In Vacanza

The witching hour is practically upon me...I've been working like an insane person, compiling a packing list, studying my Italian verbs, writing way too many instructions for the cat/housesitters, and all that's standing between me and my vacation is two more (very full) days at work and, you know, the actual packing part. 

David and I have been spending most of our evenings at home this week, both to get more time in with Ingrid and to get ready to go.  Have you ever been so behind on blogging that you stop taking photos of food because you don't need more things to blog?  In the past week I have not photographed a terrific seafood risotto, a marvelous chicken piccata and a zippy fennel salad.  My future blog entries runneth over, though the chicken piccata was both easy and tasty enough that I expect to make it again this summer and will blog it then.

The exception was the cabbage rolls that I made earlier this week out of the head of cabbage that was rolling around in the vegetable drawer begging to be used.  A word of caution on making these:  my sweet little organic head of cabbage made this recipe more difficult--ideally, a cabbage with larger leaves would be better.

I found myself with a lot of leftover filling on my hands, which I made into meatballs and served with pasta last night. 

Finally, a thanks to those who commented on my mention that I had a no good, very bad day last Saturday.  Some of you may recall that I there was a situation with a friend with whom I was very close, who was having lots of issues during a play we were working on last fall and subsequently left the production.  He's said lots of awful things about me, and I've just been trying to be dignified and keep my head up because confronting him would have been pointless.  He has some significant problems and somehow I've become the scapegoat for them.

At a wedding we were both at last weekend, he yelled at David.  At the wedding.  Horrible and humiliating and painful, so of course I burst into tears and David and I left the reception.  This has been going on for six months and it's not getting any easier.

I hate being such an emotional person.  It's hard to write about this, even in kind of a detached manner.  So again, thanks to all who offered their support.

Whew.  And now on to the cabbage rolls.

Involtini di Verza in Umido (Stewed Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Adapted from the CIA's Italian Cooking at Home

12 large green cabbage leaves

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 lb. loose sausage, preferably a spicy Italian chicken or pork sausage

3/4 cup leftover cooked rice or small pasta (I used leftover couscous)

1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups canned Italian whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn by hand or julienned

Kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper

Start a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil.  When it is ready, add the cabbage leaves and blanch them until they are soft, about two to three minutes.  While you are doing this, start the oven to preheating to 350 degrees.  When the cabbage leaves are done, remove them from the water and place in a colander to drain.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, sausage, onion, rice or other pasta, and a little salt and pepper.  Use your hands to make sure everything is blended together.

Spray a large baking dish with nonstick spray or rub it with a little olive oil.

Using your hands again, shape the meat mixture into small rolls and place one in the center of each cabbage leaf.  Tuck the edges of the leaf around the bottom of each roll and place in the baking dish.

Once all the rolls are ready, pour the broth and then the crushed tomatoes over them and sprinkle with the parsley and basil.  Tuck the bay leaves into the pan.

Bake until the rolls are cooked through and very soft, about 45 minutes.

Makes twelve rolls, for about four main-dish servings.  Serve with a green salad and bread.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It is cold here.  Like, zero is the day's high temperature kind of cold.  The car protests when left outside at work, even David occasionally thinks it's too cold to go ski and everyone's skin seems perpetually chapped.

Then I talked to an opposing attorney in Fairbanks yesterday, and he informed me that it was 35 below.  In the middle of the day.  Talk about perspective.

Although I'm continuing to eat (mostly) healthy, I am really craving warm, hearty comfort food at night.  Not in huge portions, and not made with a stick of butter, but comfort food nevertheless.

When we made the Tuscan Chicken on Sunday night, I made a big pot of rosemary-scented polenta to go with it.  We've been continuing to eat the polenta with the leftover roast chicken, but last night I really wanted a little red meat, preferably in a red wine sauce, to go over the polenta.  I made kebabs of sirloin and braised pearl onions that were ridiculously good, and went together so fast that it didn't even occur to me to take more pictures.

The pearl onions can be either fresh or jarred.  When I went to the store last night, the fresh pearl onions were looking a little sad.  I think the same four bags had been sitting there for a while, so I went with the jarred.  If you use the jarred, I recommend rinsing and drying them before browning. 

Beef and Braised Onion Kebabs with Red Wine Jus

Inspired by a Recipe from epicurious.com

30 small pearl onions, jarred

1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp. fresh-ground black pepper

1.5 tsp. rosemary, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 lb. sirloin steak, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 cup dry red wine

Rinse the pearl onions in a colander.  In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onions.  Cook for about three minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions brown lightly.  Add the salt and pepper, cover the onions with water and turn the heat to low.  Cook for another 15 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, toss the beef cubes with the olive oil, rosemary and garlic and set aside to marinate. 

When the onions are cooked, remove them from the heat and separate the onions from the cooking liquid.  Reserve the liquid in the skillet and allow the onions to cool.

When the onions are cooled, string the beef cubes and onions on either metal skewers or soaked bamboo skewers.  The recipe is enough to make about six kebabs.

Preheat the broiler to high and place the skewers on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. 

Return the onion cooking liquid to the stove.  On medium heat, add the residual marinade from the beef and the cup of wine.  Heat to a simmer.

Broil the kebabs for two to four minutes;  they do not need to be turned.  Three minutes resulted in a nice medium-rare kebab.

Serves two;  serve with polenta and drizzle with the wine sauce.

Rosemary-scented Polenta

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, January 2009

6 cups water

1.5 cups polenta

1 tsp. sea salt

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

3/4 cup cheese, finely shredded*

2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

Fresh-ground pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, bring the polenta, water, rosemary and salt to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture uncovered for approximately twenty minutes.  Stir frequently with a long-handled spoon, because it will want to stick to the bottom of the pot.

Remove the pan from the when the polenta is tender but not mushy and all the water has been absorbed.  Stir in the butter and cheese and add fresh-ground pepper to taste.  Makes enough polenta for four to six people, or enough for two with lots of leftovers.

*Be creative with the cheese, although I'd recommend using a harder cheese.  I used an aged cow's-milk cheese from New Jersey called Pawlet that my brother-in-law sent us, but a good Parmesan or Pecorino would work too.

Extreme Grilling, Alaska Style

Between the last week of rehearsals for Love, Loss and What I Wore and traveling to Seattle for a deposition, it's been a busy last five days.  It's also been a very snowy last week, as snow storms have been buffeting Alaska.  Everything looks very white and clean, but Seattle's fifty degrees yesterday felt heavenly.  However, I made the mistake of wearing the same knee-length dress I'd worn for the deposition on the flight home.  I emerged into zero-degree weather and immediately regretted that choice.

David and I have a very basic Weber grill that sits out on our back porch.  It's not a very advanced grill and we're not very advanced grillers.  It might have occurred to us to pull it into our garage and have some sort of shelter over it when winter hit, but what can I say?  It didn't.  The result is that the snow is as high as the grill, and that's without the additional snow on Saturday night:

Before I headed out of town, I made another run at steak with a porcini mushroom slather.  I tried a wet rub last October containing the porcini mushroom powder I bought on a whim from the local spice store;  it mostly didn't work.  This time around I tried a dry rub and the result was a kick-ass steak.

Since it was just for David and I, I used a one-pound ribeye on the bone that we sliced and shared.  For more than two, you might want to consider boned, smaller ribeye steaks.

Porcini-Crusted Ribeye Steak
Inspired by Flavors from The Mozza Cookbook by Nancy Silverton

1 lb. bone-in ribeye steak

3 tb. porcini powder

1 tb. granulated sugar

2 peperoncini peppers

1/4 tsp. truffle or kosher salt

Pinch fresh-ground pepper and salt
Good-quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for garnish

You can buy porcini powder ready-made;  here is one source.  Otherwise, grind dried porcini mushrooms to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle or a mini-prep food processor.

Combine the porcini powder, sugar and salt in a small bowl.  Crush the peperoncini peppers into fine bits and add them to the mixture;  stir to combine.

Completely coat the ribeye in porcini powder and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the steak for at least half an hour.

When the grill is started, pull the steak out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.  Pat any remaining porcini mixture onto it.

Season with a bit of additional salt and pepper just before the steak goes on the grill.  Cook for approximately eight minutes on each side, or until a meat thermometer reaches 125 degrees.  This will make for a rare steak;  cook longer for the desired degree of doneness.

Drizzle the plate with good-quality olive oil and then splash the steak with good balsamic vinegar.

I served this with roasted, cubed potatoes and roasted zucchini.  Delicious with an earthy red wine such as an Oregon pinot noir or a Chataneuf-du-Pape.