Spaghetti and Clams

 

Whenever I travel, I always come back with lots of culinary inspiration and always with one perfectly captivating dish I just have to re-create.  A taste of southern Spain for me will always be a fideua, a taste of London is a scone with clotted cream and perfectly bitter orange marmalade, the Scotland summed up in a juicy, rare lamb chop…

I ate an array of amazing food in Italy this summer but one taste was so vivid, so unforgettable and so purely satisfying that I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  To think that a dish so simple can be the one most perfect byte to sum up all of Mediterranean coast cuisine…

As I am pouring over my past menus, cook books and recipe ideas to come up with yet another ambitious and barely executable Thanksgiving menu, I was craving simplicity.  And since I am again allowed to cook Italian food by my oh-so-spoiled family, I went to re-create the perfect byte of Italy – a simple spaghetti and clams.

It takes 5 ingredients to make it and about 15 minutes and if done right it becomes a dish you will crave over and over again.  It truly celebrates the essence of Amalfi coast cuisine, simple, great ingredients put together with love and tradition of centuries.

If you can get your hands on the wild Mediterranean clams, you are in luck… for the rest of make do with whatever your fish monger can master up.  You want the smallest clams you can find, the cockles or vongoles, little necks or the multitude of small clams from the Pacific that I am not too familiar with.  Anything wild caught will taste much better than farmed and god forbid you to use anything preserved.

And if you ever bought clam juice in a bottle, please don’t do it again.  It takes 30 seconds to get the real thing out of your clams and the taste cannot be compared to the bottled crap.

Now let’s talk pasta.  There is a reason why pasta comes in two varieties, fresh and dried.  One is not better than other, each has its purpose and I got a good lesson of which to use when while I was in Italy.  Fresh pasta is great with thicker sauces, such as tomato or cream and cheese based.  For seafood light sauces and broth type sauces you never want to use fresh pasta.  It will become soggy and the idea is to have the toothy (al dente) texture offset the sauces with less body.  This dish demands dry pasta and not the whole wheat variety, not the egg enriched pasta but the honest to goodness old-fashioned spaghetti made with semolina flour and water…  And why spaghetti?  Again, the 2,000 pasta shapes out there all have a reason or more importantly a science of holding whichever sauce they are made to carry.  Ridged, short pasta is a perfect vessel for a meat ragout, a nice bucatini is perfect for spicy Amatriciana or a fra Diavolo.  Linguini is great with larger seafood and broth such as shrimp and muscles, but is too thick for a delicate clam dish.  Spaghetti is perfect, not too thick, and not too thin, holds the sauce but does not “carry” it, a wound up fork fool is proportionate to the size of an average clam… in one word perfect.

I know, it may all be too scientific and too thoughtful, after all I was advocating the simplicity and food should not be so complicated. So without further complications, here is the recipe to the dish I crave every single day since coming home.

Spaghetti and clams

3 lbs of small wild clams

1 lb dry spaghetti

1.5 cups of dry white wine

8 cloves of garlic minced

Extra virgin Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Chopped parsley for garnish

 

Place all your clams in a large container and hold under a running cold water for at least 10-15 minutes.  This will help get rid of a lot of sand.  Than arrange all clams in one layer on a bottom of a shallow pan with a good lid.  Add just ¼ cup of water to the pan, cover and place of a low medium heat for 2-3 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let stand covered for another 2-3 minutes.  This allows the clams to open and release all the juice but not cook all the way.  Remove the clams and set aside.  Strain the clam juice through a cheese cloth to remove the remaining sand  and set aside.  Drop your pasta into heavily salted boiling water.

Clean the pan that  you cooked the clams in ( you may still have a bit of sand in it).  Heat 2 tbs of olive oil and add all the garlic, sauté on low heat until garlic just becomes soft.  Add back all the clams and the white wine, cook on low-medium heat for 1 min, add the reserved clam juice and cook for 2 minutes more.  Add the black pepper and the salt if needed.  The amount of salt will depend on the how briny your clams are, sometimes the juice they release is quite salty so taste the broth before you season it. 

At this point your pasta should be perfectly al dente, drain it and add it to the clams pan.  Toss in the broth for a few seconds and don’t forget to add the parsley.  Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and garnish with a bit more parsley.

 

That’s it….Mangiare!

Pickled Green Tomatoes

You know the expression “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”?  So what are you supposed to do if universe gives you green tomatoes?  Lots of them, more than I can count. 

My tomato harvest this year exceeded all my expectations; there were hundreds of beautiful tomatoes that even managed to escape the squirrels.  There was only one problem, most of them never ripened. 

There is something weird about my backyard, all plants bloom later than normal.  In the spring my lilac just starts to bloom at the end of May, when others long forgot about it’s flowers.  My roses don’t peak until July and my vegetables don’t get going until August.  I plant my tomatoes with everyone else, one weekend after Mother’s day.  And everyone I know is proudly munching on their own tomatoes in August, where I only start to get little green ones.  By end of September, everyone is done harvesting, and I may have picked a couple red ones and my tomato bushes are breaking under the heaviness of beautiful but still green fruit.  And as October frost sets in I realize that sadly, these beauties will never ripen and I just need to cut my losses again this year. 

As I stared at basket after basket of green tomatoes to be thrown away, my husband suggested I pickle them instead.  A pickled green tomato makes a classic Russian vodka chaser.  You just have to remember to give those lots and lots of flavor as they have none of their own.  And these can last in the fridge for months , no need to fiddle around with mason jars and preservation process. 

So now I have enough pickled green tomatoes to throw a serious vodka party, or to give away as gifts or to sell at a market, if I am so inclined…. They are taking up half of my auxiliary  fridge and better be eaten by spring…

Pickled Green Tomatoes

Green or just slightly pink tomatoes

A glass or plastic container with a lid that can fit all of the tomatoes snuggly but not squeezed in

The recipe for the brine and spices below is for a 2 gallon container, but can easily be scaled up or down

For the brine

3 cups of white vinegar

1.5 gallons of water

1 cup kosher salt
¼ cup brown sugar

 Pickling spices

6 cloves of garlic, cleaned and slightly crashed

1 or 2 hot peppers cut in halves
½ tbs coriander seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp dried oregano

Combine all the brine ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer until all salt and sugar is dissolved.  User right away.

Wash the tomatoes and fit them snuggly into the clean jar.  Along with tomatoes add the hot peppers, garlic and the pickling spices.

Pour hot brine over the tomatoes, making sure they are fully submerged.  Close tightly and refrigerate.

The pickled tomatoes should be ready in 7 -10 days.  These can last in the fridge for several months if they are submerged in brine.

Swordfish steaks and favorite things.

Just recently my son was mopping around the house complaining that he has nothing to look forward to…. Must be genetic, because the anticipation is what drives me and keeps me happy.  Looking forward to trips, cooking projects, and other fun things is my favorite past time and if nothing is coming up I get antsy…

And if I have nothing big to look forward I think of all the little things that can keep me going for now…. This time of year is look forward to the chilly air and the way the sun hits a golden maple tree in my back yard, to the feel of wearing favorite boots for the first time, to pumpkin everything, to lots of venison in the freezer, to the daunting task for coming up with the Thanksgiving menu and to confiscating my children’s Halloween candy and then eating all my favorite ones in secret.  I look forward to the my orchids blooming in the winter, to warm blankets and cozy pj’s , to getting snowed in on the weekend and heaving nothing to do but cook, eat and watch Breaking Bad.

I look forward to comfort foods and foods that will take me back to summer, back to Italy, back to the blue waters of Mediterranean…  what better choice than a nice, hearty, Swordfish steak. 

Originally, I was going to serve the Swordfish with Potatoes Au Gratin and Green Beans, but my Au Gratin didn’t work ( contrary to popular belief, some things do fail in my kitchen and more often than you think) so a few thousand calories were saved and a much healthier dinner was served.

 

The biggest trick to cooking swordfish is not to over or under cook it… it needs to be a perfect medium, because anything over is bone dry and anything under is just not flavorful enough.  You also want the freshest cuts, preferably not previously frozen and the stakes have to be at least ½ inch thick, although 2/3 of an Inch thick is the best.

Pan Seared Swordfish Steaks with Lemon Herb butter

4 Swordfish steaks – 2/3 inch thick at room temperature

¼ cup of fine flour (also called sauce or sauté flour)

Salt and pepper

Vegetable oil for the pan

For the sauce

 

½ tbs of rosemary minced

1 tsp of fresh thyme

1 tbs of fresh parsley

Juice of half a lemon

2 cloves of garlic

Salt / Pepper

½ cup of extra virgin olive oil ( the fruitiest you can find)

1 tbs of melted butter

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pan until almost smoking.  Salt and pepper the stakes on both sides and dip into the fine flour (shake off the excess).  Sear on each side until just golden ( 1 -2 minutes).  Prepare the sauce -  combine all the ingredients in the food processor or blender.  Process until smooth.    Dress the fish with the sauce immediately after taking off the heat ( you may want to slightly heat the sauce as well).  Serve hot.

 

 

Delicious, hearty but still light!  Unlike the 100 lbs of venison in my freezer, which I am very much looking forward to cooking!

Stuffed Squash blossoms and last summer thoughts.

Every winter and spring I wait, and plan, and look forward to summer…”This summer I will…” and the list goes on and on, entertain more, run more, take day trips, swim the dog more, cook this and that, plant something, clean something, paint something, do nothing… And as the cooler night of fall set in, I sit here in my missed, cozy sweater and take stock… as usual; the summer flew by and was not as productive as I hoped.  As if an old woman regretting all the “could have done” of her life, I am saddened for the missed opportunities each and every summer… There was always something I wanted to do but just didn’t get around to it

When I saw gorgeous fresh squash blossoms at the farm, I had just a glimpse of hope that it may not be too late to accomplish at least one cooking project I intended for the warm months.  When zucchini blossoms start appearing at farmer’s markets around May, I always intent to make them, but never get the actual opportunity as these delicate flowers cannot be bought on a Tuesday or Wednesday and  live to see me free to cook on the weekend.  Flowers wilt, and quickly, just like summers…

Stuffing and frying flowers is not a big whoop, you just need a bit of patience and delicate hands.  And I don’t like them heavily battered either.  I lightly tempura them so that the fright batter is thin, crackly and translucent, almost like glass, preserving the flower’s color and shape.  It is what I would like to do to summer, preserve it in a little, crisp, see through shell, to hold up to the light, to admire it’s beauty , to taste its ever so short life…

One last pretty bite and it is time to cozy up with a mug of something warm, breathe in the crisp autumn air and think of something to look forward to….Ah, yes, Thanksgiving!

 

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Freshly cut blossoms of squash or zucchini (squash blossoms are actually easier to work with as they are larger.  Buy them just cut, preferably the same day you plan to use them, but you can store them in a cool, dry place for one day, but unfortunately no longer)

2 tbs ricotta cheese drained

½ tbs grated parmesan cheese

½ tbs chopped fresh herbs (parsley, basil and mint work well alone or combined)

Salt and pepper

For the Tempura batter

1 cup all-purpose flour

A pinch of salt

1/3 to 2/3 cups of ice cold seltzer

Vegetable oil for frying

Whisk together the ricotta, parmesan cheese and herbs.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.  Gently open each flower and remove the pestle ( you can use your fingers for this or just snip it with scissors).  Stuff each flower with the cheese mixture using either a piping bag or a very small spoon ( I knew the baby spoons would come in handy one day!).  Gently close and slightly twist the petals around the stuffing. 

In a deep skillet heat 1 ½ - 2 inches of vegetable oil to 300F – 325F.  Prepare the tempura by whisking the four and salt and then seltzer.  Do not over mix, stop as soon as no large clumps of flour are visible.  The batter will be very runny.  Dip each flower into the batter and gently shake off the excess.  Fry 1 to 2 minutes turning carefully in the oil, until crisp and slightly browned.  Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.  You can finish them with a bit more salt as soon as they come out of the hot oil.

 

 

Travels and Tastes of Italy - Rome

Every guide book on Italy will tell you: “ Beware of pickpockets and scams”, and honestly, getting scammed is part of the experience as long as it doesn’t cost you too much.  A guy working the Naples tolls into his own pocket rang every warning bell in my brain, I knew I was getting scammed as the 2 Euro toll cost me 12, unfortunately by the time I assembled all the gut feeling signs into a conclusion I was on the road, long past the tolls…. Oh well, it is part of the Italian adventure… thank god in was only 10 Euro worth….

 

Rome is Rome…. It is the city of cities, which endured thousands of years’ worth of history… grand, beautiful, dirty, touristy, spiritual, noisy, glitzy, chaotic, and very, very old…  So old in fact that when you are visiting the Coliseum and Palatine Hill you marvel at the splendor, the achievement, the advancement of that civilization…. How can it be that a civilization this advanced and evolved was simply forgotten, put to sleep for hundreds of years to be reinvented anew…

 

 

How can artists forget the craft of painting and sculpture, the engineers lose the ability to create magnificent buildings, build roads and bridges?  How could have the world plunged into the darkness of the middle ages?  And is our civilization doomed to the same fate?  Will archeologist uncover the I-pad a million years from now and marvel it’s advancement?  Will our skyscrapers invoke the same awe as the Roman forums?

Are all those tourists asking themselves the same questions or simply looking for a menu in their native language?

 

I swear, finding a decent place to eat in Rome is like searching for a needle in a hay stack.  The sigh of tour groups zipping through the main sites happily decentering upon any restaurant boasting a menu in their native tongue made me queasy.  I wanted something austenitic, Roman, not your 10 Euro compound Pasta / Pizza combo….

If you step away from the crowds just a bit and examine the menus with care you can still find great food in Rome. 

 It is known for its great fresh pastas, fresh to hold the richer sauces better… the wonderful Carbonara, the Amatrichiatta, the rich Bolognese….

And even here, the produce in season is the key….

 

 

 

End of August, beginning of September in Europe means mushrooms…. This is the time of year when my mother and I took a few days, just before school started and went away to pick Porcini.  This is the taste of my childhood, the taste that meant cooler nights, and shorter days, the crisp of new school uniform, the hearty soups during long cold winter….the strings of mushrooms drying on our balcony….it is a taste of fall…

 

The baskets of freshly picked Porcini were outside every restaurant   around the ancient center.  And when the waiter came to take my order I had only one request, I want those…. And keep the coming…

And they did... the beautiful fresh mushrooms, lightly grilled with just a touch of olive oil and garlic, slathered on toast of crispy bread, sautéed into a cream steak sauce…

If Romans did not have a dedicated Mushroom God, they should have… I would have worshiped him with delight.

There are many ways you can become homesick…. And with all of our love for travel after the two weeks were becoming restless, longing for the familiarity of our own beds, wider highways and stronger water pressure.  The glorious Italian food was growing tired and thoughts of Mexican and Sushi filled our heads…  For last lunch in Italy we came upon a Tuscan restaurant and happily devoured rabbit, hearty wild boar stew and suckling pig as the site of pasta and pizza was no longer bearable…. A last desert of fragolini with whipped cream and we were ready to park our tired legs on the plane home….

I have been forbidden from cooking Italian food for at least a few month but when I will make pizza and pasta again I will cook it while imagining the breathtaking views of the sea, the warm sunshine of Amalfi, the dizzying roads, the welcoming smiles of the people and the ancient streets…. And I bet a little of those thoughts will translate into my flavors….  Arrivederci, beautiful Italy, until we meet again!