Meatless Fridays

Ricotta salata isn’t the same thing as ricotta cheese. It’s a sheep’s milk cheese; the curds and whey are pressed and dried before the cheese is aged. The result is a cheese with a slightly spongy texture and an intense creamy flavor, rather like a dry Italian feta. Use as you would feta cheese. Just remember that feta cheese is aged in brine, therefore although both cheeses are salty, feta usually has a wetter texture and crumbles more easily.

Watermelon and red onion salad with ricotta salata

seedless watermelon, cubed
2 T. ricotta salata, crumbled
chopped scallions (light green and white part only)
red onion or Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
2 T. reserved watermelon juice
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. lime juice
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
chopped parsley

Combine watermlon, ricotta salata, onion and scallions. Toss gently. Whisk dressing and spoon over salad. Serve immediately.

Greens 3

Spaghetti with cavolo nero, anchovy and garlic

The sauce is a classical Italian treatment for greens.

Make the sauce while the pasta cooks. Chop greens into a chiffonade. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, sauté a clove or two of crushed garlic until lightly brown, then add a couple of anchovy fillets, maybe a pinch of red pepper flakes. Mash the anchovy with the back of a wooden spoon or until the fillets disintegrate into the sauce. Add the greens and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain the spaghetti, reserving a couple of tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Add the cooked spaghetti to the skillet. Add the pasta cooking water if the pan seems dry. Give a couple of stirs, tossing the spaghetti so that the strands are covered in sauce. Remove from heat, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil if you like, add a bit of chopped oregano and serve immediately.

Total cooking time, including prep: 20 minutes

Monkfish 2

Pan-seared monkfish with citrus olive salsa, cavolo nero with crimini mushrooms and garlic

Monkfish fillets are briefly seared in a cast-iron skillet with olive oil and sea salt, then finished in a preheated 375 F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until a knife slides through cleanly. The salsa is simply 1 shallot, minced and macerated in a mixture of lemon juice and orange juice, along with chopped orange segments, pitted Moroccan olives, toasted fennel seeds and finely chopped garlic scapes.

Midsummer Bounty

Some pix from this morning at Union Square Greenmarket. Some of what you see in this post will appear in meals throughout this week’s menu.

Strawberries — Simple is best when it comes to in-season strawberries. I like them with cream and a bit of sugar, or with a touch of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of black pepper. Breakfast tip: try a bowl of fromage blanc with strawberries macerated in vanilla sugar and chopped mint.

Sucrine — Rooted in the French word for “sugar,” sucrine (sugar lettuce sounds better) is a smaller variety of romaine with soft, silky leaves, buttery texture, and, as the name suggests, a sweet-ish flavor. You can take the elongated core of the lettuce, peel it, and steam it — it is as delicate as asparagus and just as delicious.

Green garlic — Green garlic is young garlic which is harvested before the cloves have begun to mature. The resulting vegetable resembles a scallion, with a deep green stalk and a pale white bulb. It can often be found for sale at a farmers’ market in the spring, and can also be grown at home relatively easily. Many large grocery stores do not stock green garlic, although growing consumer demand may change this. It can also usually be special ordered through a greengrocer.

Memorial Dinner

Caption titles are hard.

No complicated cooking after this weekend’s “adventure”. I had planned on writing something about the evolution of this blog, in conjunction with making polpetti for dinner, but that can wait for a little while longer.

Gambas al ajillo (shrimp with garlic), toast points, roasted wild asparagus

This dish is an exercise in minimalism. Be sure to serve with plenty of bread so you can mop up the tasty sauce.

3/4 lb. large shrimp
kosher salt
extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
chopped parsley

Sprinkle the shrimp with salt. Toss and let sit for 10 minutes.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until the garlic begins to color, about one minute. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and add the shrimp. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp turn pink and are cooked through, two to three minutes. Remove from heat, sprinkle with parsley and serve.