Monday: Cold Cereal with Blueberries
Tuesday: Avocado Toast with Fatoush / Hash with left-over Porterhouse (make Ricotta)
Wednesday: Ratatouille / Charred Bread with Cherry Salsa
Thursday: Dunnings / Pasta with Zucchini Sauce for Beez and Drew
Dinner on the terrace at Annie and Denny’s beautiful home. L-R: Beez, Dave, Annie, Dennis, Walter, Julie, Bill, Katy, Tim, Shelley. Ann took the picture.
Friday: Cestra Party – Great apps from everybody, Annie’s brisket was killer, Julie’s Cookies and Raspberry Tart
Pizza on the porch with Beez and Andrew
Saturday: Pizza – Margherita / Mushrooms and Sausage / Green Pepper, Onions and Sausage Green Salad
Sunday: Grilled Swordfish with Wine Bottle Sauce / Charred Sweet Potatoes with Honey / Green Salad – App of cheese, chutney, crackers, toasts
Monday: Family Cook Out – Grilled Chicken with cracked olives and herbs / Toasted Bread with Ricotta and fixings and Cherry Salsa / Corn Salad / Cole Slaw /Chocolate-Almond Semifreddo
Billy and Emily
I’m back on my favorite subject – the nexus between family, friends and food. This long holiday weekend gave us a chance to catch up with a lot of people and eat a lot of good food. On Friday, heading into the holiday weekend, Annie Cestra served amazing food and Dennis plied a mighty drinks table. To quote my son, Andrew, on Annie’s leftover brisket (“that’s one of the best thing I’ve ever tasted”). And Julie Stoecklein added a strawberry tart and cookies that are at least as addictive as opioids. The occasion was a celebration of the Pink Palominos trip to Walter and Shelley Stoecklein’s ranch in Idaho – and Walter and Shelley were in town for the occasion. Julie had put together a video memory of the trip and Walter told some fishing stories that sounded true – and nobody left until after midnight.
Then on Sunday we shared a simple dinner with Andrew, Billy and Marc Pugliese. To my thinking, this dinner was perfect and as addictive as Julie’s cookies. We rarely repeat a “Keeper” on the blog, but this is a meal you need when you want to cook, eat and talk till all hours outdoors.
And on Monday we had a gang for a real feast of grilled chicken with 34 bottles of beer, 7 bottles of wine, Glenlivet, Hendrick’s Gin and Calvados. We’re still cleaning up, and moving rather slowly.
And hey – don’t knock the cold cereal I had while Barbara was away on business. The blueberries were huge, firmly plump and had that combination of sweetness and tartness which makes for a perfect berry. A little cold milk and some Special K were all they needed to provide a quick, delicious dinner. You don’t have to chop onions and garlic every night, amigo.
A Simple Grilled Dinner to Amaze Family and Friends:
Swordfish with Wine-bottle Sauce and Grilled Sweet Potatoes
There are two keys to this meal – the wine bottle sauce provides the savory underpinning that will ensure that you have no leftover swordfish – and the grilled sweet potatoes will change every one’s mind about this tuber which is usually forgotten after Thanksgiving.
You can cook the swordfish in about 16 minutes – there is almost no prep. And you can use swordfish from your local market – no need for a special trip to the fishmonger.
You can grill the potatoes in 5 minutes, provided you have cooked them to just-tender earlier in the day.
Add a green salad with a simple dressing of oil and lemon and maybe some blueberries or tomatoes thrown in, and you have a meal so easy to cook that you will be able to hang with your guests most of the night.
SWORDFISH WITH WINE-BOTTLE SAUCE (Very slightly adapted from Joe Carroll’s recipe in his great cookbook, Feeding the Fire – I have added an early flip in the cooking process to avoid the wine-bottle sauce washing away the seasoning)
Timing: 15 minutes (plus the time it takes to start the coals and get your grill hot – and the hour or so it will take to pre-cook the sweet potatoes.
Ingredients: (Feeds 4 or 5)
2 Swordfish Steaks
Wine-bottle-sauce (Drink 12 to 2/3 of a bottle of dry white wine – add a good glug of olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon and shake to mix – shake again before pouring over the fish)
Salt and Pepper
Cooking:
Season the swordfish on both sides, liberally, with kosher salt and ground black pepper
Get your grill grates hot and brush and clean with olive oil
Cook over medium-high heat for a total of 8 minutes. Turn after 1 minute and douse with wine-bottle sauce. Turn after the 2nd minute and douse with wine bottle sauce. Then turn again and cook for 4 minutes – douse again. Turn and cook for another 4 minutes – douse again. Dinner is served.
Meanwhile, if you’re game for the sweet potatoes, here they are:
GRILLED SWEET POTATOES (Adapted from “Charred Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Olive Oil” – bon appétit, July, 2017)
Timing: 1 hour and 6 minutes
Ingredients: Feeds 4 – but if you have sweet potato lovers coming over, buy 4 potatoes (Recipe easily doubles, triples, etc.)
2 sweet potatoes
Olive Oil
2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper
Flaky sea salt for finishing
Prep:
Cook potatoes in a 350 F oven for about one hour – or until just tender. You can set aside for several hours at this point – you will need to wait at least 10 minutes or so until you can handle the potatoes to proceed.
Bring honey, vinegar and a large pinch of kosher salt to a boil in a small saucepan, reduce heat and simmer about 4 minutes until it begins to thicken. Keep warm or rewarm before using.
Cook:
Cut the potatoes in half.
Rub the cut sides with 1 tablespoon or so of olive oil – this is so they don’t stick to the grill – and season with salt.
Grill for 5 minutes – cut-side down – until slightly charred.
Transfer to a platter and brush with the honey glaze, then drizzle some more glaze and a little olive oil over the top.
Season with pepper and flaky sea salt.
Enjoy – if you don’t like sweet potatoes done this way, you must have been traumatized by your family during some long-ago Thanksgiving dinner.
Anchovy Toasts and Melon with toasted Prosciutto and Basil
