Text 23618, 140 rader
Skriven 2015-02-02 19:14:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: places to go 147
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 NB> Off the top of my head, I can't think of many really spicy American
 NB> foods except wings and chili... and some appetizers like jalapeno
 NB> bites... and hot sauce for the "garbage" plates...  

People like to say that the quality of the ingredients
speaks for itself, but that posits that spice necessarily
is used to cover up shortcomings, which I believe to be
a slanderous assumption.

 ML> I'm looking forward to Arizona but not for the spiciness
 ML> of the food.
 NB> That's your baseball with Swisher trip, yes...?

Yeah. Nearly two months hence; I'm counting the ours and
the minutes, too. There will be one meal at the Royal Thai
place, and that will be spicy toward the limit of my
tolerance; other than that, meat and potatoes hold the
potatoes. Swisher will want breakfast - I've booked mostly
Hamptons, which offer eggs, breakfast meat, and starch for
free. I'll take a sausage or two and maybe a donut and juice.

 ML> Many people don't react much to salt; for others it's
 ML> catastrophic. Me, it just causes or exacerbates edema.
 NB> My sodium/potassium balance can play into fluid retention, but that's
 NB> all I've noticed... I'm more sensitive to the taste of excessive
 NB> salt.... :)

I had to take three Lasixes today after having spaghetti
and chili (made with that ancient roast beef that I banged
into the freezer a month ago) at 3 am this morning. Big
mistake, but I was hungry.

 ML> Well, mostly. There was KFC, Burger King, McDonalds, ...,
 ML> though Lilli stood by with equanimity as I ate some things
 ML> that might put off other friends.
 NB> This friend might have joined you...  (G)

Relatively few of my friends these days have adventurous
palates - either that or they have used them up and have
become timid in their old age. It would be nice to take a
field trip with someone whose tastes were as wide-ranging
as mine.
 
 ML> Port- or red-wine-poached pears is a classic.
 NB> Ah.  Ok.  :)

Easy peasy, too. Essentially you boil off the alcohol,
then put the fruit in (top up with water as necessary)
and cook until tender. Aromatics are generally cinnamon
and vanilla. You can cook down the liquid to a syrup
and/or use it as the base for a sabayon. 

 NB> ... Spinach is the broom of the stomach. - French proverb

I was unaware of that, but an Internet investigation
yields a wide variety of quotations, most amusing being
from Joseph Roques, New Treatise on Everyday Plants,
Especially with Regard to Medicine (1838) - "Spinach,
broom of the stomach, a banal saying that has been
the cause of more than one indigestion ... ." 

==

 ML> When I was in the neuro unit some years ago, my first
 ML> roommate was a screamer, and I'd have strongly preferred
 ML> a private room. Cancer, you can see why - I'd bet HIPAA
 ML> regulations, strictly read, would mandate such for all
 ML> serious illnesses.
 NB> They certainly isolate those that could infect others.  But it makes a
 NB> lot of sense to also isolate those that are at greater risk from
 NB> others...  :)

Mutual isolation can be a good thing. Back in the once upon
a times, they used to put the immunocompromised into "life
islands" - roomettes with air filtered in and out and with
airlocks for transferring stuff -; later, such were used in
cases of suspected contagiousness, notably, AIDS before the
method of transmission was figured out.

Strip House creamed spinach
categories: side, pretentious, all wrong
yield: 6 c

2 1/2 c cooked, chopped spinach
2 c reserved spinach liquid
1 c minced shallots
2 c truffle cream (below)
1 c grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tb truffle butter
1 1/2 Tb extra virgin olive oil
2 Tb white truffle oil
h - For the truffle cream
1/2 lb butter
1/2 lb all-purpose flour
1 qt heavy cream
2/3 c diced Spanish onion
4 oz grated Parmesan cheese
5 oz truffle butter
2 ts kosher salt
1/2 ts ground black pepper

Quickly blanch the spinach in salted, rapidly boiling
water. Use a skimmer to remove the spinach from the
water. Set aside to drain. When the spinach cools to
room temperature, squeeze out as much of the liquid
as possible. Reserve 2 c of the liquid.

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the
shallots until translucent, but do not brown them.
Add 1 c of the truffle cream and bring to a simmer.
Whip in the truffle butter and then add 1/2 c grated
Parmesan cheese. Fold in all of the chopped spinach
and add the remaining truffle cream during this
process. Bring to a simmer. If the creamed spinach
looks dry or tight, add a couple Tb reserved spinach
liquid. Fold in the remaining cheese. Season to taste.
Finish the dish with the truffle oil and serve.

Truffle cream.

Make a roux by heating butter in a saute pan until it
bubbles. Slowly whisk in the flour until the roux
thickens. Remove from heat.

In a saucepan, bring heavy cream and onion to a simmer
and cook until the onion is soft. With a wand mixer,
puree the onion into the cream. Slowly add some of the
roux until sauce reaches a medium-thick consistency.
It should coat the back of a kitchen spoon, but not
approach a custard consistency. Use the wand mixer to
incorporate the truffle butter, Parmesan cheese, salt
and pepper. Remove from heat and keep warm in a water
bath until ready to serve.

John Schenk and Michael Vignola, Strip House, NYC


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