No garlic, no onions, no pork and a Puttanesca 2009

I had a week of challenges. I subbed at a restaurant with a large catering division and put out food for 160 people in 3 hours. After completing the prep for the next day I learned that I would have to tone down the onions, garlic and portion sizes. So we adapt. If I go back I have a better sense of what they need and we got the food out in time 2 days in a row, a very good thing.

It led me to begin thinking along the lines of Italian food that naturally contains no onions or garlic and I was very fortunate that I was thinking along those lines.

I arrived at the house where I was to cook for a large group of guests for the weekend and after prepping for the first meal the hostess came to the kitchen and told me she had just found out one of her guests could not tolerate garlic or onions and not to serve pork. Of course both her Italian menu for Friday and her Spanish for Saturday featured not only the intolerable ingredients but a suckling pig. Her staff ate very well and I scrambled to redo the menu.

The antipasto was no problem, Orange and fennel, roast asparagus, etc. Not a problem there but she had asked for a Puttanesca sauce for the pasta course. What could I do, I roasted the cherry tomatoes, melted some anchovies in white wine, chopped the olives and threw it all together with some capers and a splash of some good olive oil. I grabbed a taste, acceptable and we served. The remainder of the pasta sat in the pan while the Pollock was served and after they had their sorbet I, starving at this point grabbed the now cold pasta and a fork.

Wow...what a difference time had made. The olive had permeated the pasta and the juice of the tomato released with that faint salty anchovy taste, this was really good.

Don't rush to serve this hot, let it rest and have with a glass of Rose on a warm spring night.

1 lb pasta
1 cup white wine
8 anchovies chopped
2 cups of green olives, pitted and divided
1/2 cup capers
2 cups cherry tomatoes roasted til the skins burst with a touch of salt and oil.
Your best olive oil
2 cups chopped fresh basil

Warm the anchovies in the wine, they will naturally dissolve. Cook the pasta and toss all the ingredients together with a good dose of your best olive oil until combined. Go have some vegetables and come back in an hour. Eat like you have all the time in the world and savor every flavor.

A few of my favorite things

The process of making fish past is a bit like the old fashioned way of pressing grapes. (pictured.)

Everyone who cooks has some tips and tricks that wake up the flavor of food. Sometimes it takes only a little bit of something to balance the flavor and tittilate the taste buds. For a job I was doing for the short term (we'll see) I was told to cut back on the onions and garlic, I do admit I rely on the heavily but there are many other ways to get a taste kick.

Hot Peppers: All kinds from the jalapeno the the habanero taste terrific to me. I love the heat. For most however it just takes a few shakes or grinds to bring up the flavor of a dish. If you have a soup that's a little bland, just a touch of hot pepper can help wake up the other flavors.

Fermented Fish Paste/Shrimp paste: No kidding, if you have never tried this give it a shot. It adds umami that newly discovered taste sensation without MSG or any nasty ingredients (read the labels of course). I've snuck a bit into pasta dishes that were otherwise traditional, and fish paste rocks. Anchovies can do much of the same thing, but the fermentation ads it's own dimension.

Salt: Often when friends ask me to taste something they ask what it needs and the answer is often salt. Get a nice sea salt and don't be afraid of it. Mashed potatoes, gravies, rice....multitudes of dishes can be improved with just a little salt.

Butter: If a sauce does not quite have that rich mouth feel or the fish is a little dry, use some butter. Never margarine, any anyone with taste buds who has tried 'I can't believe it's not butter' knows that the name is a lie. Your first bite and you know it is a science project, not food. Believe me, don't use it, even in baked goods.

Olives are another umami sensation, if you are doing a simple vegetable toss with a few olives and olive oil and it becomes worthy of a trattoria. Play with your food and try an unconventional ingredient in a traditional dish and wake up your palate.

Bea Arthur's leg of lamb

The last time I saw Bea Arthur was when she brought her stage show back to New York for one night to benefit the Ali Forney center her in New York.

I got involved with the center when they needed a wine donation for the after party. Bea did the show barefoot so I got Erica Brandler from Barefoot Cellars involved and we helped make the party a success.

Bea was in top form strutting back and forth on the stage and as those of you who have seen the show remember...she recited her leg of lamb recipe.

At the party afterwards I approached her, she was sitting in the back of the restaurant. I had to ask..."any particular proportions for the ingredients in the lamb prep"?

In her deep booming voice she responded..."How big is your lamb?"

"I don't know."

"Trust your instincts, use a lot of mustard to coat and enough of everything else to make it taste good."

I did as instructed and it was good...very good, and so today I share with you Bea Arthur's lamb. Trust your instincts....I like mine with a lot of garlic and rosemary and sandwiches the next day, ....to live for.

A lot of Dijon mustard
Some olive oil
Some ground ginger
A lot of garlic ground up
A lot of Rosemary crushed enough to release the oils
Some salt

Mix into a paste and make some scores in the surface of the leg. Rub it all in, let it rest in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.

Put a meat thermometer in near the bone and roast 'til the lamb reaches 140 at 375 degrees. Cover with foil and let rest for a bit then carve. It should be a nice medium pink.

Bea loved to entertain. Have a few friends over and thank them for being your friends, then raise a glass to Bea.