On the Menu

This is what’s on the menu for this week…

Sunday — Stewed Rancho Gordo beans with bacon and vegetables
Monday — Roast chicken; green beans and fingerling potatoes, Istrian style
Tuesday — Leftovers
Wednesday — Gnocchi (I haven’t decided yet what kind of sauce)
Thursday — Linguine with leeks and cream
Friday — ???

Help me decide what’s for dinner on Friday. Your choices are as follows:

a) Italian something (and I don’t mean Italian-American)
b) Vegetarian something
c) Fish something
d) Chicken something

Everything will be documented. You can bet on it.

Redhead

Apologies in advance for the quality of some of these photos.

Redhead Gibson cocktail:  Plymouth gin, pickled cippolini onions, fresh pepper

Smoked trout, pickled onions, sour cream, fried potato sticks

Corned beef, stuffed cabbage, mustard seed au jus

Guinness Stout cake, Guinness foam, citrus tuille, blood orange reduction

Chef Meg Grace, formerly of Brennan’s (New Orleans), 15 Ria (Washington, D.C.) and The Modern at MoMA, is part of the team behind Redhead. The other two members are co-owners Rob Larcom (Myriad Restaurant Group) and Gregg Nelson (Dylan Prime, Devin Tavern). Although dinner is served only on Thursday evening, there are plans in the works to begin full service in about three weeks, with weekend brunch shortly thereafter. The bar features cocktails which change on an almost daily basis and if last night’s Gibson was any indication of quality, there are at least three or four good reasons why this will soon become one of my favorite “go-to” places. Mr. Larcom is the genius behind the beverage menu.

Out of 10? A solid 7 based on this one visit. It’s difficult to make corned beef and cabbage sexy, but Meg managed to do it. Guinness stout cake was redolent of spice and ale; the addition of blood orange provided a nicely sweet yet tart counterpoint.

You’re probably thinking this dinner cost an arm and a leg. You’d be wrong. Three courses for $25 and not just any old food, but seasonally driven, American cuisine by people who care. Go while you can, because it won’t remain unknown for very long.

Redhead is located at 349 East 13th Street (1st Avenue) in the East Village.

Dinner Improv

I have a limited number of cookbooks in my kitchen library. I rarely cook from recipes unless it’s something I’ve never attempted before. Once or twice is fine, after which I’ll file it away in my mental Rolodex.

I prefer recipes that aren’t overly complicated and don’t require hours and hours of slaving away at the stove. Most of the home-cooked meals I’ve photographed for the blog reflects this preference. Simplicity, both in technique and number of ingredients is what I strive for. Occasionally I’ll pull out all the stops and prepare an extravaganza but that’s far and few between.

I think the ability to self-edit is important. Too often — and I see this all the time on Food TV and shows like Top Chef — people will throw in everything but the kitchen sink. The sentiment must be that if A + B tastes good, think of how much better the dish could be if we add in C and D. Complexity is okay, but there is a point after which it becomes a joke.

One of the projects I have for 2008 is to try to cook more seasonally. That means I’ll be using locally grown produce, vegetables from the Greenmarket and as few processed crap as possible. The latter isn’t difficult. I don’t keep any junk food in the house apart from a tub of Haagen-Dasz. I’ll probably get an ice cream maker for Christmas this year after which my transformation will be complete.

The ingredient list for tonight’s dinner looks scary but don’t let it fool you. The salad has a number of components that need to be prepared separately. I’ve broken things down into easily digestible chunks. Total prep time for tonight: 90 minutes.

* * *

Caramelized onion and fromage blanc omelette with “deconstructed” German potato salad

Chioggia beets, scrubbed
fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and sliced on a bias
shallots, peeled and diced
2 T. + 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
Canadian bacon
1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly
4 T. + 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
pinch of sugar
1 t. tarragon Dijon mustard (or any mustard will do)
chopped fresh tarragon
3 eggs
unsalted butter
2 T. fromage blanc

For the salad:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Place beets in a glass baking dish, along with 1/4 cup water. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until beets are easily pierced with a fork. Set aside. When cool enough to handle, peel and trim beets, then cut into 1/2″ dice. Season generously with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Drizzle with 4 T. white wine vinegar. Toss. Set aside and marinate for 30 minutes.

Season potatoes and shallots with kosher salt. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Roast at 375 F for 45 minutes or until vegetables are golden brown.

Fry bacon until desired doneness. Place on paper towels and set aside. When cool enough to handle, julienne bacon and set aside.

Drain off most of the fat, reserving 3 T. drippings. Saute onion in bacon drippings over medium heat or until caramelized. Reserve half of the onion for the omelette filling or another use.

For the dressing: Whisk together vinegar, olive oil, sugar and mustard. Check seasoning. Add tarragon 1-2 minutes before service.

Assembly: Place beets in a serving bowl; discard marinating liquid. Add potato mixture, bacon and half of the caramelized onion. Toss. Drizzle 3-4 T. dressing and pass the remainder at the table. Garnish with chopped tarragon.

* * *

The omelette is a simple 3 egg omelette (2 t. cold water, salt, pepper, herbs) prepared in 1 T. unsalted butter. When eggs are set, add reserved caramelized onion and fromage blanc. Cook for 1 more minute, fold, and transfer to a warmed platter. Serve immediately.

Beets, Glorious Beets

2 pm is roughly when I start thinking about what I want to have for dinner.  I typically have a late lunch in the office.  If I were working out, this would be about meal 3 or 4.  Alas, I haven’t been to the gym in several months.  That’s a story that’ll have to wait for another day.

Right now I’m playing around with a riff on German potato salad, except it’s roasted Ozette fingerling potatoes, Chioggia beets and baby shallots with a bacon “viniagrette”.  Kusala’s pickled beets might be on the menu this weekend though.

I’ll have pix later.

El Desayuno

This isn’t supposed to be a foodblog, is it?

Miracle Worker

I picked up a bunch of these beauties a couple of weeks ago at the Greenmarket.  People tell me they taste like dirt.  I love them.

However, I want to do something OTHER than borscht or *gag* roasted and in a salad with goat cheese and frisee, like so many other tables are doing around town.

Ideas please.

The Cream of the Crop

I run three weekly online D&D games on OpenRPG. This is an excerpt from a Forgotten Realms campaign that occurred about a year or so ago. I still get a kick whenever I read the log. Enjoy.

* * *

** (1) Vadania takes her sword and cuts a deep gash in the belly of the Hobgoblin after removing the armor and morning star **
** (3) Amreth steps across the intersection, and graps the handle of the north door, cracking it open to get a look inside. **
** (29) Joryn glances at the bird calls. “Those aren’t exactly common around here, I’d wager. Keep ‘em down.” **
** (20) Ruth carefully creeps through the door into the next room to avoid the soon-to-be-waking ape. She waits next to the wall near the door and lets those stealthier handle recon. **
** (3) Amreth frowns down at Fildin, whispering, “Got one down the hall there, sweeping the floor. I’ll see what I can do, his back’s to me,” he says, opening the door just enough to slip through. **
** (1) Vadania finishes up and drags the armor though the door and closes it almost all the way, leaving a small crack for her to look through **
** (8) Olbernath quietly speaks, “If we come accross a live hobgoblin, I may be able to charm him. It might get us some useful information, assuming he can speak the common tongue.” **
** (6) Fildin nods to Amreth as he takes off again, and keeps everyone else quiet as they come through the door. **
** (3) Amreth slips through, and, back to the wall, he creeps along behind the hobgoblin, trying to get close enough without alerting him. **
(6) Fildin: *whispers* “Well, I think it’s too late for that ne Amreth just saw, but there is at least one in this room,” he says as he points to the double doors.
** Grinkle mutters to himself. **
(19) Grinkle: “Me hab to sweep dis flor. Hmph. Grrr.”
** (3) Amreth swallows hard as the bastards turns around, and holds for a moment, cursing himself for not acting instead of telling the hin first. **
** Grinkle looks up and sneezes, then continues sweeping. “Dis no fun.” **
(19) Grinkle: “Me neber hab time to play hob gamez. Grumble grumble.”
** Grinkle looks up and sneezes again, and then drops the broom, saying “HAY! I GIB UP!” **
(19) Grinkle: “Dun hurtz me!” (throws up his hands and quivers as he looks at Amreth)
** Grinkle covers his face with his hands, raising a finger to peek out, cringing. **
** (8) Olbernath mutters to himself, “Hmph… this would be a waste of an enchantment…” **
** Grinkle sees Amreth charging and drops to the floor, fainting. **
** (3) Amreth blinks once, then motions the hobgoblin close, flashing one of his blade, whispering, “Don’t want to kill you, mate. But I will have if you don’t come here,” he says, sticking a pair of fingers into a pouch and producing a single gold coin, “No tricks, I’ll give you this if you give me a word or.. Nevermind.” **
** (3) Amreth shrugs to himself, and walks over to the fainted hobgoblin, and thinks a moment, “Now why’d you have to do and do that?” **
** (3) Amreth slips his sword away, and draws his last dager, cutting free a strip of leather from his armor to gag him, before trying to drag his sorry ass back the way he came, to the others, and the pit where he’s of a mind to dump him. **
** Grinkle wakes up after being dragged roughly through the door and gags. “Mmmph!” **
** (29) Joryn holds a hammer threateningly. “Quiet!” he hisses at the bound hobgoblin. **
(19) DM: Amreth comes back the way he came, dragging a hobgoblin that’s been gagged with a strip of leather. The hobgoblin is vainly trying to talk.
(19) Grinkle: “Mmmph! Grak! Mppmph!”
** (3) Amreth drags him into the beast’s pen and gently props him against the wall, pointing a finger at his nose, “Now you be quiet, I don’t want to hurt you.” **
** (6) Fildin looks from Amreth to Olbernath. “Then again….” **
** Grinkle sighs. **
** (8) Olbernath arches an eyebrow. **
** (3) Amreth picks out the coin again, and places it in the hobgoblin’s hand, before drawing a dagger and leveling it at his adam’s apple, “Gonna take that out of your mouth, and if you yell, this here goes through your throat, understand?” **
(19) Grinkle: “Plsssmph dmpph hmmmph mpmmmph!”
** (6) Fildin follows Amreth back into the pit room to see what the prisoner has to say. **
(3) Amreth: “Well, I’ll take that as an agreement,” and with that, he pulls the gag, “Now you be quiet, except to tell us how many of your kin are here. How many?”
(19) Grinkle: “Lotz. Nub hurtz me!”
(29) Joryn: “Speak quietly, too!” He glares at the prisoner, glancing around he room for any threats.
(3) Amreth: “Not gonna hurt you, I’m gonna let you go. We’re going to let you go. Show me how many are here, on your fingers.”
** Grinkle whines, “Okay.” **
** (8) Olbernath smirks, “You really grabbed the cream o’ the crop.” **
** Grinkle holds up both hands. **
** (1) Hile walks up with Vadania on his back **
** (3) Amreth waits a moment, wondering if that’s the whole count he’s going to give. **
** Grinkle holds up nine more fingers. **
(3) Amreth: “Nineteen, huh.”
(19) Grinkle: “Lotz.” (nodding)
(6) Fildin: “That will keep us busy…” Fildin mutters.
** (8) Olbernath looks dubious of Grinkle’s counting ability. **
(3) Amreth: “Hope that’s accurate, for your sake. So, what’s your name?”
(19) Grinkle: “Big cheez in da bed place.”
(19) Grinkle: “Him Julla.”
(19) Grinkle: “Me Grinkle.”
(1) Vadania: “You complain about me trying to save an animal and you are going to let one of them go free?”
(3) Amreth: “Julla, that’s good. Alright, Grinkle, you see this?” he asks, picking another lion out of his pouch, “This is yours, too. No more rat piss ale for Grinkle.”
** (20) Ruth keeps watch outside the interrogation, listening quietly by the door. **
(3) Amreth: “He’s of no threat to us, the beast was.”
(19) Grinkle: “Okay.”
** Grinkle stares at the lion like a small child. **
** (3) Amreth places that coin, too, in Grinkle’s hand, “Anyone got some rope?” **
** (1) Vadania snorts but says nothing **
** (6) Fildin shakes his head no. **
(19) Grinkle: “Yub tak me wid yub?”
(3) Amreth: “Well, cut that leather armor up, will you, and tie this sucker up?” he tries to plug Grinkle’s mouth with the gag again, “Don’t worry, big fella.”
(19) Grinkle: “Smut an’ Cheff in da boo…da boo…da smartz place.”
** (3) Amreth withdraws the gag, “Oh, one more thing, where’s this bed place?” **
** Grinkle points back where you found him. **
(1) Vadania: “You willin to help us kill the others?”
(19) Grinkle: “Me nub gud killin. Me bedder at foodin.”
** (29) Joryn narrows his eyes at the hobgoblin. “Books?” **
** (3) Amreth cocks a brow at the hobgoblin, “Down the hall where you came from?” **
(19) Grinkle: “Yub. Da boo…da boo…da smartz place.”
(19) Grinkle: “Um, near dere. Down dere.”
(3) Amreth: “Well, we know what we need to, generally. Numbers and locations of important kin of his,” he says, stuffing the gag back in his mouth while he’s speaking, “You stay quiet, and stay put, and I’ll personally treat you to roast boar once we’re done here and we come back to set you off on your own.”
(6) Fildin: “Yep, a layout would definately have helped us…”
** (29) Joryn raises a brow at the others. “D’yeh think these idiots would be able t’ learn wizardry?” **
** (3) Amreth tries to help the hobber up first, “I doubt it, but anything’s possible I guess. Stupidity isn’t universal among any of the intelligent critters. Might be whoever this Smut is, isn’t one of his kin.” **
** (8) Olbernath grunts, “Be surprised if this one could tie his own bootlaces.” **
(6) Fildin: “Well, are we ready to go then? It appears we have a lot more to remove.”
** (29) Joryn growls. “Might be… we should be careful anyway” **
** (3) Amreth lookds to Vadania, “And do you think he can be trusted to comply? He’s more likely to be emboldened in proximity to his more capable kin, and set them on us.” **
** (1) Vadania nods “Would be a fun game for him to play” **
(1) Vadania: “Grinkle do you like games?”
** (3) Amreth removes the gag for the moment. **
** (20) Ruth peeks in from the door to add, “If one of them is smart enough to use wizardry, yet is not big cheez, Julla must be pretty capable as well.” **
** Grinkle nods. **
(19) Grinkle: “Yub.”
(3) Amreth: “How ’bout games that earn you a whole heap of shinies?”
(19) Grinkle: “Me nub inter…inter….lik shinies.”
(19) Grinkle: “Me lik fud.”
(3) Amreth: “Yeah, and how’s your kin feed ya? I bet they give you scraps, don’t they?”
(19) Grinkle: “Yub.” (frown)
(19) Grinkle: “Oooo who dere?”
** Grinkle looks this way and that. **
(19) Grinkle: “Sumwun tak in hed.”
** (3) Amreth waits for Vanadia to relay her idea to him. **
** (3) Amreth points to the hin druid, for his edification. **
** (1) Vadania smiles “Sorry Grinkle that was me. So would you be willing to help us get rid of the others?” **
(19) Grinkle: “Me wan fud. Me lik fud. Me hungry.”
(19) Grinkle: “Um okay.”
(19) Grinkle: “Me bedder foodin, nub killin.”
(1) Vadania: “Do you think you could get the others to come down here one at a time?”
** (3) Amreth chews his inner cheek a moment, then hides his dagger away, and drops his pack to the floor, picking his way through its contents, and dropping a bundle of salted pork and hardtack buscuits in his lap, “This’ll have to do for the moment.” **
** (3) Amreth stands to his feet, and wanders over to where the guttered hobgoblin lay to collect his other dagger he’d forgotten about. **
** (1) Vadania waits quietly for Grinkle’s response **
(19) Grinkle: “Hm. Some onyuns, an leebs an….hm.” (thinks)
(19) Grinkle: “Okay.”
** (1) Vadania digs into her Herb pouch and pulls out some Oregano, Asparagus Root, and Chives. “These may be good to cook with” **
(19) Grinkle: “Yub.” (takes the herbs)
(1) Vadania: “Ok now before you can do any cooking, We need you to get one of the others down here without telling him we are down here”
(19) Grinkle: “Um, okay. But…but…you wan big cheez too?”
(1) Vadania: “Not right away, just one of his cornies for now”
(19) Grinkle: “Okay.”
** Grinkle gets up shakily, then looks out the doorway. “Me go gets Lucky now.” **
** (3) Amreth retrieves his dagger, and walks back over to crouch next to Grinkle, “Look, mate. I don’t really care if you’re goblin kin, or if you’re a dwarf. I don’t want to kill you unless I have to. I’d personally rather you go on livin’ and eatin’, since you’re nub good at the killin’. You’ve not harmed me, so I won’t harm you. But if you cross us in this, that changes the rules. You can die with your kin, or you can go on living and stuffing your belly. Your choice.” **
(19) Grinkle: “Huh?”
** Grinkle looks dumbly at Amreth. “Lotz…lotz…lotza words.” **
(1) Vadania: “Ok Grinkle, after you gets Lucky you can cook all of some food”
(3) Amreth: “Never mind, Grinkle. Just get to it, and don’t cross us, will you?”
(19) Grinkle: “Um, okay.” (sets out the door shakily then walks up the wooden stairs)
(3) Amreth: “This’ll never work.”
** (1) Vadania looks around the room for a place that Hile can hide **
(3) Amreth: “Even if he’s meaning to do what we ask, he’s about to piss his pants.”
(6) Fildin: “Then why send him off?” Fildin just shakes his head slightly.
** (3) Amreth shrugs, “Don’t really feel like arguing, and it wasn’t my idea anyway. **
(1) Vadania: “Lets just setup the ambush”
(6) Fildin: “Spokes, rim, axles… spokes, rims axles…” he mutters a few times.
** (1) Vadania mews to hile points to a dark corner **
** (3) Amreth shrugs, and positions himself near the door, back against the wall, swords drawn, and whispers a quiet prayer to Tymora for heaping helping of sheer, dumb luck. **
** (6) Fildin moves back across the pit to the relative safety of the far side. **
** (1) Vadania quickly finds some place to hide and wait **
** (20) Ruth comes back to the room suppressing laughter, “I can hardly wait to find out what he will bring back.” **
** (6) Fildin tries to find something to hide behind over there, where he can still watch what happens. **
(20) Ruth: “Julla probably would not believe him if he told the truth anyway.”
** (3) Amreth frowns at her, “Hopefully not a whole host of his kin. I’d hate to kill ‘em. Far as hobgoblins go, he’s a right nice fellow. An you know, he was cleanin’. You could have yourself your first indentured servant, if he survives.” **

Committee on the Judiciary v. Miers and Bolten

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives General Counsel filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of the House Judiciary Committee to enforce subpoenas issued by the committee seeking information on the U.S. Attorney firings. The defendants in the case are former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten who were cited by the House for contempt of Congress last month. Last week, the Justice Department refused to present the House-passed contempt citations to a grand jury, contrary to federal law. Based on the House resolution that also found Bolten and Miers in contempt, the committee is now filing the civil lawsuit to enforce the subpoenas.

“We will not allow the administration to steamroll Congress,” Conyers said. “Under our system of checks and balances, Congress provides oversight of the executive branch to make sure that government power is not abused. The administration’s extreme claims to be immune from the oversight process are at odds with our constitutional principles on which this country was founded, and I am confident the federal courts will agree.”

View the press release here and the complaint here.

If only the lawsuit were against President Bushwhack. Oh well.

Florentia

Today’s lunch is a riff on a Florentine specialty, ravioli con ricotta e spinaci (ravioli with ricotta and spinach). I don’t have enough space in my kitchen to make my own pasta so I cheated by buying some ready-made ravioli from Citarella.

broccoli rabe ravioli, from Citarella
1 T. unsalted butter
1/2 lb. fresh whole milk ricotta
1/4 cup half and half
salt and pepper, to taste
nutmeg, to taste
chives, tarragon and Italian parsley, chopped

Make the sauce while the pasta cooks. Melt butter over medium heat. Add half and half. Whisk in ricotta and cook for 4-5 minutes. Check seasoning. Fold in herbs. Reserve a bit for garnish.

Drain ravioli and place in saute pan. Toss. Transfer to a warmed serving dish, sprinkle with remaining herbs and serve immediately.

“Histories”, Part 5

Toward the end of the Thaecian Empire, the weak Adepts relied markedly on diabolic aid. This process was greatly accelerated by the decline of the Empire, as demonstrated by a new series of setbacks on its frontiers. Invasions from the Omai were becoming more frequent and more debilitating. Rather than ceding the territories outright to these invaders, the Emperors undertook a massive series of administrative reforms. Yet despite these efforts, the withdrawal of the Imperial armies spelt inexorable doom for the Empire.

In -240, the Empire was divided into two halves, the Northlands and the Imperium, each ruled by a co-emperor. This was a fairly desperate attempt to reorganize. It bought the Northlands at most an extra century or two of life. Of the two halves, the Imperium was clearly more powerful. Troops were steadily removed from the Northlands to the Imperium, where they were needed to quell internal dissension. Those mercenary troops that remained in the Northlands were usually underfunded, ill-equipped, and badly trained. Thus the pressing demand for more and more powerful magicka.

By this point the Adepts were almost totally dependent upon the power of extra-planar creatures, and were increasingly calling upon vile things for assistance. Fell and terrible fiends, eager to extend their influence on the plane of Sularin, and always desirous of corrupting mortals, were only too glad to fight for the Empire. The Dark Host of the Nine in particular heeded the Adepts’ summonings, and were infamous for their ability to twist the wording of pacts to their own infernal benefit.

It soon became unclear who was master of whom. Many Adepts were destroyed by things which were ostensibly their servants. Some Adepts turned to fiend-worship, and became demonolaters in order to gain powerful magicka. Other Adepts bargained with their own souls in dark and unsavory rituals. In at least one instance, an Adept was forced to call up fiends to rectify a botched summoning. The Adept Androntitus of Larium summoned an abyssal prince, but the infernal burst his confinement and wrought havoc. Desperate, Androntitus conjured three powerful devils to combat the menace. Between these unholy forces, Larium was utterly leveled in one horrific night, and Androntitus dragged wailing down to the pits.

Despite such disasters, the use of diabolic aid was undeniably effective, and sustained the Northlands unnaturally for many years after the Empire by rights should have fallen. Foul and terrible fiends shattered wildmen and Omai alike, and struck horror into all who beheld them.

Worship of the goddess of magicka which never took root in the Imperium soon found fertile ground in the Northlands despite the efforts of the Empire to eradicate what was considered a subversive movement. In fact, despite the persecutions, the faithful of Hurishta flourished in the Northlands. A century before the Invoked Devastation, the Northlands had declared official toleration of her worship (and also that of Oneiros, Almaril, Elantra and Tevesh). The Hurishtii, however, were not appeased. They viewed the continued summoning of fiends as but one more sign of the Empire’s irredeemable condition.

(to be continued)

Previous installments can be seen here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.