Blackfish Pop-up in P'town closing soon

Quick shout out for Truro's Blackfish pop-up restaurant in P'town.  Eric saved us this winter by popping up with a new menu in town.  Thank you Eric.  Sadly he'll be closing down soon so get there and have the fried chicken OR the meatloaf with fried brussels sprouts.  Good news, Blackfish Truro can't be too far behind.  Don't wait!

A few whispers of spring

A few things happened this week that spoke spring to me.  The lemons on my tree are ripening.  That has nothing to do with spring per se, but even so . . . I have about a dozen on my tree that I've tended for the last 20 years.  Christopher gave me a little spindly sprig all that time ago and it's been producing ever since.  He gave it to me because I told him I longed to have a courtyard with lemon trees.  In New Orleans.  I've had the tree for all that time and now we have a realtor.  Some years we've made lemon meringue pies.  Others limencello.  Preserved lemons.  Lemon curd.  I don't know what we'll make with this crop yet but I'm looking forward to it.


Also, Red Sox spring training started--that really does have something to do with spring. AND, it was in the 50s this weekend so I was out in the garden pruning apple trees, cutting back grasses, pulling the wild rose back onto the roof trellis.  Christopher tried out his Christmas chainsaw with obvious glee.  The plants are all still asleep but the buds are getting fat.

Finally, I put in my seed order.  Many more seeds than I'll need but it's hard to restrain myself.  And I ordered asparagus crowns.  I've heard for years that the Cape has a history of asparagus-growing so I'm taking the plunge.  Even thinking about seeds makes my fingers yearn to be in the dirt.  Whisper, whisper, whisper . . .

I'm sorry, but is it -18 degrees outside? (Oysters Rockefeller-ish)

Umm--yes it is.  But it's also St. Valentine's Day so we can't let that stop us.  I feel sorry for St. Valentine.  His feast day totally usurped by Hallmark for the purposes of profit.  We don't usually acknowledge the day much (crazy to go out to dinner on St. Valentine's Day) but for some reason this year we decided to.  Maybe because we're past 50 and worry that we're not allowed access any more .  So what do two 50-something year old dudes do on a -18 degree Valentine's Day.

A cozy fire to start. Oysters sound like a good idea--half a dozen (no, I did't harvest them myself this time) prepared in a quickie Rockefeller-ish preparation with whatever we had on hand.  Some Billecart Salmon we found rolling around in the back of the ice box to go with.  Steak Diane, a romantic classic (thanks for the idea Mark Bittman), with a side of Brussels spouts with bacon and blue cheese (which we had at Vee-Vee in JP--love Vee-Vee).  It all made for a tasty, cozy, romantic evening.

Oysters Rockefeller-ish

6 oysters, shucked
1 bunch of kale, cleaned, stemmed and blanched.  then chopped on the small side
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minded
Some bacon or smoked sausage (we used some of our home-smoked andouille)
1 tablespoon-ish of Penod
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
some cream

set up the oysters on the half shell.  fry the bacon or sausage.  add and saute the shallot and garlic in the fat.  if there's not enough, add a little butter.  you know, enough.  add the kale.  saute.  add the Pernod, parsley and about 1/4 cup of cream.  cook a little.  Spoon the kale mixture into the oysters and broil until the oysters are just cooked through.  Not too much!  a little Aleppo pepper on top is nice.  Very tasty.

We also test-drove the Jalapeno-Mezcal Margaritas we had at the Mulberry Project in Tulum with the Mezcal we carted back.  The honey-jalapeno syrup was a snap and the margaritas were G-R-E-A-T.  See below post for the recipe.  And we also stumbled the most recent Walking Dead.  Does Glenn have 9 lives, or what?!  And Carl shot again--go figure.  That boy just seems to stumble into the path of all oncoming bullets.

It's Winter! Let's make stock. (home baked bread)

snowy cottage

There's no denying that, in spite of a slow motion start, winter has fully and truly arrived.  I'm told the windchill was 18 degrees below zero last night and the sight of 3 more inches of snow this morning made my back hurt. So far this morning the sun is bright and the day beautiful but the wind is biting and so it's truly a day for staying indoors.  After a quick trip to clear off the porch I decided that I would spend my morning making bread and some kind of wintry strew out of whatever I had in the house.

camellia blooming in snow

I recently saw a recipe by Martha Shulman for a kind of tagine-style stew with flageolet beans.  It caught my eye because of the warm spices and because I happen to have a pound of flageolets that I bought, improbably, at the market in Wellfleet.  There provenance wasn't clear so I feared that they would take forever to soften (if at all)--I was right.  But they did eventually.  The recipe calls for onions, fennel and collard.  Onions I had.  I had no fennel or collards but I did have kale and an acorn squash.  I thought I could substitute those and that they would go well with the coriander, caraway and cumin called for. So I set to work on that, and a pot of vegetable stock just because stock's a good think to make on a wintry day (or any day, really.  I make alot of stock.  I find it meditative).  And I happened to have some beats so I roasted them.  I put the stew together and it's simmering.  It smells wonderful.  Here's Martha Shulman's master recipe.

Yesterday I made a recipe of bread dough which rose all night and I put that into the oven this morning as well.  I got this recipe from my spouse's father Peter Bellonci who's a sculptor in Austin, TX as well as a baker of bread. I make a couple of loaves a week.  It couldn't be more simple (but you do need a Le Creuset-type dutch oven):

3 c AP flour, or bread flour (you can also use some whole wheat--I find about 1/2 c of whole wheat improves the flavor without impairing the texture.
1/4 tsp yeast
2 tsp kosher salt (if using table salt use only about 1 1/4 tsps)
1 1/2 c warm water

Here are the complete instructions if you're interested--it's really worth making.

Well, that's quite enough for one morning.  The rest I can devote to sitting in front of the fire taking a quick look at the Times to see what Donald Trump has said in the last 24 hours (and doing the daily mini-crossword) and then turn to my Elena Ferrante novels.  I'm only in book 1!

Hola! (jalapeno-mezcal margarita)

. . . beach beds, fish tacos, and cervezas . . . 

I remember when I travel that part of the excitement of being away is coming home.  I see my life with fresh eyes once I’ve stepped outside of it.  The newness of travel is wonderful in itself, and also because it gives me perspective, and a longing for home.

I’m back at Wiley Cottage now and it's snowing (about which more in the next post) but this month we’ve been in Tulum, Mexico where we escaped the winter for a while.  Sure, Tulum has become somewhat resort-ified but there’s no denying the natural beauty and you don’t have to go far from the Zona Hoteleria to find the Yucatan.  Pibil and Modelo Especial anyone?  I have almost no photographs of the trip because I forgot my phone charger and decided the universe was telling me to unplug.  It wasn't easy--I kept thinking I was missing things and then saying to myself that if I was seeing them, I wasn't missing them.  Technology does weird things to us.

As we wandered around the Yucatan, I had my eyes open for plants or foods that might translate well into the Wiley Cottage kitchen and garden.  I didn’t have much luck with plants but here are a few dishes that I’m bringing back with me for the coming summer:

·      Mushroom ceviche from the vegan restaurant Restaure in Tulum (totally vegan restaurant, which ordinarily would put me off but we heard about the ceviche and it was inspired)

·      Sopa de Lima from Hosteria del Marques in Valladolid (beautiful colonial courtyard setting in which to have a rich chicken soup with tons of lime juice brightening it--a specialty of the region and so delicious)

·      A peppered honey glaze for pork ribs on the grill from Hartwood in Tulum (the NYT said it would change my life--not so much--the ribs were good though, as was the wood grilled octopus.  But what's with the sewage smell?)

·      And seafood ceviche from, well, everywhere in the Yucatan--we must eat more ceviche in Truro this summer (and tacos--why in the name of Fortuna don't we eat more tacos here!  Have I mentioned tacos al pastore from El Carboncito on the main street in the village!)

sunrise

I’m adding several types of peppers and radishes to my spring seed order since these are a crucial ingredient to Yucatecan ceviches.  As for drinks, we carted back a few bottles of Mezcal, the smoky cousin of tequila, for sipping and to use as a base for a smoky jalapeno margarita.  We got the recipe from very friendly bartender at the pop up version of the New York bar Mulberry Project:

1 oz Mezcal

1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice

2 oz Jalapeno syrup (1c honey, 1c water, 2 large jalapenos, coarsely chopped.  Steep  unheated for 15m and taste.  Continue to taste every 15m until spicy and vegetal)

shake vigorously with ice and serve garnished with cilantro sprigs

We also had a tasty "Very English" Tom Collins with cucumber and cilantro at Simple.  That’s next on my list for replication and I hope to serve it at our first summer party.

But right now, there's snow that needs shoveling so hasta la vista.