Thou Shalt Not Covet Another Man’s Tri Tip

It seems like men get territorial over tri tip the way a woman might get about a favorite pair of shoes. I happen to feel that a certain pair of black pinstripe Louboutin 4-inch stilettos with an ankle strap knows no rival. Turns out some guys feel equally passionate about boeuf. My husband recently tried his hand at tri tip, a gorgeous piece of Piedmontese beef from Heritage Foods, marinating it overnight in Two Buddies Marinade for Santa Barbara Beef. (Thanks for the marinade, Lisa!) Following dinner our friend Adam remarked that it seemed his wife preferred Mr. Foodinista’s tri tip to his own version, a sentiment he repeated the following morning in an email…fixating on the beef, kind of like if I had been wearing those Louboutins and his wife, Booth, had shown up in a pair of Dries Van Noten fabric python heels, which, while it didn’t happen that particular evening is likely to happen in the future and undoubtedly I’d be coveting the hell out of her shoes for days to come.

Mr. Foodinista’s secret to tri tip? Sage advice from friend Jamie Purviance, who has several best-selling grilling cookbooks to his credit. Here’s what Jamie recommends for grilling tri tip in his book Real Grilling:

Grill over Direct Medium heat until well marked on both sides, about 10 minutes, turning once. Move the roast over Indirect Medium heat and cook to the desired doneness, 20 to 30 minutes more for medium-rare…turning it over every 5 minutes or so. Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Cut the meat across the grain into very thin slices.

Summer in a Salad

Earlier this week I made mention of a pretty rocking dinner party with our friends Lizzie, Matt M., Katie, Matt A., and my sister, Claire. In addition to madcap high jinx involving blanc de blancs, spectacular single malts and a bet in which Katie & Matt’s season Dodger tix were on the line (you’ll have to ask Katie about the outcome of that tennis match that next morning), we also ate food. Lizzie put together a totally fantastic salad—a riff on The Hungry Cat’s Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon Salad with Feta, Basil and Arugula. I mean, look at those tomatoes! She coarsely chopped up heirlooms, watermelon, fresh basil and crumbled feta and tossed in a bowl with fleur de sel and pepper:

At the dinner table, we passed a bowl of peppery arugula, and then piled the tomato salad on top. Oh my god – this salad has it all, sweet, tart, salty, savory—yum. It was also the ideal companion to a grilled heritage pork chop with French feta salsa verde (heavy on basil, Italian parsley and marjoram) and grilled fennel.

Update, when blogs collide: Over at DESIGNwatcher.com, Lizzie is talking tomato salad, too…

Pistachio Pistou

A few weeks ago I blogged about the talented Jeanne Kelley, and here is another fantastic recipe from none other than…Jeanne! Her Salmon with Snap Peas, Yellow Peppers and Dill-Pistachio Pistou recipe is featured in the August issue of Bon Appétit. I’ve made this dish several times now (my only tweak is that we grill the salmon rather than pan fry), and it is so quick and easy. And impressive. But the real key to this dish is the dill-pistachio pistou. Pistou is basically the French answer to pesto, but this one subs in dill and green onions in lieu of basil and Italian parsley, pistachio for pinenuts and pistachio oil for olive oil. It is inspired…the pistachio oil added a nutty richness that makes this pistou feel totally decadent. I loved it with the salmon, but would love to serve this pistou with seared scallops, or tossed with beets and goat cheese or maybe just a dollop with green beans or roasted brussels sprouts.

Far Niente: Sweet Doing Nothing

In addition to being the name of a winery that turns out killer Cabernet, far niente translates roughly to “sweet doing nothing” or as Webster’s says “pleasant relaxation in carefree idleness.” I was reminded of the value of far niente the other night when I decided to put an Italian spin on dinner, when in fact I should have let the produce relax pleasantly in carefree, unadorned idleness. We had defrosted two awesome bone-in New York steaks (we have a freezer full of beef from Heritage Foods USA) and had picked up some corn and red onions from the farmers market. Our newly planted herb garden is totally out of control—who knew Italian parsley multiplied like rabbits?—so I plucked a handful of Italian parsley, basil and lemon thyme for a makeshift pesto with leftover Marcona almonds to go on the steaks.

Meanwhile, my husband grilled our loot to perfection. 

Inspired by a Mario Batali recipe I’d seen, I brushed the grilled corn with balsamic and olive oil, sprinkled with mint from the garden and some red pepper flakes. For the onions, I’d made a balsamic glaze stovetop with more lemon thyme and crushed garlic. And here’s the deal. The pesto on the steaks was great, but did the steaks need the adornment? No. And the corn? I’ll take my corn on the cob with plain old melted butter ANY day. And the grilled onions with the balsamic glaze were certainly enjoyable, but the onions were so perfect, so sweet that again, they didn’t need to be “dressed up.” So next time, I’ll save the herbs for a salad and serve the rest of dinner far niente.

Boy (and Vodka Tonic) Meets Grill…

For the past year I have been saving my pennies for a rainy day, which was pretty much the scene here in LA on Tuesday morning after my husband had left for work as two brawny guys unloaded a Weber Summit S-450 with Rotisserie Grill in the rain. Our dear friend Jamie Purviance, who has written several awesome grilling cookbooks (check out his latest: Way to Grill, an indispensable grilling compendium), recommended this model, and I secretly ordered it for my husband to splash out for his very first Father’s Day. In addition to four burners, a rotisserie, smoke box and BTUs galore, the grill is just plain pretty. [Note to Father-in-Law: if you're reading, observe the Tervis Tumbler above!] 

My husband literally had no idea this was in the works. You should have seen his face when he discovered it in the backyard! Last night he gave it a test run with some marbled ribeyes and OH MY GOD. I’ll be posting plenty more on this beast throughout the summer and autumn and winter and spring. Can’t wait to try Jamie’s technique for pork loin on the rotisserie, along with The Foodinista’s technique for making a bottle of rosé disappear…

Fava + Asparagus Mash

Last night I discovered a bunch of fava beans in the fridge, which I’d bought last week and forgotten about. As usual with favas, after you’ve shelled, blanched and peeled the damn things, one never ends up with as many as intended. So I had to stretch with some mint from the garden, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and grilled asparagus to go along with grilled wild salmon. Seriously good stuff.

First, shell favas and then boil them for a couple minutes in salted water. Here they are shelled and uncooked:

After boiling, drain and put into ice bath until cool. Then peel tough outer shell:

Then cook in a skillet over medium heat with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes for about five minutes, until softened and cooked through.

Meanwhile, my husband grilled the salmon and aspargus, while I ran out to the garden and picked some fresh mint:

Once the favas were cooked through, I smashed with the back of a fork and tossed with chopped mint, some lemon zest, drizzled olive oil and chopped grilled asparagus. The buttery favas are lovely with the bright contrast of mint and lemon and subtle heat of the red pepper flakes, while the asparagus (grilled al dente) adds texture and a bit of intensity.

Octopus Adventures

On Sunday, I picked up a 2.5 lb octopus from the fish guy at the Larchmont Farmer’s Market. I looooove octopus, but had never tackled one on home turf before. The raw specimen is really gross, I’m just going to put that out there. Here it is in our sink. This is when I pleaded with my husband to deal with it.

But neither my husband nor I knew what the hell an octopus “beak” was—and we were supposed to remove it, so we panicked we called our friend Hugh, who came right over. Okay, so that little mouth-thing on the belly of the octopus is the beak. Hugh plucked it right out, and I felt really dumb for having called in the first place but relieved that I didn’t have to deal—this time anyway.

So then consulting a recipe for Octopus and Potato Salad in Mario Batali’s Italian Grill cookbook, we threw six cloves of garlic, a few chiles de arbol and two wine corks (which Batali swears help tenderize the octopus) and our de-beaked octopus into a pot of boiling water and then simmered for about 90 minutes.

After octopus is tender (test with a knife), remove from heat and drain and allow to cool. Meanwhile, bring 4-5 Yukon Gold potatoes to a boil and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Peel and quarter potatoes and put in a medium-sized bowl. Toss with the following: 1/2 cup good olive oil, 4 thinly sliced scallions, a thinly sliced red onion, grated zest and juice of two lemons, and a cup of pitted kalamata olives. Stir and season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle octopus with olive oil on both sides and grill over the hottest part of the grill for 9 minutes until nicely charred, then flip and cook for another 8 minutes.

Cut octopus into 1.5-inch pieces and add to potato salad and gently toss. Serve warm or at room temperature. The results were seriously delicious…smoky, charred, meaty, zesty, so good that I’ll even deal with the beak next time. Maybe.

Where the Buffalo Roam

Yesterday in Whole Foods I spotted some buffalo ribeye steaks and thought what the hell, a little lean protein never hurt anyone. A few things to keep in mind. The reason buffalo is such a healthy option is because it’s super lean—almost no fat, which means almost no flavor (relative to a Nebraska cornfed dry aged 35 day bone-in ribeye at CUT). So seasoning is key with buffalo. We used a liberal rub of cayenne and ancho chile powders, salt and pepper. You want to grill them at high heat, and quickly, or they will be tough. Err on the side of rare (and they will still be more done than you think). My husband grilled them for 3 1/2 or 4 minutes a side. And guess what? They were great! We are going to add them to the weekly lineup.

On the Lamb

Usually when we grill lamb chops around here, we simply brush them with a little olive oil and crack some salt and pepper over. The recipe for Grilled Lamb Chops with Porcini Mustard in the current issue of Gourmet may have changed all of that. You make a paste of crushed garlic, coarse salt, chopped rosemary and spread over the lamb chops.

Then you grill for about  3 1/2 to 4 minutes a side for medium-rare. But the pièce de résistance is the porcini mustard sauce, which would be great with steak as well. From epicurious.com:

Soak mushrooms in boiling-hot water (2 cups) until softened, about 20 minutes. Lift mushrooms out of water and strain liquid through a paper-towel-lined sieve set over a small saucepan. Coarsely chop mushrooms.

Boil mushroom liquid in saucepan until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 13 to 15 minutes. Whisk in mustard, butter, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in mushrooms. Transfer to a small bowl and cool slightly. Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley.

Vaquero Beans

Sorry for the delay – got home from work on the late side last night, so here I am a day late with my bean odyssey. At a crazy good dinner party on Saturday night, my friend Katie gave me a bag of  these heirloom Vaquero Beans from Rancho Gordo. Actually Katie was pretty clear that they were “on loan,” so I’ll be hitting up my sister to bring a few replacement bags from Napa Valley next time she comes down to visit. First off, can we agree that they are stunningly gorgeous? Like an Appaloosa horse. Love! So to get going, first I rinsed them in super cold water. Then I put them in a pot and covered with an inch of water and soaked for six hours. Yes, that’s right. Six hours.

From there, I consulted Rancho Gordo founder Steve Sando’s instructions for cooking beans. (Note: Sando has an awesome new Heirloom Beans cookbook, click HERE to order.) Per Sando’s advice, I made a makeshift mirepoix with onions, carrots and garlic I picked up at farmers market sautéed in olive oil – makeshift because I realized too late I had no celery. C’est la guerre. But basically all you need is water or broth and some sort of fat (I used olive oil, but freshly rendered lard or bacon fat would be mighty nice). I added my pseudo-mirepoix to the beans and their liquid, brought to a boil for five minutes, and then slow cooked on super-low heat for several more hours. Check out that amazing, rich liquid they give off. So flavorful!

Meanwhile my husband grilled red, yellow and orange bell peppers along with Maui sweet onions, and we tossed with the beans, fresh thyme and some crumbled French feta, which we picked up from Laurent Bonjour—the “French cowboy ” with the cheese truck at the Larchmont Farmers Market (which conveniently works with the whole vaquero angle). The dish was as delicious as it was beautiful. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Mr. Foodinista knows his way around a grill!

And I know my way around a corkscrew, which I pressed into action to open a cold bottle of crisp, minerally 2007 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon Verzé—a Chardonnay from the Puligny-Montrachet region of Burgundy and a great value at $27. It was made by one of my very favorite winemakers in Burgundy, Pierre Morey (a true pioneer in biodynamics, not to mention one of the most gracious winemakers I’ve ever met) before he stepped down last year as Leflaive winemaker to concentrate on his own label. Here’s to you, Pierre!

NOTE: We were in the mood for white wine (the White Burgundy was lovely; a Sancerre or Vouvray from the Loire would have been even better with the tangy feta). If you prefer a red, a nice cru Beaujolais would kill with this combo!

Dinner Party Envy

Saturday night we went to what has to be one of the best dinner parties in memory at our friends Katie and Matt’s. Let’s just say that when one of your fellow guests shows up with vacuum-sealed terrines of pheasant pâté—made with pheasants he hunted on his father-in-law’s ranch in Oregon and topped with thinly shaved black truffles, which we enjoyed with a Louis Bouillot sparkling rosé—that the bar has been set pretty high. But yet rise to the occasion our hostess did. Yours truly did not wish to be rude by showing up with camera in hand, so I’ll simply describe the menu to you here. I’ll be cribbing parts of it this weekend when my sister is in town to visit Tiny G.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Porcini Mustard

Balsamic-Marinated Radicchio with Basil and Fresh Ricotta

Fennel Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

Tuscan Beans in Summery Tomato Ragu

Served with 2006 Patz & Hall Chenowith Ranch Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

*

Candied Fennel-Topped Lemon Cake

Served with 2005 La Tour Blnache Sauternes

Some of the boys got into the Talisker on the porch after dinner, but for once in my life I made the sensible decision to abstain. There’s a first time for everything.

One final note about those Tuscan beans. Katie used heirloom Peruvian Mayocoba beans from Rancho Gordo, and they were nothing short of exceptional. She had ordered a bunch, and “loaned” me a bag of Vaquero beans, which I experimented with yesterday and will post about later today. Finally, no matter how close I come to approximating the above menu, I will be missing two key elements—Katie and Matt’s gracious hosting and their incredible Craftsman home. House envy will be another post…

First Taste of Summer

The last two nights have felt a lot like summer, so we’ve been eating as such. Yesterday a friend gave me several gorgeous heirloom tomatoes—the first of the season. So last night we made tomato sandwiches, simply sliced tomatoes on lightly toasted multigrain bread from La Boulangerie with a little mayo, sprinkled with fresh thyme and crumbled feta. Heaven. 

The previous evening we grilled up a couple slices of bread as well as yellow, red and orange bell peppers, asparagus and large spring onions, which we tossed with olive oil and fresh chopped chives. We washed it all down with cold, cold glasses of pale coppery pink rosé from Spain and stayed outside talking late into the night. Our first taste of summer and how sweet it is.