BOOK/A TABLE - Venetian Pancakes

 

I’d like to tell you about my secret love affair with British authoress Barbara Pym. I’m not sure how we met, but in the last year I have delighted in the companionship of all of her wonderful books.

The stories (written mostly in the 50’s; a few posthumously published) are deceptively simple, revolving around the goings-on in small English villages—like Agatha Christie, but without the murder—and involve above all, I think, the little earthquakes we all experience in our daily lives and our attempts to connect to others and reveal what is in our hearts. 

In the meantime, there are one’s concerns about the handsome new vicar, jumble sales and sherry parties, which character will wind up with whom—and how they all come together to eat!

I recently discovered both Barbara’s sister Hilary Pym and Honor Wyatt published The Barbara Pym Cookbook, compiling actual recipes that Barbara made and featured in her books. I’ve enjoyed making many of these dishes myself, so look here for further posts about what to serve at your next supper or afternoon tea. 

Try using these thin Venetian pancakes (like crepes!) to layer in your favorite lasagna recipe instead of pasta sheets—or butter them up with cinnamon and sugar for a different kind of treat. As Sybil Forsythe remarks in A Glass of Blessings, they needn’t be “thin enough to read a love letter through.”

Venetian Pancakes
Adapted from The Barbara Pym Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour, sifted

Method:
Beat together eggs and milk, then add to flour and stir just to combine. Spread a thin amount at a time on a lightly greased griddle or in a skillet and cook through. Slide your pancake out on a plate and repeat. Makes six or seven large, thin pancakes.

Do enjoy!

BOOK/A TABLE - Chicken Hash

I've been away from the blogging world for a little while, working on a new psychological thriller--but I'm still hungry, all the time. 

Please BOOK/A TABLE here with me, as I take you from page to plate, offering dishes sprung from great works of literature! 

First up is a recipe for Chicken Hash adapted from Party of the Century by Deborah Davis. I made a light version of the heart-stopping dish The Plaza served in 1966 at Truman Capote's Black and White Ball, in honor of FEUD: Capote vs. The Swans, premiering tonight on FX, available to stream on Hulu next day. 

RECIPE FOR PLAZA CHICKEN HASH (My comments for the lighter version in italics. The Campbell's additions lower the fat content tremendously.)

Makes 4-5 servings

4 cups finely diced cooked chicken (grab a rotisserie chicken and start shredding!)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (1 can Campbell's cream of mushroom soup mixed w/ 1 can of skim milk)

1 cup cream sauce (1 can Campbell's chicken gravy)

2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 cup dry sherry

1/2 cup Hollandaise Sauce (1 Knorr packet w/ 1 cup skim milk as directed on package; skip the incorporation of butter)

I ADDED 1 package sliced mushrooms and 2 shallots, sliced thin

Method:

Saute mushrooms and shallots in 2 tablespoons butter with a glug of olive oil in large, heavy skillet. Add chicken, cream (mushroom soup), cream sauce (chicken gravy) and seasonings. Cook over moderate heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes.

When moisture is slightly reduced, place skillet in a moderate oven, 350 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes.

Stir in sherry and return to oven for 10 minutes. Lightly fold in Hollandaise sauce and serve at once.

Do enjoy!

Gazpacho Goodness

This is my go-to summer favorite for years now. Probably invented in Seville, gazpacho was originally served at the end of a meal. Though there are many versions of this soup, “the traditional, tomato-based Andalusian variety is the one you want to find on your table on a hot afternoon or warm evening. It’s salad in a blender; summer in a bowl...”

  
Try with a 28 oz. time-saving can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, ease up on the olive oil if you’d like, but by all means enjoy, whatever you do!

Gazpacho Andaluz
Adapted from Saveur
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 slice country-style bread, about 1” thick, crusts removed
2 small cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 lbs. very ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp. sherry vinegar
1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil Salt

Optional garnishes: 1⁄2 green pepper, seeded and finely diced; 1⁄2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced; 1 cup 1⁄2-inch croutons; 1⁄2 small white onion, peeled and finely diced; 1 small tomato, seeded and finely diced

Instructions
1. Soak bread for 1⁄2 hour in a small bowl in water to cover. Squeeze out moisture with your hands.
2. Purée bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, and 1 cup water in a food processor until very smooth.
3. Push purée through a coarse sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Gazpacho should be fairly thin. Season to taste with salt.
4. Chill gazpacho in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Adjust seasoning. Serve in individual glasses, or in soup bowls with garnishes on the side.

 
This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #7

A Sumptuous Summer Salad

This salad was so beautiful and delicious, each bite a different delight! The method is simple too and only requires just a touch of artistry when composing--summer does the rest.

Scatter fresh arugula leaves on a platter, shred some proscuitto, slice up ripe stone fruit (we used white peaches) and arrange artfully. Drop a luscious orb of burrata cheese on top--if you are not familiar with burrata, it's high time you become well-acquainted. A ball of mozzarella cheese holds a treasure of luscious stracciatella and cream, which oozes out when cut open. Yes! Drizzle some olive oil and a squeeze or two of lemon over the whole thing and season with some freshly ground black pepper and Maldon sea salt flakes. Add your favorite herbs if you like, or add some fennel fronds to the mix. 

Instead of stone fruit, perhaps you have some juicy melon on hand? Try that with some fresh figs and take a bite out of summer! 

    

Tonight's Menu - Outstanding Rib Roast

I did a little rearranging not so long ago (one night when I couldn't sleep) and removed our dining room table. But then we were having guests over for dinner in a few days, so what to do until the new table arrived? Well, gougeres at our apartment for appetizers and wine and then move across the hall to our friends place for a proper sit-down! I set their table the evening before and prepped as much as I could ahead of time so our migration would be quite effortless. Here is what was on the menu, with links: 

Tonight's Menu 

Serves Six 

Gougeres - serve with an inspiring red wine 

Yorkshire Puddings with Lobster in a Vanilla Chive Sauce - a little bit of a twist here; I used the sauce to pour over the Yorkshire Puddings instead of the Bread Pudding the recipe suggests 

Standing Rib Roast (four bones), unwrapped from packaging and let dry for 2 hours in fridge sprinkled with salt, pepper and Bavarian Seasoning from Penzey's, cooked until internal temp was 135 degrees--let stand for 20 minutes 

Boston Cooking School Brownies and slivers of Harvey Wallbanger Cake that I revived from an old post, topped with pistachio ice cream. 

What an outstanding evening we had indeed! 

 Soundtrack: Dexter Gordon, Ballads; Stanley Turrentine, The Spoiler; Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool; Horace Silver and The Jazz Messengers

Easter For Two

 

Baby and I had Easter to ourselves this year (except for a few calls to and from family). This did not, however, stop us from making a considerable amount of food. A lamb recipe courtesy of Eleven Madison Park inspired me to make a Greek Easter dinner, having made a Roman Easter holiday not too long ago via Saveur magazine. I thought to take another trip across the world! This was not exactly a sit-down: we lazed and grazed the entire afternoon, watching movies in between our preparations while maneuvering the dishwasher and putting out the next courses when we were hungry again. Our table was colorful; scribbled in pink and periwinkle blue with gold foil chocolate rabbits, brass candlesticks handed down to me from a relative and my Nana's beautifully etched Champagne glasses from the 1920's for a proper toast. So fun!  

Today's Menu
Avgolemeno Soup
Fettucine with Sauteed Artichokes
Roasted Rack of Lamb
Almond Fig Cake with Pistachio Gelato
Pommery Champagne
Ouzo

After having some jelly beans for breakfast, we launched into an easily made, classic velvety avgolemono soup with lemon and orzo (instead of suggested long grain white rice) shortly after noon. Also we cut corners by using purchased College Inn broth with roasted chicken thighs that we had on hand, instead of making our own arduous stock.

Our pasta course was served with fresh fettucine and canned artichokes--not the heart-breaking, endless peeling variety and only sauteed briefly, not roasted as the recipe suggests. We shared a split of starched and dry Pommery Champagne, Brut Classico with this dish.

Two frenched racks of lamb were the mains, seen here mainly unadorned, before we slathered tzatziki on it. I did not suffer over suspending and draining the cucumbers for 48 hours as the recipe suggests to make the cucumber yogurt; I merely ordered delicious prepared tzatziki from FreshDirect.com.

Almond fig cake with pistachio gelato was a fine dessert, with of course some chocolate eggs and more jelly beans that were scattered about. This was a great finish with some high-octane Ouzo!

Happy Easter!



Soundtrack: The Beach Music Sound; Patio Pool Party; Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers; Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool; Miles Davis, Cookin' with The Miles Davis Quintet

Easter Lamb

Easter is less than two weeks away--spring lamb is what's going to be on our table this year! Baby and I are making it easy with dinner for just the two of us. Not sure yet what will round out the rest of the menu but I'm thinking of a Greek slant this year based on the lamb recipe, with lemon chicken soup (classic Greek avgolemono) to start, a pasta course with grilled artichokes and a dish of dates and figs for a fine finish. Although I am not a fan of Greek retsina wine (shocking, I know), I do believe a chilled, fizzy bottle of Perrier-Jouet Champagne will be an ample substitute!

Lamb Rack with Cucumber Yogurt

From the I Love New York Cookbook:

Cucumber Yogurt

11/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt

2 cucumbers

Salt

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 clove garlic

11/2 tablespoons chopped dill

Line a colander with a quadruple layer of cheesecloth and pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth. Suspend over a large bowl and refrigerate for 48 hours, allowing the moisture to drain from the yogurt. Peel and grate the cucumbers on a box grater.

season with 1 teaspoon of salt and hang in a quadruple layer of cheese-cloth to drain excess moisture, about 1 hour. Measure 1 cup of the drained yogurt and reserve the rest for another use.

Combine the cup of yogurt and the drained cucumbers in a medium bowl.

stir in the lemon juice and olive oil. Grate the garlic on a Microplane grater into the mixture and fold in the chopped dill. Mix well and season with salt to taste.

Roasted Lamb Rack

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 lamb rack (about 2 1/4 pounds), frenched and tied

Salt

2 tablespoons butter

5 sprigs thyme

1 clove garlic, crushed but kept whole

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Season the lamb rack generously with salt. Place the rack in the skillet fat side down and sear over high heat until browned, 21/2 to 3 minutes. Turn and sear the bottom for 1 minute. Turn the rack back onto the fat side and add the butter, thyme, and garlic. Baste the rack with the butter for 21/2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the lamb rack fat side up to a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the lamb rack over, baste with butter, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove the lamb rack from the oven, turn it back over, and baste once more. Roast in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 130° to 135°F. Let the lamb rack rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with the cucumber yogurt and heirloom tomatoes.

Thanks to Eleven Madison Park for the recipe and photo!