Writing With My Mouth Full

Spiced Turnips, Shalgam Masala

I can tell that the cold weather is here to stay with the most recent bounty from my CSA farmer share. Solid and heavy produce like apples, carrots, turnips and broccoli dominated the weight of my two carry-ons. I still have a jar of homemade kimchi in the fridge so I wanted to do something different yet familiar with the turnips. I turned to my copy of Monisha Bharadwaj’s India’s Vegetarian Cooking to try her spiced turnips recipe after I remembered doing a similar take on kohlrabi.

Ingredients:
4 medium turnips, peeled, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
2 tbsps ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
a small handful of cilantro leaves, finely chopped
oil, salt

1. Heat some oil in a pot and sauté the onions until soft. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the chili flakes. Add the tomatoes and all the spices. Season with a little salt. Stir until well blended.
2. Mix in the turnips and add about 3/4 cup of water. Stir to combine everything. Cover and bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for about 15 minutes or until turnips are tender.
3. Remove from heat and add in the cilantro leaves.

Related post/s:
I use a similar recipe using kohlrabi

Apple Peel-Brined Pork Loin with Baked Purple Figs

When trying to figure out our September apple menu for Supper with Strangers, I naturally turned to pork because pork and apples make a good combination. A more recent New York Times recipe featured duck and figs that looked very autumnal and just made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Duck breast was out of our Supper budget, so I found some nice pork loin and stole the idea of figs from the recipe.

The apple peel brine came from watching the Dr. marinate pork chops when we closed the summer season in Montauk a couple of weekends ago. The sweetness of the brine penetrated the pork meat and made it juicy; cooked just right and the meat is succulent and moist. The baked apples and figs were a nice side to make the meal complete. A Coast of Spain blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Tempranillo was the perfect match.

Ingredients:
1 pork loin, tied in butcher twine
1 apple, sliced thin
1 apple, peel and meat peeled using a peeler
1 small tub of figs, sliced in half
3 tbsps sugar
1 tbsp juniper berries
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
oil, salt

1. Two days before cooking, make the brine. In a small saucepan, boil apple peels and meat with sugar, juniper berries, all spice, black peppercorns, bay leaves in 4 cups of water. Season with salt. Simmer until water is reduced to about half. Remove pot from heat and let completely cool before adding to pork loin.
2. In a glass baking dish, marinade the pork loin in the brine. Just use enough brine to submerge the pork almost halfway. Turn pork loin over after a day.
3. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 300º. While preheating oven, remove pork from the brine. Heat a large skillet with some oil and brown the pork loin on all sides. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with foil and roast for about 25 minutes or until the pork feels like the meat below your thumb.
4. In the meantime, combine figs and apples in a separate baking dish and drizzle some oil. Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside. Save the juice.
5. Remove pork loin from oven to a chopping block and let rest for about 15 minutes before slicing into 2-inch thick rounds. Serve with baked apples and figs and drizzle the fruit juice over them.

Porchetta

110 East 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A
212/777.2151
$9 for a pork sandwich, without tip
♥

For Italians, porchetta means boneless pork roast that’s moist and juicy. Chef and co-owner Sara Jenkins doesn’t stray away from that definition: my $9 pork was no joke. The meat was shiny; its own fat glistening in between the two slices of Sullivan Street Bakery ciabatta bread. There are little surprises of crunch and soft gelatinous cubes of fat–my jaw hurt from chewing but I couldn’t stop eating.

I’ll return to try it with some of my own chili sauce, although it was well-seasoned that it didn’t really need any extras to make it more satisfying than it already is. The $5 side of potatoes were roasted in pork fat and tossed with some burnt pork ends. The bitter and garlicky broccoli rabe was a good balance to all the fat.

It took me ten minutes to walk from work to this new Porchetta branch in the east Village and another five to get my lunch order, but it took me two hours to digest one of their fatty-licious sandwiches.

Peach Cobbler

When I try to cook something and it comes out of the oven fragrant and then it actually tastes good, I always wish I baked more. I got my hands on some ripe and bruised peaches today. I knew they wouldn’t hold even if I just ate them with yogurt for breakfast, so I thought cooking them was the way to go. I’ve tried this recipe before and for some reason I added more flour and it came out bread-y. This time, I was vigilant about following the measurements and waiting for it to bake on its own. Spain…On The Road Again on CBS kept me company until I had to eat a piece of Cia dessert.

Ingredients:
8 ripe yellow peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced into 1/2 inch thick wedges
1 cup sugar, divided 2/3 cup and 1/3 cup
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 1/2 tbsps lemon juice
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (6 oz) butter, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2/3 cup whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 350º. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 2/3 cup sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice and vanilla. Let stand at least 15 minutes, stirring several times.
2. In another large bowl, combine flour with remaining 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder and nutmeg. Using your fingers, incorporate butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cream and stir just until dough holds together.
3. In a greased shallow square baking dish, spread fruit at the bottom. Using your hands, crumble dough evenly over fruit.
4. Bake oven until fruit mixture bubbles in center and topping is golden brown, about 1 hour.

Melon Prosciutto Mozarella Salad

I’m spending the last weekend of the summer in Montauk and I wanted to make a salad last night that evoked that warm-but-chilly late afternoon air. We opened a bottle of wine and divided the duties in the kitchen: the Dr. cranked up the grill while I stayed indoors to prepare the side dishes. Earlier in the day, we stopped by the Amagansett vegetable stand to buy fresh produce. I was inspired by the fresh mozarella and the fragrant melons, as well as the spicy arugula and extra large parsley leaves. A quick stop at the deli got me some prosciutto to add.

Ingredients:
a small chunk of a melon, sliced in slightly larger pieces than the mozarella
a few pieces of prosciutto, torn
fresh mozarella, sliced in small pieces
a handful of parsley, roughly chopped
a handful of arugula, roughly chopped
juice from half a lemon
oil, salt, pepper

1. In a small bowl, make the dressing. Whisk in lemon juice with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. In a salad bowl, toss in the melon cubes with the mozarella. Add in prosciutto and the greens. Gently dress with lemon juice and olive oil mixture so that the salad doesn’t muddle.

Related post/s:
Try bresaola if you don’t like pork