Table for two at Jahn’s

By in dining out

It’s just Rose and me tonight, so we went to Jahn’s. It seemed silly to go, because we had just stopped at Farm Spot to pick up this week’s csa box, but I’ve still got this headache and Rose has been wanting to go for a while.

Jahn’s (pronounced Jans, as in the abbreviation for January, with an s) is an institution. It’s an old fashioned ice cream parlor restaurant that also serves typical fare. Our location here in Jackson Heights is the only Jahn’s restaurant left, there used to be a lot of them all around the NYC area. The food is what you would expect, I find the ice cream to be better than average. It’s worth a visit for the booth and counter appeal, and for the regulars who are generally very old and can be fun to observe.

We topped it all off with a gooey brownie from Three Little Birds Baked Goods, which we ate messily while walking home. Three Little Birds doesn’t seem to have a web site but can be found Thursday evenings at Farm Spot.

Just two things

By in quick

Honeys, I have a headache. Due to a rigorous vacation schedule, I missed too many appointments with my amazing acupuncturist, and now I’m paying the price.

Back in the dark ages, Shane and I used to think ourselves quite fancy whenever we managed to cook more than two dishes for dinner. Nowadays three is the norm, sometimes even four or five. Ooh la la! Tonight, thanks to my headache, we went back to having just two things.

Sauteed zucchini from my csa box with a little of last nights pesto, topped with grated parmesan. Capellini with Shrimp from this recipe by way of Teresa Sheedy of Teresa Cooks. Teresa makes the very good point that who really makes only half a pound of pasta? The recipe makes more than enough sauce for a full pound. My family doesn’t like angel hair pasta so we use thin spaghetti instead. Capellini with Shrimp is very quick if you buy the kind of shrimp that’s already peeled and de-veined.

Heat

By in quick

It’s hot, so we had a cold meal, except for the meatballs which were warm.

Components of our mostly cold meal: Fresh mozzarella with basil, roasted red pepper, olive oil and salt. Simple salad with cilantro and lemony dressing. Prosciutto and meat balls (for the man and the kid). Cheeseless pesto, which was surprisingly good considering it had no cheese in it. And good bread.

• Cheeseless Pesto •
Combine a bunch of cleaned basil leaves, a handful of raw almonds, a good splash of olive oil and a hearty pinch of salt into a food processer. Blend until it’s the right consistency, adding more oil or almonds as needed. Taste for seasoning. Add water to thin, if desired.

Flounder appeal

By in quick 1 Comment

Shane caught some flounder yesterday, just before we left the Cape. I emailed my mom this morning to find out how to cook it:

Subject: Shaney’s Flounder
From: Nina Max Daly
Date: July 16, 2012 10:09:19 AM EDT
To: Rita Daly
Hi Mom,
How should I cook Shane’s flounder? The Adriatic way? If so, can you remind me how? And can I add capers?
xo Max

Subject: Did you get my message about fish?
From: Nina Max Daly
Date: July 16, 2012 3:17:23 PM EDT
To: Rita Daly
Please let me know.
xo

Subject: Flounder appeal
From: Nina Max Daly
Date: July 16, 2012 5:02:36 PM EDT
To: Rita Daly, Morgan Daly
Hi Mom and Dad,
Help! How do I cook Shane’s flounder? Can you send me instructions for the Adriatic way, if that’s the way I should cook it?
xo Max

Subject: Flounder appeal
From: Nina Max Daly
Date: July 16, 2012 6:02:07 PM EDT
To: Rita Daly, Morgan Daly
Mom and Dad,
Disregard. I’m sure I can figure it out.
xo Max

I still haven’t heard back from them, so…

• Fish Cooked the Adriatic Way •
Adapted from my memory, of my mom’s version, of Marcella Hazan’s recipe
Wash your flounder and pat dry with paper towels. Place flounder into an (olive) oiled glass baking dish. Mix the juice of one lemon, lots of salt, olive oil and plain bread crumbs into a thick paste. Spread paste all over flounder. Let sit at room temperature for a while. Broil for approximately 6 minutes, until just cooked through. Top with fresh herbs or capers, if you want. Super easy and always a hit.

We also had a delicious beet salad using the beets as well as the greens, with a cipollini onion and blue cheese.

• Beet Salad with Cipollini Onion and Blue Cheese •
1 bunch beets with their greens
1 cipollini or other sweet onion
olive oil
salt
balsamic vinegar (optional)
blue cheese, crumbled

Trim beets, rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and roast in a 400 degree oven until soft. Sauté one chopped cipollini or other sweet onion, in olive oil until soft. Add washed and roughly chopped beet greens and a little salt, and sauté until wilted. Meanwhile, peel and chop cooked beets. Add chopped beets to onion and greens with a dash of balsamic vinegar (optional). Stir in some crumbled blue cheese, more olive oil if needed, and serve. Yum.

The raw kale salad from this recipe was so-so tonight. I don’t know why, I think it will be really good tomorrow after the kale has had some time to relax. I’ll report back if it is. When Anna made this earlier in the summer it was perfect. Anna suggests that half a clove of garlic is ridiculous, feel free to use the whole thing.

 

Picnic in the car

By in quick

From a cottage fridge with little left in it, comes this not-too-shabby car picnic for three:
2 Hot dogs
2 brie, roasted red pepper and arugula sandwiches
1 bufala mozzarella, basil and olive oil sandwich
1 cream cheese and honey sandwich

We were tired, but not starving, when we arrived home at 11pm last night.
Mission accomplished.

Just another Saturday night

By in cape meals

Dinner for 16, just another Saturday night at the Cape. Photos, left to right:

1. Rachel and Kate grating the carrots. 2. Shrimp ready to grill. 3. Table set for 16 in the olive garden (no endless breadsticks, but the food is much better).

4. Vodka, natch. 5. Flowering broccoli. 6. Girls, dogs and sea-breezes.

7. Flowering (non-heading) broccoli salad with watermelon radish. 8. Cheese on the chair. 9. Drew and his grilled veggies.

10. Pasta almost ready. 11. Cheers! 12. The dinner plate.

• Grilled shrimp •
Sautee some minced garlic in a lot of butter, mix in a lot of Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic and apply liberally to shrimp before grilling or, broiling. Grill or broil shrimp until just cooked through, flipping half way.

We also had Linguine with Butter, Pecorino, Arugula and Black Pepper, a favorite from Giada De Laurentiis. The carrot, feta and mint dish I made last Tuesday. Grilled homegrown veggies by Drew. A really cool flowering broccoli, called non-heading broccoli, and watermelon radish salad from the Drews’ garden, made by Rita.

Dinner was followed by ice cream from Smitty’s and then s’mores and sparklers over by the fire pit. Suffice it to say, we’re full.

 

Surf and turf for 16

By in cape meals, dishes by shane

We had a classic, communal Cape meal last night. 16 people for dinner and almost everyone participated in some way, whether it was growing the vegetables, catching the fish, cooking, prepping, setting the table or cleaning up. This is how we roll on Cape Cod, it’s what’s kept things going here, harmoniously, for so many years (25 years and counting!)

The flounder was caught locally and prepared by Drew (baked topped with pesto from the Drews’ garden in Western Mass). Shell steak (aka NY Strip) “imported” from The Butcher Block in Sunnyside, NY by Shane, and grilled on the Weber by grillmaster Goo-Goo Sean. Two delicious salads made by Rita with lemon, lettuce and parsley from my csa box and arugula from the Drews’ garden. A tomato and onion salad (a la Peter Luger Steak House) by me and Shane. I made a “restaurant-style” vinaigrette for the tomato and onion salad with red wine vinegar, honey, worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, salt and olive oil. Potatoes Gratin by Shane, really, really delicious, from this recipe.

On the road

By in dining out, traditions

Whenever we’re heading to Boston or Cape Cod (or anywhere else Northeast) we stop for dinner at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in Fairfield, CT. We like to order ahead so our pie is piping hot when we arrive. Last night’s pie, half cheese, half salami, was expertly cut into small, eating in the car-friendly pieces by the lovely Sharice. If you’re planning to eat in the car, just ask for the “checkerboard” cut.

Lazy Wednesday

By in left overs, quick 2 Comments

On Wednesday nights Shane goes to his studio after work, thus reducing our family’s collective body mass by almost two-thirds. I think this is the perfect excuse for a bit of mid-week laziness. Tonight we had the last egg in the fridge cooked sunny-side-up, broccoli, buttered farfalline and last night’s leftover sides (which were both still excellent on day two).

 

Avoiding veggie fatigue

By in quick 2 Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of zucchini and carrots in my csa box these past weeks, with even more coming on Thursday. I decided to try some new recipes in an attempt at avoiding zucchini and carrot fatigue. Both were delicious, even Shane liked them and he’s not much of a veggie guy, unless you count potatoes.

The carrots were Smitten Kitchen’s Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta and Mint. I didn’t have harissa so I just used a bit of red pepper flakes instead, I was also out of parsley. It was really good, even without the harissa and parsley. This can be made quickly if you have a grater attachment for your Cuisinart.

• Zucchini and Quinoa with Yogurt, Cilantro & Av0cado Dressing •
Adapted from this recipe, from 101 Cookbooks
Using the recipe at the link above, this is what I did differently: For the dressing, I tripled the cilantro, doubled the salt, replaced 1/4 cup of the water with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and left out the garlic. For the salad, I doubled the zucchini and cooked it in the broiler with olive oil and salt until browned in parts but not all over. I left out the eggs (had them for lunch), the cheese (because we were already having feta with the carrots) and the pine nuts (do you know about pine mouth? I’m a sufferer).

Note: I would definitely make this again without the substitutions, particularly if I had some non-pine-mouth-causing European pine nuts on hand and wasn’t already having goat cheese in another dish.

For the carnivores I made Weekday Grilled Chicken. Super easy and quick, I make it at least once a week these days.

• Weekday Grilled Chicken •
Thaw or purchase two organic, boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, rinse and pat dry. Pre-heat a cast iron grilling pan. Sprinkle breasts with any kind of Camp Mix (I used Original tonight). Put a little oil in the grilling pan and grill the breasts for approximately 7 minutes per side until cooked through.

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