favorite spring things. Being from Michigan though, for me the two things that signal our return to warmth and sunshine are asparagus and morel mushrooms.

asparagustipsAsparagus Custard with Morel & Spring Onion Sauce

Custard
6 stalks trimmed asparagus stems (reserve tips)
2 teaspoons chervil
½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic
14 ounces heavy cream
4 eggs
salt & white pepper

Simmer the cream with the garlic, allowing to reduce by one quarter. Finely slice the asparagus stems and boil in water until just soft (2-3 minutes). Drain. Blanch the asparagus tips separately, remove and set aside. Puree with the garlic cream and chervil until very smooth. Allow to cool slightly. Beat eggs and combine with puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour into custard molds and bake in a water bath at 325 degrees until just set. Allow to rest in the water bath for 5 minutes to firm and then unmold onto plates.

Sauce
1 vidalia onion
6 ramps (baby wild leeks)
1 small bundle fresh chives
1 small carrot
1 sweet yellow bell pepper
1 cup heavy cream
½ pound fresh morels
2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon chervil
salt & white pepper

Finely chop the three types of onion, carrot and pepper. Add to cream with a little salt and cook very slowly over low heat until reduced by one-third. Strain, pressing on vegetables to draw out all flavor. Saute the morels in butter with salt and white pepper. Add to cream and simmer for five more minutes. Pool the sauce around the custards and garnish each custard with an asparagus tip. Sprinkle dishes with finely chopped chervil.

Another spring vegetable favorite is a light and simple take on the traditional Pasta Primavera. Most of the time we tend to think about radishes as a raw ingredient, but cooked slowly in a little butter draws out amazing delicate flavors.

Farfalle with Peas & Radishes

1 pound package of dry farfalle (bowtie pasta)
4 ounces fresh green peas
4 ounces french breakfast radishes with greens
1 teaspoon chopped mint
salt & black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Follow package directions for cooking farfalle to “al dente” texture. Simmer peas in water with one tablespoon of the butter until tender. Drain. Thinly slice the radishes, salt lightly and cook slowly in the other tablespoon of butter. Rinse the green thoroughly and roughly chop. Quickly saute in the olive oil. Add peas and radishes and season to taste. Add drained pasta to vegetables. Toss with the mint, adjust seasoning and add additional olive oil if needed to coat pasta.

Wine and vegetable pairing follows an entirely different pattern from wine and meat. With meat, much of what makes a match work is to balance the fats and proteins in the meat with the tannins and acidity of the wine. The less intense fat and protein content of vegetable dishes requires less of this type of balance. Instead, I opt for complementing the flavors of the sauces with the flavors of the wine. Treat the wine as if it was a seasoning.

Asparagus is often considered a difficult match with wine. Naturally, it contains high levels of phosphorus and mercaptans, components that if found in a wine, would render it unpalatable. But tempered by slow cooking and matched with a rich sauce, it becomes a perfect foil for a rich, citrusy white. I recommend several California Sauvignon blancs: Franus “Farella-Park Vineyard”, Artesa Reserve, or Selene “Hyde Park Vineyard” Sauvignon blancs are all great choices.

Radishes and peas when cooked as outlined above are very delicate in flavor. I look instead at the sauce made with butter and mint as key flavoring components. A favorite grape variety with this dish is the Albariño, a native grape of Spain & Portugal. Three great choices are: Havens Albariño from Carneros in California, Martin Codax “Organistrum” from Rias Baixas in Spain, and Portal do Fidalgo Alvarinho, a vinho verde from Portugal.

Q San Francisco magazine premiered in late 1995 as a ultra-slick, ultra-hip gay lifestyle magazine targeted primarily for the San Francisco community. It was launched by my friends Don Tuthill and Robert Adams, respectively the publisher and editor-in-chief, who had owned and run Genre magazine for several years prior. They asked me to come along as the food and wine geek, umm, editor, for this venture as well. In order to devote their time to Passport magazine, their newest venture, they ceased publication of QSF in early 2003.

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Magazine articles, Q San Francisco

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How to Throw an Inexpensive Dinner Party

Saturday, January 5, 20020

Q San Francisco
January 2002
Pages 40-41

How to Throw an Inexpensive Dinner Party

dinnerpartywinesOne of the newest (or is it oldest?) trends is a return to “comfort foods”. Sometimes you just need to say au revoir to tuna tartare in sea urchin vinaigrette, ciao to beet carpaccio and preserved sicilian lemons, and adios to scallop ceviche with blood orange salsa. A simple “mac & cheese”, a perfectly charred porterhouse, a golden brown roasted chicken are where your tastebuds want to head.

The nicest thing about this latest trend is its ease on the budget. I no longer have to decide between having a half dozen friends over for a meal and redecorating the living room. I can say “no” to $100 a pound matsutakes and “yes” to $1 a pound white buttons mushrooms. Not only that, but when I serve them, it’s trendy!

The challenge, of course, is to go cheap without sacrificing quality. It’s easy to be innovative when you have an unlimited selection of the finest ingredients. It’s a whole new level of creativity when you work with a shoestring budget. The necessary simplicity requires a commitment to absolute freshness and excellence. However, this doesn’t mean giving up on flavor and variety. In fact, it requires a dedicated selectivity to come up with inexpensive ingredients peppered with a couple of just the right extras. Set yourself a budget for dinner, and head out in search of those special ingredients that will contribute to making your dinner party a smashing, and financial, success.

Good Ole’ New-Fashioned Pork Chop Dinner

Serves 6

1 head of romaine lettuce
1 head of butter or bibb lettuce
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Crush the garlic and nuts together until you have a paste. Add the seasonings and olive oil and mix together well. Slowly add the vinegar, making sure to whisk it in thoroughly. This will make a fairly “chunky” dressing. If you prefer smooth, or are just in a hurry, blend all ingredients (except the two lettuces) together in a blender until you get your consistency. Just before serving, toss the lettuces with the dressing.

Main Course:

6 nice sized, thick cut pork chops
1 bottle of pear nectar, juice or cider
6 bay leaves, preferably fresh
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the pork in it, in the refrigerator, for two to four hours

In a large frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and quickly brown the chops on both sides. Pour the marinade over the chops, reduce heat, cover and simmer until chops are cooked medium. Remove the chops, set aside, and turn up the heat. Reduce the marinade until it forms a thick sauce. Season with more salt & pepper to taste, remove the bay leaves and pour over chops on serving platter.

Vegetable:

1 pound broccoli di rape
2 medium sized pears
3 tablespoons of butter
salt & pepper

Meanwhile… Dice the pears and chop the broccoli di rape. Saute the pears in the remaining two tablespoons of butter until softened (but not mushy). Add the broccoli di rape and quickly saute until cooked through. Adjust the seasoning and serve on the side of the pork chops.

Potatoes:

2 pounds small potatoes (fingerlings are great here, but not necessary)
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper

Put potatoes and garlic in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until done. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Mash the potatoes, garlic and oil together, adding back a little cooking liquid if needed to get a smooth consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Add to your serving platter.

I managed this dinner for just over $40. At $7 a person, how can you not enjoy?

Recently, virtually every major wine magazine has done a feature on “Value Wines”. Why should I buck this trend? Here’s a selection of favorite Californians that ought to be available for under $12 a bottle and all work well with this dinner!

Whites:

Niebaum Coppola “Bianco”, 2000
Thomas Fogarty Gewurztraminer, 2000
Pine Ridge “Chenin Blanc-Viognier”, 2000
Lions Peak Viognier, 1999
Wild Horse Malvasia Bianca, 2000
Sanford Sauvignon Blanc, 1999

Reds:

Four Vines “Old Vine Cuvee” Zinfandel, 1997
Rancho Zabaco “Heritage Vines” Zinfandel, 1999
Peachy Canyon “Incredible Red”, 1999
Monteviña Barbera, 1997
Heron Syrah, 1999
Liberty School Syrah, 1999

Q San Francisco magazine premiered in late 1995 as a ultra-slick, ultra-hip gay lifestyle magazine targeted primarily for the San Francisco community. It was launched by my friends Don Tuthill and Robert Adams, respectively the publisher and editor-in-chief, who had owned and run Genre magazine for several years prior. They asked me to come along as the food and wine geek, umm, editor, for this venture as well. In order to devote their time to Passport magazine, their newest venture, they ceased publication of QSF in early 2003.

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Magazine articles, Q San Francisco

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The Perfect Cocktail Party

Sunday, November 5, 20000

Q San Francisco
November 2000
Pages 60-61

The Perfect Cocktail Party

greenoliveEver since seeing Mame for the first time, I’ve wanted to through lavish, unconventional cocktail parties. What could be more fun than having your apartment completely redecorated every couple of weeks, inviting scads of the most interesting people to come “in-theme,” and serving up the best cocktails, the finest wines, and food that amazes one and all?

I recently had the opportunity to attend a theme party where the hosts had the wherewithal (I love that word! I’m not broke, I just don’t have any wherewithal…) to do up an Arabian Nights theme. To paraphrase my favorite golden girl, “Picture this, Long Island, September 2000…”

The hundred guests were put up in a local hotel, at the hosts’ expense. We were picked up and driven to their home, where we were deposited at the end of a long, paving-stone drive. The drive was lined with boys. Each was wearing nothing but harem pants and holding a large torch, held jutting forth from, well, an appropriate spot to jut forth from. We walked the drive doing the Madeleine Kahn thing, “no, no, yes, no, yes, yes…”

At the end of the drive were the elephant and camel, available for rides. We veered right into the courtyard where we were entertained for an hour or so by fortune tellers, belly dancers, boys and girls in various revealing costumes, cocktails, wine and canapes. Dinner was held in a tent in the backyard – complete with seating for the hundred plus guests, a dance floor, a stage (upon which performed, at various times, more dancers, a band, singers, and a stand-up comic).

When the hosts decided it was time to end the party, they played “Last Dance”, announced that our rides were awaiting at the other end of the drive…and, well, it was over. Now that’s the way to run a party. I just need a little more wherewithal.

I’m going to leave the redecorating to your own imaginations, the invitations for the amusing and facile as well. Food and wine, I can help with. Of course, I don’t know what theme you’ll pick, but at least I can offer a guide to my last theme party – I decided on turning my apartment into a Spanish tapas bar.

Tapas bars, as you may or may not know, are delightful places that Spaniards frequent as a prelude to dining. Starting at an appropriate point in mid-evening, you gather with friends and nibble on various tidbits while consuming a glass or two of sherry, wine or a cocktail. Generally you stand and imbibe, then move your cadre on to your next favorite spot. For my party, I send invitations to forty of my dearest friends and received 70 RSVPs! I have a six-hundred square foot studio apartment. Standing room was the perfect approach. I moved all furniture off to the sides except the dining table. My desk became the wine bar – both were draped in some sort of Spanish looking tablecloth.

I bought olives. Lots of olives. I bought serrano ham, chorizos and other appropriate charcuterie. I bought wine – sparkling, white, red, and sherry. All Spanish of course. Then I had to cook. Two dishes became the hits of the evening, prawns with garlic, and my romesco sauce with grilled veggies and bread to dip in it.

Prawns with Garlic

To serve 10 as a tapas

1/2 cup of olive oil
5 dozen decent sized shrimp (shells and head-on preferred)
2 teaspoons salt
1 head of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 cups of light, dry sherry
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, minced

Unless you have a huge skillet, you’ll need to split this in a couple of batches. Heat the oil until it is quite hot. Add the shrimp and salt and stir-fry for a minute. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until the shrimp are nice and pink. Add the sherry and cook until it the sauce thickens slightly. Toss in the parsley and serve immediately. It’s best to leave the shells on the shrimp as they add flavor, and make it more fun for the guests to peel their own (or eat, shell and all, which is quite do-able).

Grilled Veggies, Bread & Romesco Sauce

2 japanese eggplants, sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
2 yellow squash, sliced
2 red bell peppers, cut in strips
1 bunch asparagus, pared of any tough ends
1 loaf crusty white bread, sliced (reserve the ends)
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

A stove-top grill works fine for this dish. Brush the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper them to taste, and grill until done. Drain and serve on platters with Romesco sauce.

1 cup almonds
Bread loaf ends (each about 1 to 1-1/2″ thick)
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded & chopped
6 tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
2 cups olive oil
1 cup sherry vinegar

Toast the almonds, bread and garlic cloves in a 400F oven for 10-15 minutes till lightly browned. Put the bread and almonds in a food processor and process until finely ground. Peel the garlic cloves and add to processor with tomatoes, peppers, and seasonings. Process until smooth. Gradually add the olive oil and then the vinegar while processing. You should end up with about five cups of a thick, smooth sauce that is perfect for dipping the grilled veggies and bread in.

Your beverage choices are, again, going to be determined by the theme of the evening. As an accompaniment to my tapas dinner, I had a selection of dry sherries, cava (Spanish sparkling wine), white and red wines, and then after dinner drinks to go with the later desserts.

For dry sherry, I recommend one good manzanilla, like the Hijos de Rainera Perez Marin “La Guita” and perhaps a nice amontillado, E. Lustau “Los Arcos” would be excellent choices. Cava, the premier Spanish sparkling wine is generally light, crisp and delicate, generally from the Penedes region. Wonderful selections can be had from Juan-Esteve Avinyo-Nadal, Castillo Perelada and Jaume Serra.

A good white wine choice would be an Albariño from the north of Spain. Personal favorites include Martin Codax, Lagar de Cervera, and Fillaboa. You might consider a rosé, as Spain makes some excellent ones. Best choices include Muga and Conde de Valdemar. And for a red, the classic Spanish grape Tempranillo makes a winning evening – try Sierra Cantabria or El Coto Riojas, especially the latter’s Coto de Imaz Reserva, or any of the wines from the Abadia Retuerta winery.

You can finish with a selection of Pedro Ximenez based dessert wines – my current favorite, and a great value, the Alvear “Solera Diego Abuela No. 27” from Montilla-Moriles. A nice Spanish brandy for those who like a little after-dinner fire – Gran Duque d’Alba or Cardenal Mendoza would be great choices.

Q San Francisco magazine premiered in late 1995 as a ultra-slick, ultra-hip gay lifestyle magazine targeted primarily for the San Francisco community. It was launched by my friends Don Tuthill and Robert Adams, respectively the publisher and editor-in-chief, who had owned and run Genre magazine for several years prior. They asked me to come along as the food and wine geek, umm, editor, for this venture as well. In order to devote their time to Passport magazine, their newest venture, they ceased publication of QSF in early 2003.

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Magazine articles, Q San Francisco

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