A Hearth Pictorial

No new pictures this time around — because I haven’t been to Hearth in over a year, since the economy tanked. That being said, I’ll probably stop in sometime in the next couple of weeks. They’ve been doing something called ‘La Cucina Povera’ for some time now. Three courses for $35, with wine pairings for $15. Those prices are quite gentle for a two-star establishment in NYC. An equivalent restaurant in the Midwest would be something like $30 for the whole deal. Can’t beat that.

Here are a selection of pictures that were taken at various times over the course of the past three years. Enjoy.

Big Eye tuna, capers, pickled mushrooms, vitello tonnato sauce

Copper River salmon, mussels, parsnip, chanterelle mushrooms

Sweetbreads, pickled cauliflower, shallot marmalade

Italian Treatment

It has relatives that are more well-known, like spinach, beets and quinoa, and some less known ones such as epazote and Jerusalem oak. It is one of the most nutritious plants available. It grows in abundance in the mid-Atlantic states, yet it is considered by some to be an invasive weed. Its name is lamb’s quarters and in a word, it’s delicious.

Its Latin name is Chenopodium album, meaning white goosefoot, referring to the shape of its leaf and to a mealy white powder appearing on both sides. In Canada it has been widely known as pigweed and bacon weed because it was often fed to pigs.

Lamb’s quarters

The whole plant can be eaten when young. The leaves are good in spring and early summer. After that, the upper leaves are best. The leaves can be used raw in salads or cooked in soups, stews, casseroles, simply steamed or sautéed. Lamb’s quarters dries well and can be reconstituted or powdered for use in winter. It is very good in raw cheese or tofu dishes like quiche, as its wild flavor and high mineral content go well with cool, bland high protein foods.

Here, I’ve given it a slightly Italian treatment. Shrimp are briefly sautéed with garlic, then folded into coarsely chopped lamb’s quarters that have been separately sautéed with garlic, red pepper flakes and breadcrumbs. This is then combined with spaghetti and served with a little Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on top.

Tomato Season 5

Slow cooking concentrates the flavor of late-summer tomatoes so that no other seasonings, not even salt, are needed in the final product.

Preheat the oven to 200 F.

Slice plum tomatoes in half and arrange them, cut side up, in a Pyrex roasting dish or cookie sheet. Lightly sprinkle each with a mixture of kosher salt and cracked black pepper. You can if you wish, add dried herbs like thyme, oregano or basil. Go easy on them, however. Drizzle each tomato half with 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil.

Roast the tomatoes for 8 to 10 hours. When done, use as desired in pasta, omelettes, as a tomato sauce or as confit.

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The danger with this dish is that you’ll make too few, as I did. I solved that problem by whipping up a batch of pasta. Next time — and there will be a next time, probably next weekend — I’ll make triple this recipe and freeze the whole thing so I can enjoy them during the winter.

Penne with slow-roasted plum tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, tomato oil and herbs

Tomato Season 3

Blue Hill could mean either Blue Hill at Stone Barns or Blue Hill Washington Square, two restaurants in New York that epitomize the philosophy of market cooking.

Tonight’s meal was inspired in part by a menu at Blue Hill many years ago where the main ingredient in each course was tomatoes. I am unable to find notes online regarding that menu, probably since the menu in question was in September 2002. On the other hand, here are a couple of pictures from a meal I had in 2007 that might give you an idea of the kind of inventiveness that regularly makes its appearance in Chef Barber’s kitchen.

Left to right: heirloom tomatoes seasoned with fleur de sel and a touch of olive oil, tomato “burger” and tomato water

Summer fruits — grilled apricot, plum, heirloom tomatoes, watercress, tomato foam, tomato sorbet

Now, a dinner at BHSB or even at BHWS regularly costs upwards of about $125, not including wine. I’ve cut back drastically on my spending these days. As far as I’m concerned, the next best thing is doing something similar at home.

Recipes and pictures after the jump.

Tomato Season

September is my time of year.

Heirloom grape and cherry tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes
An heirloom tomato is an heirloom plant, an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) cultivar of tomato. Heirloom tomato cultivars can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes. Some cultivars can be prone to cracking or lack disease resistance. As with most garden plants, cultivars can be acclimated over several gardening seasons to thrive in a geographical location through careful selection and seed saving.

Penne with uncooked tomato sauce
Make the sauce while the pasta cooks: chopped heirloom tomatoes; 1 scallion, minced; 2 shallots, chopped; 1 T. chopped bush basil; kosher salt, black pepper and extra-virgin olive oil. Drain pasta, combine with sauce, toss to coat. Serve immediately in shallow soup bowls. PS. The white stuff is grated pecorino cheese. I sprinkled a little for some added “heft”.

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Confit 2

More like a quick confit like the last time. I had gotten a batch of grape tomatoes from Citarella the other day, in addition to some heirloom plum tomatoes. Serve over egg noodles or pasta. A glass of white wine and a small salad and you’re set.

Fresh linguine with tomato confit, herbs and pecorino cheese

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Confit 1

Confit is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavor and preservation. Sealed and stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months. The word comes from the French verb confire, meaning “to preserve”, which in turn comes from the Latin conficere, meaning “to do, to produce, to make or to prepare.”

You might be familiar with duck confit (confit de canard, an essential ingredient in cassoulet) or fruit confiture (whole fruit infused with sugar and preserved; this is different from a jam in that the fruit is usually not pureed).

This is a quick tomato confit made from 2 ripe Jersey tomatoes, kosher salt, black pepper, parsley and extra-virgin olive oil. Cut the tomatoes into wedges and arrange them, cut side down atop a bed of herbs such as basil or parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Add enough olive oil so that it comes halfway up the sides of the tomatoes. Roast the tomatoes in a pre-heated 325 F oven for 90 minutes. Tomatoes are done when they are lightly caramelized yet still hold their shape. Toss a couple of teaspoons of tomato oil with cooked spaghetti. Top each serving with some confit, scatter with chopped herbs and serve immediately.

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Tomatoes can be stored in olive oil in a tightly covered container for up to 2 days.

Raw Food

Well, raw, but not in the way you think.

Spaghetti con salsa di pomodoro*, radish and sugar snap peas with ricotta salata and herbs

*Otherwise known as “thin spaghetti with uncooked tomato sauce” — Yellow Jersey tomatoes, shallot, summer squash, salt, pepper, lemon zest, tarragon and extra-virgin olive oil. Dice the tomatoes, shallot and summer squash. Combine in a glass or nonreactive bowl. Add a pinch of kosher salt, some freshly milled black pepper, the lemon zest and some chopped herbs (basil is best but tarragon or marjoram will do in a pinch). Drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil over the vegetables. Stir and check seasoning. Pour the sauce over cooked spaghetti, toss to coat and serve immediately.

Use only the freshest in-season tomatoes when making this dish.

Click here for the radish salad recipe.

Meatballs

Polpetti, served with angel hair pasta, summer vegetables and herbs

Outside of Italy, meatballs are most often served with spaghetti, but in Italy, they are presented quite differently. They make an excellent antipasto cooked in a tomato or wine sauce, or coated in bread crumbs and served plain. Here, I’ve poached them in chicken stock and paired them with angel hair pasta, summer squash and sugar snap peas. This is lovely, served either as a primi (or first course), or as an entrée.

Two 20 Minute Meals

The most common excuse I hear when people say they’re not into cooking is “I don’t want to slave for hours on end in the kitchen just to make something to eat”. That could be a legitimate excuse but the reality is that you can make something tasty in a fraction of that time and it doesn’t even have to be complicated, as these two dishes prove. I think the real reason why people make excuses when it comes to cooking is they either don’t want to expend any effort or they don’t know how to cook. And we wonder why fast food and obesity are the issues they are today.

Thin spaghetti with mustard greens, garlic, pine nuts and golden raisins — This is an adaptation of a dish at Contigo, a restaurant located in Noe Valley in San Francisco. The original uses fava greens instead of mustard greens and doesn’t contain pasta.