Saturday night dinner with friends

Good friends Jane and Jim were here for a casual dinner filled as usual when we're together with nonstop conversation and hearty appetites. We started with flatbread pizzas - I used naan - topped with herbed oil and a sprinkle of grey salt, then thin slices of baby eggplant, zucchini and new potato. Atop this,a generous sprinkling of torn basil leaves, more salt and a few turns of the pepper mill, and voila, a tasty and quickly baked appetizer to accompany chilled white wine. At the table, a salad of mixed greens, quarters of marvelously voluptuous fresh calimyrna figs and goat cheese, dressed with my favorite fig dresssing. The garden determined my main course, stuffed chard leaves, the stuffing made up of sauteed chard stems, onions and garlic mixed with drained ricotta, then baked with the lightest of tomato sauces, topped with grated parmesan. Accompanying this, cappelini with tarragon pesto and freshly picked wax beans dressed simply with thyme and olive oil and served at room temp. Dessert was an Italian olive oil and rosemary cake served with a few berries topped with limoncello flavored mascarpone cream. The weather was hot and humid, but in the cool of the house a good time was had by all.

a summer lunch

August 9, 2012 My good friend came over on this hot and humid day to help with my computer and to have lunch. I wanted to prepare a quck and summery repast that would refresh and satisfy. I pan-grilled some vertical slices of pink skinned eggplant which I did not peel, some sliced young zucchini and a few large mushrooms. I added some corn, garlic and shallots. When it was all beautifully bronzed it went on an oval green and yellow platter decorated with raised ears of corn.I added some lusciously ripe quarters of apricot, sliced yellow tomatoes and cherry and plum tomatoes from the garden, good jarred Italian tuna, chunks of parmesan and a generous showering of basil, finished it off with a generous sprinkling of black pepper and grey salt and served the platter with a carafe of fragrant olive oil. Some grilled toasts completed our summer lunch. Perfect for this day, accompanied by lots of conversation with my good pal.

a happy weekend

Last weekend was such a treat - my best friend came in from Brooklyn and we talked and cooked. Dinner for Saturday night, with three good friend and us was fun,delicious and full of the warmth that comes with friendship and lovingly prepared food. With drinks, belgian endive leaves and a green goddess dip. Dinner was oven fried fish - thick filets of haddock dipped first in milk, then panko seasoned with marjoram, thyme, salt and pepper and baked at a high temp. With this. a terrific slaw and old-fashioned potato salad, along with just-baked cornbread. Dessert, and indulgent it was, was a coffee ice cream pie on an almond meal crust, which had been painted with bittersweet chocolate. And, to gild the lily, more chocolate drizzled over the ice cream. A wonderful time was had by all

a birthday dinner

Last night, a birthday dinner for a dear friend. Five of us gathered in the living room for drinks and a platter of fried bocconcini served with a bowl of spicy marinara. On to the dining room and a salad of thin-sliced green apple,celery and fennel with mache, dressed with a lemony vinaigrette and tossed with shredded basil, then topped with toasted,seasoned bread crumbs, grated parm and marcona almonds. A refreshing intro to the chicken cacciatora that included marinated green olives, fennel and freshly roasted red peppers. I served it with a saffron risooto mixed with sauteed mushrooms and crusty bread. The birthday dessert was an unrepentantly rich chocolate cheesecake. Lots of lively conversation, laughs and the warm satisfaction that comes with great friendship.

dinner for three

last night dear friends came for the evening. We started out with drinks,roasted chickpeas seasoned with cumin, tasty and healthy. Also a small selection of cheeses served with a date conserve. On to dinner - first, a salad of greens, barely warm cu bes of butternut squash, roasted with rosmary and olive oil, dried cranberries and tangerine sections, dressed simply with a tangerine juice, olive oil and rosemary dressing.A loaf of super-crusty Italian bread accompanied the meal. The salad was followed by a Greek shrimp dish,crumbled with feta cheese and topped at the last minute with a showering of fresh dill.Green beans accompanied the shrimp. My friend brought dessert, a beautifully presented chocolate mousse laced with coffee and topped, of course, with whipped cream. Lots of conversation and, while doing the dishes, a renewed awareness of the profound joys of friendship.

comfort

On an overcast, cool and windy night comfort food was required. I roasted a chicken on a bed of pineapple sage and lemon verbena leaves, surrounded it with black garlic with its wonderfully complex flavor, potatoes from my friend's garden, carrots, big shallots and turnips. I poured some white wine and chicken stock into the pan and roasted it till the skin was crisp, the flesh tender and the aromas wafted through the house. A simple green salad completed this utterly satisfying meal. And, a couple of nights ago I used up the last of my green figs. I toasted in a saute pan, in olive oil, some fresh bread crumbs and when they were browned and crisp I emptied them into a bowl and browned some pine nuts in the same pan, and they, too, went into the bowl. After adding more oil to the pan, I gently softened some chopped garlic, then added the quartered figs and cooked them on a low flame, turning them from time to time. Meanwhile I cooked some fettuccine, and when the pasta had finished cooking I drained it, saving some of the water to finish the dish. I strew some lemon zest and fresh rosemary over the figs, tossed them with the paste, added a bit of lemon juice, then topped the dish with the crumb-pine nut mix and a generous showering of parmesan. I ate this marvelous dish with enormous gusto and unseemly self-congratulations.

figs and dates

A trip to the mideastern grocery to buy from the new crop of walnuts, and then I was unable to resist the bin of soft, plump fresh dates. So, today I made a date chutney, very lightly spiced with curry and red pepper, and cooked with tawny port and red wine vinegar,brown sugar and salt and peppe. Absolutely delicious, it'll be perfect on a cheese platter or served with roasted fowl. As will the fresh fig conserve I cooked up, with fresh thyme and orange zest. Tomorrow I'll use the remaining green mission figs in a fettucine dish enhanced with cream and freshly grated parmesan. I also harvested the remaining tarragon in my herb garden and made a tarragon pesto, wonderful on salmon and most any baked,roasted or broiled fish.