Nosh: May Specials

May Specials

Despite the limitations of my painfully tiny kitchen, I've been belting out dinners nearly every day since moving in. I may not be posting often but I am definitely cooking a lot! Here is a short recap of a few of the latest offerings:

Salads

Potato and Celery Salad with Homemade Mayonnaise:
Use the freshest white potatoes and plump juicy celery in this classic salad. Homemade mayonnaise gives it zing.

Homemade Mayonnaise:
You're only 1 egg yolk, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice away from making your own creamy condiment.

Zucchini and Avocado Salad:
A favorite creation with new and surprising flavors. Boil slices of zucchini, and 1 carrot cut into matchsticks, until just tender, drain, and toss with a simple lemon-juice vinaigrette. Allow it to cool, then marinate in the fridge for a few hours. When ready to serve, add avocado pieces and more lemon juice, splash with extra-virgin olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. This was amazing!

Main Dishes

Risotto with Spring Vegetables, Tomatoes, and Basil:
Onions, zucchini, carrots, and celery are sauteed in butter and olive oil. Half the vegetables are removed and the risotto added in. When the risotto is nearly done (after about 20 minutes), the reserved vegetables are added back in, along with peas and a skinned, diced tomato. 1/3 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano is added at the end. This is a wonderful dinner all by itself. (Original recipe: Marcella Hazan)
Tip: Use a mini chopper for the carrots, zucchini, onions, and celery so that the dice is very fine and uniform.

Oven-Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary:
Served with roasted shallots, carrots, and potatoes.
Marcella Hazan's version: simple and flavorful. Recipe

Wild Boar Filet a la Mia:
Served with salzkartoffeln ("salt potatoes").
This was my first experience with Wild Boar. In my research, I found that it should be treated similar to deer. I rubbed it with a tiny amount of olive oil and patted finely chopped rosemary, cracked black pepper, and salt onto the filet. I let it marinate for a few hours. To cook it, I first seared it on all sides and then finished it off in the oven until just cooked through. It tasted like pork but the flavor was much richer and deeper.

Fried Tomatoes (and Mozzarella):
Served with Italian insalatina dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.
(Deseeded) slices of tomatoes are dredged in flour, a beaten egg, and then breadcrumbs (use homemade). Cooking the tomatoes quickly in very hot vegetable oil, and draining them on paper towels, prevents them from being greasy. Sprinkle with salt while hot. They are crisp and almost fluffy inside! After frying the tomatoes, I dipped a few thick slices of mozzarella in the breadcrumb and fried them in the same pan for half a minute until they were barely starting to melt.

Pizza with Grilled Radicchio, Green Olives, and Goat Cheese:
Drizzle the radicchio with olive oil and season, then grill briefly before you chop it and place it on the pizza.. Sprinkle prebaked crust with diced green olives and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then grill or bake the pizza.

Pizza Caprese with Grilled Garlic and Spring Onion:
Rub a head of garlic with olive oil and place it on the top rack of the grill. Turn often for about 10 minutes or until slightly browned. At the same time, grill the spring onions. Remove skins from garlic and distribute whole cloves over pizza. Top with fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil. Dice green onions (or leave them whole) and place on top. Season, then grill the pizza.