Mature Audiences Only

I've been guilty of peeping at food pornography all week. Yeah, the new Williams-Sonoma catalog arrived, stirring me to bouts of self-pleasure. I always stash my credit card in another room while I leaf through the colorful pages. My fiscal reserve is no match for all that stark-white china, polished steel and kitchen gadgetry.  In this issue, Bill tried mightily to get me to buy his immersion blender and Le Creuset grill pan, but I'm in a committed relationship with my cast iron stovetop grill and Cuisinart food processor. I'm not above swiping his printed recipes, however, and I sure would love to work in that test kitchen. Maybe then I'd get an employee discount on all those sinfully expensive shiny objects!

White Bean Soup - adapted from Williams-Sonoma

¼ cup olive oil, plus extra for brush ¼ cup pancetta, chopped ½ yellow onion, chopped 1 each carrot & celery stalk, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 3 cans (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained 5 cups chicken stock ¾ tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook pancetta for 5 minutes. Add onion, carrot and celery. Cook for 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook and additional minute. Add beans, chicken stock and thyme. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Off heat, puree in a food processor in batches, until smooth. Return to Dutch oven and stir in cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, with Roasted Red Pepper Crostini on the side.

Roasted Red Pepper Crostini - from Williams-Sonoma

12 baguette slices, ½" thick 4 red bell peppers, roasted, skins, membrane & seeds removed, chopped ½ tsp Kosher salt 2 Tbsp olive oil 2 Tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 1 tsp sherry vinegar ½ tsp red pepper flake ½ tsp honey

Brush baguette slices on both sides with olive oil, and  season with salt. Toast bread on a hot cast iron grill over medium-high heat, 2 minutes on each side. In a small mixing bowl, toss to combine chopped roasted peppers, salt, olive oil, parsley, vinegar, red pepper flakes honey and a little ground black pepper. Top each toasted baguette slice with roasted pepper tapenade. Serve with white bean soup.

Not bad, William, not bad. Earthy and nutty soup made smoky by the the bacon. Puréed was the way to go. Smooth and creamy, without the cream!

Spring is struggling for a foothold in New York. White bean soup will keep the chill at bay until the sun finally warms things up and the first buds open on the trees.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

Starch in Your Diet, Not in Your Shirts

I have a confession to make. I hate loving the Williams- Sonoma catalogue. I can't help myself though. The dazzling colors and shiny objects drive me to distraction. But I always feel a little bit dirty afterwards, especially if I actually break down and order anything not already drastically reduced. Let's face it, the prices are outrageous and you can find something comparable and lot more affordable in any restaurant supply store. But the artistry, the flair! It's food porn, plain and simple. No wonder I feel so unclean. Yet and still, they're food lovers at heart; they're just out to make a buck off their passion and what could be more American than that?

Their online recipes aren't bad. Some don't even require you to buy Williams-Sonoma Chili-infused Pineapple Reduction or Williams-Sonoma Loire Valley Fumée de Sel. And so it was that I stumbled across their latke/hash brown recipe, rösti. It's a  Swiss potato dish that I've actually had in Switzerland and was delighted to see in the pages of Williams-Sonoma. (Okay, so they were trying to sell their totally un-necessary 2-piece frittata pan, but I was deaf to its siren call.)

Rösti couldn't have fewer, more commonplace ingredients:

1 lb Yukon potatoes, peeled and grated 1¾ tsp flour ½ tsp salt 4 oz Gruyère cheese, grated 3 green onions, thinly sliced Freshly ground pepper 4 Tbsp butter

Put that box grater away and pull out your trusty food processor with grating blade. It'll cut your prep time down to a figure approaching zero. Soak the grated potatoes in lots of cold water for five minutes. Drain, rinse, and drain again. Place a clean, cotton kitchen towel or double-folded cheese cloth over a bowl, and place potatoes into towel. Wring out as much water as possible. Spoiler Alert: Wring the hell out of the potatoes. If too much moisture remains, the rösti won't crisp up properly. Toss the dry potatoes with flour, salt, cheese, onion and pepper. Heat 2 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Spread potatoes in an even layer in the skillet. Cover and cook until the bottom is golden and crispy, about 10 minutes.

If you don't own the Williams-Sonoma frittata pan, remove the skillet from the flame,  invert a large platter over the skillet and flip over (you may need to loosen the potatoes with a spatula first). Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter to the pan and slide the potatoes, uncooked-side down back into the skillet. Cover and cook until the bottom again turns golden and crispy. Remove the pan from the heat and let the rösti rest for a few minutes. Slide out of the pan onto a cutting board and cut into wedges. Serve with fried or scrambled eggs and smoky bacon for an impressive brunch.

My rösti was a little too moist to crisp up the way I wanted. I should have wrung the water out more conscientiously or maybe left the skillet uncovered for part of the cooking time to release more moisture. But that's alright. I make the mistakes, so you don't have to. Notice too how I cleverly masked a broken yolk on one of my eggs by placing the rösti on top of it. I thought about frying up two more eggs, but was in a hurry, not hungry enough for four eggs, and mindful of wastefulness. I knew in the end I would be forgiven anyway.

In case you're wondering, I don't eat like this every day. But if I splurge on a meal or two over the weekend, I do it with a clear conscience. I believe British novelist John Mortimer put it best when he wrote, "I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There's no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward." He lived to be 85.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

Just Toss It In There

If you're lucky enough to have a weekend place out in the Hamptons, or just know someone who does, you grow accustomed to a refrigerator full of leftovers by Sunday morning and are prepared in advance to whittle them down. That, I think, is why the egg preceded the chicken. A frittata, that noble, unaffected Italian omelette will make quick work of the three roasted asparagus spears, half a bell pepper, and wedge of Gouda from the appetizer course. The real trick is to pick two or three ingredients and resist tossing in the kitchen sink. Last weekend's kitchen scavenger hunt offered up a fennel bulb, a couple of sweet Italian sausage links, some Swiss and Parmesan cheeses, and a few herbs: a potential for the sum being much greater than its parts.

Although the prep work is similar, in my opinion, the frittata is easier to prepare than the traditional French omelette. You aren't faced with the whole folding challenge, and there is almost no guess work as to how runny the thing is gonna turn out by the time it hits the plate. Of course, the omelette is a lot more elegant from a presentation standpoint, but we're talking leftovers here, and so have already ceded the high ground.

Frittata basics: 12 eggs 3 Tbsp liquid - water, milk, half-n-half, cream (I use buttermilk) Salt and pepper

Very lightly beat all ingredients in a mixing bowl, just until incorporated. I don't like a lot of air in the beaten eggs.

In a large skillet, cook eggs in a little oil and butter over medium heat, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan as the eggs begin to set. When the mixture starts to solidify into a whole, but is still mostly wet, stop stirring and cook for one more minute to set eggs on the underside.

Put skillet about 6" below a pre-heated broiler in your oven and cook for 4-6 minutes. Watch the eggs carefully. They should brown thoroughly but will burn rather quickly once browning begins.

Remove skillet from the oven and let the frittata sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the center to finish cooking through.

Cut into wedges and serve with fresh salsa, sour cream or just plain.

If you're adding vegetables or meat to your frittata, heat them in the skillet first and then pour in the egg mixture. With cheese, add half to the wet egg/vegetable/meat mix, and sprinkle the rest over the egg mixture after you've stopped stirring and are waiting for the bottom to set.

Here's a caveat for you newer cooks: the latest gadget is the frittata pan: two pans, actually, with interlocking handles that allow you to "effortlessly" flip a frittata and brown the top without broiling. While I'm all for kitchen pornography, you just don't need this pan. Of course, if you have more money than brains, Williams-Sonoma will gladly take $135 for a 10" nonstick pan. Knock yourself out.

For some reason, this dish is a showstopper, especially for kids with fussy tastes. Must be the cheese. In any event, get in there and be creative, just think in terms of compatibilities. If it sounds like something you'd serve together for a meal, it will probably translate well in a frittata.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food