A Good Dish

making food simpler

Transform A Winter Staple Into A Fresh Tasting Early Spring Green

Sautéed cabbage with fresh dill
Earthenware bowl by Sunshine Cobb

It’s that time of year – the moment for spring cleaning your fridge. You are craving some fresh greens but planting season has barely begun in the Northeast. Sautéed bagged greens have worn out their welcome and you want something to taste fresh. My suggestion is to turn to the reliable old green cabbage that has made it through the winter in the back of your refrigerator (and needs to be cooked anyway) and liven it up with some fresh herbs.

Spring cleaning is one of the few annual rituals I actually participate in wholeheartedly. I dive into dusting, wiping, washing and vacuuming with a kind of mania I don’t have for cleaning the rest of the year. I think that I hate the heat of summer so much that I try to go into it with the most strenuous cleaning behind me. It is also a great time for purging the your pantry and fridge of anything which has been in there too long – oils or nuts that smell rancid, horseradish that has lost its zip (time to make fresh), the jalapeños you meant to use but are now a mushy blob in a bag – you get the idea.

Cut the cabbage into 6 sections vertically

If your cabbage is looking a little sad, soak it in some icy salt water after slicing to perk it up. You can sauté in a combination of olive oil and butter for flavor or simply use olive oil and toss in your herbs just as the cabbage finishes cooking. If you don’t like dill, use parsley or cilantro. Err on the side of more herbs than less. If you want to vary the dish, add some carrots, sliced or julienned, or if you want to sauté an onion or some garlic before adding the cabbage, go for it. My only unwavering advice is to be very careful not to overcook the cabbage. You want the cabbage to be green and not soggy. This dish is a breeze to prepare, tastes great and packs a nutritional punch (cruciferous vegetable plus herbs). What could be easier to cook as the weather warms and we look forward to the arrival of spring greens?

(For a few other spring suggestions for using up things in your vegetable drawer or year round vegetables, see my past posts on carrots, watercress, cabbage salad, parsnips and watermelon radishes).

Cut each section of cabbage into thin slices

SAUTÉED CABBAGE WITH FRESH DILL

  • 1 small head of cabbage (firm, heavy and unblemished is best)
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil (or 1 oil and 1 butter)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2-4Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (I like a lot but you might like less-taste to see)
  • 1-2 Tablespoons water

Cut the cabbage into 6 sections (vertically through the core) and then slice each sixth into thin slices. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and when hot add the cabbage. Add a tablespoon or two of water, as needed, to help the cabbage cook quickly and add the salt. Sauté until just starting to soften but still bright green. You want to keep a bit of crunch. Remove from the heat and add the pepper and the fresh dill, toss and serve.

This dish keeps well when refrigerated for a couple of days and tastes good at room temperature, if you don’t want to reheat it.

Sautéed cabbage with fresh dill
Earthenware bowl by Sunshine Cobb

A note on the ceramics:

I got this Sunshine Cobb earthenware bowl last spring at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia and it has quickly become one of the most used in our home. It is the perfect size for rice, yogurt, nuts – so many things – and the texture keeps it from slipping out our hands when washing. I enjoy the contrast of the glossy interior and the sandblasted matte exterior as well as that color – it is pure sunshine! Cobb makes a wide range of really appealing functional ceramics from whiskey cups, tumblers and mugs to rectangular servers, garlic keepers and vases. I just may be tempted to collect (and use) an assortment in all her beautiful colors!

Earthenware Garlic Keeper by Sunshine Cobb
From an exhibition of Women Working With Clay at Hollins University in 2018

Simple Roast Duck With Duck Fat Potatoes – A Recipe Discovered By Tidying Up!

Simple roasted duck
Slipped earthenware plate by Michael Connelly

 

One of the best and worst things about painting your home, beyond the mess and inconvenience, is that you have to face years of accumulated stuff. There is no avoiding it when it is mounded up in front of you. Hopefully, at the end, you give away or simply trash a good bit of it, but in the process, you may find things you had misplaced or forgotten.

When we painted our apartment recently, not only did I recover some missing jewelry, but I also unearthed one of my grandmother’s loose leaf cookbooks of typed out recipes and pasted in clippings. Among instructions for jello molds and cheese-covered frozen vegetables, I found recipes for “meat loaf-Extra good” and date-nut bread that “one of the girls served the other night with a cream cheese spread – lush!”. 

I may have to revisit those two when we have our gas back on but until then I offer you her very simple and delicious recipe for roast duck, something I had long thought about making but never attempted before now. The recipe came straight out of her cookbook but didn’t indicate the cooking temperature. I assumed 350-375F after a quick roast at 425F to sear the skin. Duck is available in New York at farmers markets, Whole Foods and specialty food stores like Fairway and Eataly, in Chinatown and even Costco, and online at D’Artagnan, among others. I got a whole duck from a farmer at the 97th Street Greenmarket and simply put it in the fridge for 2 days to defrost. It was much, much easier to cook than I had imagined and cooking it on top of boiled potatoes gave us a delicious side dish. Because we still don’t have a working oven, I made it at my sister’s apartment and it easily fed 6 of us.

Roasted duck resting after cooking
before carving

My grandmother, Matilda, was a remarkable person who treated children with respect and made them feel capable and loved. A far better housekeeper than I am, she wasn’t a “stuff” saver. She taught me to knit and crochet, to play cards, to make chicken soup, to balance a checkbook (sorry, Grandma, haven’t done it in years) and the value of being a good listener and a good friend. She has been gone for thirty years but she is still teaching me how to do things.

Potatoes roasted in duck fat
Slipped earthenware bowl by Michael Connelly

ROAST DUCK (with duck fat potatoes, or not)

  • 1 4-6 lb. duck, rinsed and patted dry
  • 2 tsps kosher salt
  • 2-3 lbs yellow potatoes, cut in pieces, optional

Salt the duck inside and out, skewer the neck skin (a bamboo skewer works well but a wooden toothpick is good enough) and score the skin in a diagonal pattern (as you would a ham), taking care not to pierce though to the meat. Set the duck on a plate or in a baking dish and place uncovered in the fridge for at least 8 hours. 

When ready to cook, set the chilled duck out at room temperature for 20-30 minutes while you preheat your oven to 425F. If you want to add seasoning, fruit, garlic, onion or herbs, now is your chance. I just used salt. While the duck rests, put the potatoes, if you are making them, in enough water to cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes, until they are just pierce-able. Drain and toss in the hot pan to fluff up the edges. Let potatoes air dry while you tend to your duck.

Place the duck with the breast side down on a v-rack, if you have one, or on a wire baking rack,  in a roasting pan or rimmed half sheet pan. Bake at 425F for 30-45 minutes, until the fat starts to render and skin starts to brown slightly.  Remove duck and rack (you can just rest them in your sink) and pour the fat and juices into a fat separator or glass measuring cup. Turn the oven heat down to 350F. Place the dry potatoes in the roasting pan (if you use a piece of parchment paper, your clean up will be much easier), add a few tablespoons of the duck fat and toss. (You can store the rest of the fat in the fridge for another use). Situate your duck, breast up, on top of the potatoes and put back in the now 350F oven. Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the thickest part of the thigh registers 175F. Remove the duck from the oven and let rest for 15-20 minutes while the potatoes continue to brown. Watch them and remove from the oven when they are crisp. Carve the duck as you would a chicken and serve with potatoes. Warmed apricot, orange or currant fruit spread or any kind of cooked cherries, berries or even applesauce would be delicious alongside the duck. We had steamed broccolini but choose your favorite green to balance the richness of the meat. Serves 6

Duck fat roasted potatoes
Earthenware bowl by Michael Connelly

Green Tea May Be Great For Us But Can We Learn To Love It? It’s Not Easy Going Green…

Sencha Green Tea
Wood Ash Glazed Stoneware by Richard Aerni

Green tea sounds almost magical in its widely researched medicinal qualities. It is thought to fight both cardiovascular disease and cancer. It contains polyphenols and antioxidants that may reduce inflammation and catechins that may kill bacteria. Although some doubters question the medical data, I am willing to drink it just in case any of those benefits pan out. It also gives me the opportunity to use the many lovely teacups, tea bowls and tumblers I have collected over the years. My problem with green tea is that I don’t love the taste.

There is a wide range of loose and bagged green teas and prices!

Some people, my husband and son included, really like the taste of green tea. Unfortunately, I don’t. Until I find an organic green tea I like (and I am determined), my solution is to use one green tea bag and one teabag of a fruity herbal tea. What I end up with is a fruity, tasty brew which I find pleasing. If I make a potful, I add ice to the second cup and enjoy it cold. Because green tea has caffeine (although about 1/3 that of coffee), for an afternoon cup I make sure to use a decaf green.

Kalustyan’s carries many varieties of green tea

There are so many types of green tea and such a huge range of flavorings that I might just spend many years trying different ones. My son likes sencha (basic and grassy) and genmaicha (made with toasted rice) while my sister prefers matcha, the powdered version used in tea ceremonies and in baking. So far, I find I enjoy an organic passion fruit green but I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’m hoping it is an acquired taste and that I will soon start to like it more as I drink more of it. Fighting off potential illness with a few cups of green tea a day? Why not try?

Passion Fruit Green Tea
Wood Ash Glazed Stoneware by Richard Aerni

Black Bean Soup – Tasty, Nutritious, Simple To Make And Easy To Vary

Black Bean Soup
Earthenware cup by Mark Pharis

More than three months ago, there was a small gas leak in one of the apartments in our building and Con Edison turned off all the gas. Without that gas, we have neither a working stovetop nor an oven. Now it looks like we might not have the gas back for at least 4-6 months or longer because the building needs to replace all 4 gas risers, not a tiny job. This is not unheard of here  but it certainly is inconvenient. All of our cooking now happens on a single electric burner or in the toaster oven or our trusty rice cooker. As you might imagine, I have been making a lot of one pot dishes, particularly soup. We’ve enjoyed lentil, split pea, pozole and my new current favorite, black bean.

Black bean soup is made from black turtle beans, nutritionally high in fiber, protein, iron and magnesium. You can season it many ways but I am partial to a combination of the southwest style, using oregano and chilis, and the more Caribbean style, using cumin and orange juice. As we try to include vegetarian meals in our home, bean soups are becoming a weekly staple.

Try to buy your beans from a source with big turnover so they are fresh

This black bean soup recipe does double duty; You serve it once as soup and then a couple of days later you can serve it over rice or in a burrito for a different meal. It is quite flavorful, easily varied depending on the ingredients you have on hand and may be topped in many ways. Because you blend it in the pot, you can control whether you want it chunkier or smoother. If you don’t have an immersion blender yet, a decent one is very reasonable. It will make soup, sauce and other blending jobs so much easier than transferring cups of hot liquid to the blender!

You probably have all the ingredients you need to make this soup and if you don’t, they are easily acquired or can be replaced with others. For example, if you don’t have a green pepper, you could use a jalapeño or two, a can of chopped green chilis or even a red pepper. No sherry or Madeira? Leave it out or add a splash of leftover red wine or vinegar or orange juice. You might even like it better that way. Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients – the actual work is quite minimal. And the variety of toppings you can add to individualize your bowl are many – chopped cilantro is the usual and delicious but don’t overlook some chopped fresh avocado or a blop of guacamole, crumbled Cojita cheese (even another mild variety would work) or sour cream, pickled onions, lime wedges for squeezing in juice, cayenne pepper or hot sauce if you want more heat and toasted pumpkin seeds for crunch. A little variety and choice in toppings make a flavorful soup even more appealing.

Black Bean Soup with cilantro
Earthenware cup by Mark Pharis

BLACK BEAN SOUP

  • 1 lb. dry black turtle beans, soaked overnight and drained
  • 2 TBs olive oil
  • 1 large onion, finely diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsps dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 tsps ground cumin
  • 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2-3 carrots, chopped
  • 10 cups stock (vegetable or chicken) or water or a combination
  • 1 tsp kosher or sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 TB chipotle in adobe sauce, optional
  • 1 TB (more to taste) Sherry, Madeira or red wine (or red wine vinegar or orange juice, if you don’t use want to use alcohol)

Soak the beans overnight in at least 8 cups of water. If you don’t have time to soak, it is okay but you will have to cook the whole pot longer for the beans to soften.

When ready to cook, drain and set beans aside while you sauté the vegetables.

Heat the oil in a stockpot until shimmering and then add the onion, reduce the heat and cook slowly until translucent. Add the pepper, carrots, celery, garlic and bay leaves and cook another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the herbs and spices, cook one more minute and then add the drained beans plus 10 cups of liquid. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about an hour and a half or until the beans start to soften.

Once the beans are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork, add in the salt and pepper, chipotle in adobo and sherry or whatever acidic liquid you are using. Cook about 15-20 minutes until the flavors are blended, stirring occasionally.

Use an immersion blender to purée part or as much of the soup as you like blended. Taste to adjust seasonings and ladle into bowls.

Serve with chopped cilantro, lime wedges, guacamole or avocado chunks, hot sauce, crumbled cojita cheese or sour cream and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Serves 6, keeps about 3-4 days in the refrigerator and freezes well. Leftovers can be heated and served over rice with the any of the same accompaniments.

It Is Getting Much Easier To Find A Great Grass-Fed Burger In New York And Beyond

Grass-fed burger from The Double Windsor
Plate by Adero Willard

Even though I try to eat clean, healthy food most of the time, sometimes I just crave a big, juicy burger. When I do eat meat, I want it to be from a grass-fed, well raised animal. It used to be almost impossible to find a good grass-fed burger in Manhattan but that is changing quickly. There were plenty of good tasting burgers, always have been. Now you can find great grass-fed in most neighborhoods, even in some chain restaurants (Bareburger and Umami Burger, for example).  

Grass-fed Umami Burger

There are many reasons to choose grass-fed, including your health and the health and welfare of the animal supplying your meals. Cows are ruminants, which means they are constituted to eat grass, not grains. The fat they produce eating grass is different (and healthier) as is the quality of their lives than when eating grain, which causes them a lot of gas. Even if you don’t care about animal welfare, you might care about global warming (think about all that additional methane from grain-fed animals) or your own longevity, in which case, you would be choosing better (read completely grass-fed beef and eat it less frequently. It is lower in calories since it is leaner and it provides more omega 3 fatty acids – the kind we want.

Grass-fed burger at Cleaver Counter (formerly The Green Table)

I’ve read that all the meat advertised as grass-fed may not be, so it is worth asking the restaurant or your server where you eat your burger where they get their beef. Organic, Wagyu and Angus don’t necessarily mean grass-fed and, in most cases, are not (organic refers to the quality of the feed, usually corn and Wagyu and Angus are types of cattle). Hopefully, disclosure in restaurants and markets will get more transparent as better grass-fed beef becomes more widely available. 

Grass-fed burger at Smorgas Chef

Okay – lecture over – now to the burgers. There are certainly many great grass-fed burgers I haven’t tried but these are the burgers I can recommend, including a few in other cities. Many of these places also serve a good bison or veggie burger and often serve delicious French or sweet potato fries or a  salad with the burger. I’ve found the best way to order (or cook) grass-fed meat is medium rare. If you overcook grass-fed beef, it tastes, well, too grassy.

Grass-fed burger from Community Food & Juice
Grass-fed burger in a collard green wrap at Bareburger

New York Burgers I Have Known and Loved:

  • Bareburger (multiple locations including Upper East and West Side and West Village)-Good tasting and if you aren’t eating bread, you can get this served in a collard leaf
  • Buttermilk Channel (Carroll Gardens)-tasty and juicy in a hopping neighborhood cafe
  • Cleaver Counter (Chelsea Market- used to be The Green Table)-now served not with kimchi but with bacon jam-yum
  • Community Juice and Wine (Morningside Heights)-with caramelized onions and cheddar
  • Cookshop (Chelsea near the High Line)
  • The Distillery (formerly the Brickyard Gastropub in Midtown West)-with sautéed onions and avocado (very reasonable price) and a very good veggie burger – great lunch specials
  • The Double Windsor (Windsor Terrace)-with cheddar and pickles in a neighborhood tavern with a great selection of draft beer, cider and whiskey
  • Ella Kitchen & Bar (Upper West Side)-big well-salted patty with sautéed mushrooms and mozzarella – open for lunch and dinner
  • The Meat Hook (Gowanus in Threes Brewing)-a kitchen outpost of a well-respected, conscientious  Brooklyn butcher shop in a bar with a big draft selection and a garden
  • Smorgas Chef (Midtown East in Scandinavia House)-a quiet respite south of Grand Central with a very good burger
  • Tessa (Upper West Side)
  • Umami Burger (all over) really tasty, especially with Parmesan fricco (a yummy fried cheese crisp) and mushrooms or salsa 
  • Upland (Park Avenue South)-with avocado and peppadew peppers in a big, bustling brasserie
Grass-fed burger at Ella Kitchen & Bar

Beyond New York:

  • Allen Street Hardware Cafe in Buffalo-plus an amazing bison burger
  • Busboys & Poets, DC (and good salads)
  • Toups South in New Orleans-everything delicious (sit at the counter to watch the cooks)
  • Village Whiskey, White Dog, Tired Hands (actually Ardmore) and Standard Tap in Philadelphia
  • BelCampo Restaurant in Larkspur (Marin County, CA) with restaurants in SF, Palo Alto, Santa Monica and LA – delicious burgers made from beef from their own farm/ranch
  • Farmburger, Asheville (amazing onion rings)
  • Sweet Pea Cafe, Mount Desert Island, ME
  • The Table in London’s Southwark (across from Tate Modern)
  • Row 34 in the Seaport District in Boston
Grass-fed burger at Village Whiskey in Philadelphia