Equal Portions of Everything: A Journalist

A while ago, I read about a journalist in one of my cocktail books. It looked interesting at the time, like one of those classic cocktails the artsy crowd drank in the 30s at the Algonquin. I tried ordering one at Cesar’s where I know they have an extensive bar - but they hadn’t heard of it and at the time I couldn’t remember all the ingredients.

I forgot about it until recently when I was at Zut, a restaurant bar on 4^th Street, with a friend who asked for a suggestion for a dry drink. My mind jumped to a journalist, but then I was worried the bar tender there wouldn’t know what was in it either. John ordered an old-fashioned, but later that evening we looked it up and made them at his place. It’s a gin based drink that has both sweet and dry vermouth, triple sec (or cointreau if you are going upscale), lemon juice and a dash of bitters. Only problem is I didn’t read the proportions properly and mixed equal portions of everything. A few evenings later, I tried again – paying close attention to the ratios.

2 oz gin

1/4 oz sweet vermouth

1/4 oz dry vermouth

1/4 oz triple sec

1/4 oz lemon juice

dash of bitters

Perfect! Not sweet, but not killer dry like a martini either. Despite all those ingredients the flavor of the gin really comes through, enhanced even. I used pretty cheap ingredients for everything but the gin. To be local, I used No 209 which is distilled in SF. For those you in Philadelphia, you could use locally made Bluecoat gin. Apparently the cocktail first made an appearance in “The Savoy Cocktail Book” out of London in the 30’s. I wonder which journalist was its namesake. I like to imagine Hemingway drinking them. Cheers!

Mushroom Risotto with Grilled Sardines and Squid

Last week on Top Chef Tre lost because of his risotto recipe – too much garnish and too stiff. My first experience with risotto was when living in Italy. After a year of eating consistently creamy and flavorful risotto, I was typically disappointed whenever I would try and order it in a restaurant in the US. Often the ingredients seemed to be mixed in at the end and it was not at all creamy. In Italy, it’s typically made when ordered and they warn you it will take at least 20 minutes. I can’t imagine most restaurants doing that here, so I just make my own. Luckily it’s not very difficult, you can make all sorts of variations on it, and it’s a crowd pleaser.

One of the most popular risotto types in northern Italy is mushroom – or funghi. While living there, I still wasn’t a fan of mushrooms but seemed to find myself having to eat that dish more often than I would have liked. Maybe that prepared my palette for the day when I did like mushrooms. Mushroom risotto is now one my favorite risotto dishes.

Last weekend, John (my friend and duplex co-owner) suggested we barbeque after our day of gardening. (Yes, it’s warm enough in CA to bbq in February when much of the rest of the country is buried in snow). His family was coming to help, so it would be a good way to show our appreciation. As I had planned to make mushroom risotto earlier in the week but had to abort the plan when I found out my friend could not eat fungus for health reasons, I suggested that I make it that night. We just needed to figure out what to grill with it. John suggested fish and sausages. We walked up the street to Monetery Fish and Magnani’s, two of the best purveyors of sustainable fish and meat. We decided on squid (also known by its Italian name – calamari) and sardines because we both like them, want to perfect our cooking technique of them and they are cheap! The squid was $2.50 lb while the sardines were a whopping $3.50/lb. Plus, after listening to the show on Forum the day before about sustainable fish, they seemed like a good choice. At Magnani’s we picked up an assortment of sausages; linguisa, lamb, bockwurst and some hot dogs for the kids.

The mushroom risotto is really easy and has few ingredients.

1 1/2 cups of Arborio rice

5 cups of broth (I had picked up some funghi bullion at Claudio’s in Philadelphia, which I think is part of what makes this dish so good in Italy)

1/2 large onion diced

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 c grated romano or parmesan cheese

olive oil and butter for sautéing

1/2 cup marscapone (half and half will work if you don’t have any)

3 to 4 cups of diced mushrooms (I just got what looked pretty – lots of choice since it’s mushroom season – a mix of baby shitake and hedgehogs)

herbs as you like – thyme and parsley are good choices

In a fry pan melt several tablespoons of butter and then saute the mushrooms until soft. Add thyme (or any other herb) and some salt. Set aside. On another burner, simmer the broth. Saute the diced onions in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a big pot (a dutch oven is good), when soft add the rice and stir so all the grains get coated with the olive oil, then add the wine and coat again. When all the liquid is absorbed, start adding the broth a ladleful or two at a time, keep stirring so the rice doesn’t stick, and adding liquid as it gets absorbed. About 18 minutes in, when the rice is still al dente but getting close to be cooked, add the mushrooms and stir. After using almost all the broth add the marscapone and 1/2 of the cheese, and chopped parsley, stir and add the rest of the liquid. Turn off the stove just before the rice is totally soft – it will continue to cook while it rests in the pan. The consistency should be similar to porridge. It’s best if it rests for about 5 to 8 minutes. The longer you wait to eat it after that, the more stiff it will get, but the flavor is still good. Serve sprinkled with more cheese.

Part of the reason sardines and squid are so cheap is you are still left with a fair amount of prep work before being able to cook and then eat them. John worked on gutting the sardines. Then he rubbed them in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. The squid preparation was the most interesting part. Squid have 3 parts – the body, the eye and the tentacles. John pulled instructions from Marcella Hazan’s cook book on preparing them. He and Eduardo, our neighbor, set about prepping them You cut the body and tentacles off the center eye. You then pull the innards from the tube of the body and squeeze the bony hinge from the tentacle side. After that, just like the sardines, rub them in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. They only need about 4 minutes on each side before both the sardines and squid are cooked.

The calamari was amazingly tender. Most everyone remarked on how good it was. I was worried about them before eating them as a friend had poor luck with her squid which she indicated required forceful pounding to ternderize only to still have a tough dish. Maybe ours were so good because they were fresh, not frozen, and on the small side. We brainstormed a good idea for the calamari next time which is to stuff them with a paste of herbs, peas and any other vegetable – then bread and fry – much like a variation on a chile relleno.

Sardines seem like they would be challenging to eat with all their bones, but it’s surprisingly easy to debone them. Just pull open the body, peal the head back and the spine will come with it – bones and tail too. The meal was also served with roasted brussel sprouts, a seasonal green salad that our neighbor Susie brought over and plenty of bottles of wine – both red and white.

When John’s sister heard what we were making she asked what are we making for the kids as mushrooms and squid and sardines are not typically choice food for kids. We told her we had hot dogs and she decided to make a “squid friendly” kid dish she had seen recently. You cut the hot dogs into pieces into which you insert uncooked spaghetti noodles. You boil them together in a water and when done the noodle strands look like tentacles - there you have your “squid”!

Next month I am going mushroom foraging along the coast, so I need to think of another creative mushroom dish.