GASTRONORMOUS

Saganaki means fried cheese. More or less. But the type of cheese used, and how is is prepared, varies across the Mediterranean. At many places in Athens, for example, saganaki means deep-fried feta. In other places it is pan-fried kefalotyri or kasseri. Although in Cyprus grilled halloumi is not usually listed on the menu by the name saganaki, that is technically what it is.

When my friend Karen and her husband came over Saturday night, I decided to make an unusual form of saganaki that she would likely appreciate. It is based on saganaki I ordered at a little taverna in the harbor town of Kamariotissa on Samothrace, during one of two summers I spent working at the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods (you are probably familiar with one object found there). Karen had also worked there for a summer, and I thought she may have visited this taverna, where they wrapped a hunk of feta in foil along with some oregano, thin strips of small red and yellow peppers, and a splash of olive oil. It was served still wrapped in the foil, and what a delight it was to unfold it and indulge at that little outdoor table.

So this was approximately what I made for my guests Saturday night, with a few modifications:

Serving food wrapped in foil may be charming on the veranda of a little taverna next to the ferry landing, but I didn’t think it would quite work in my Brooklyn living room. So, I filled a low shallow ceramic dish with a thick layer of feta, drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled on a bit of oregano and black pepper (no salt!), and some paper-thin slices of jalapeno. (I was going to do strips of pepper, as in the original, but I thought the round slices looked pretty, so I left them that way.)

I covered the dish with foil and baked it in 350 degree oven until bubbly, then I uncovered and baked it for five minutes. I let is sit on the counter for a few minutes more before serving so as not to scald my guests!

When they arrived I asked Karen if she remembered the unusual saganaki in Samothrace. She responded excitedly that not only did she remember it, but that she still dreamt about it. I asked her what she remembered it being like, because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t forgetting any little authentic detail, and she went on to explain a totally different dish. It sounded more like the pan-fried kefolatyri type. She said she had eaten it at “you know, that place with the tree….”

Oh, yes, the place with the tree. I never had the saganaki there, so this is a bit of a digression, but this restaurant called Sotiros is located high above the main town of Samothrace, or Chora, and is a truly magical place. The seating is mostly if not all outdoors, on a cobbled terrace dominated by a huge, ancient tree. There are lights strung, there are locals drinking beer and being merry, there is their famous chicken in paper being eaten, and if you go at the right time, there is the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen. If you ever find yourself on Samothrace, be sure to stop by Sotiros. You’ll have to ask a local how to get there, it isn’t very straightforward.

In the end, the saganaki iteration I made was not the same as the one Karen had dreamt of, but that didn’t keep everyone from raving about it. On top of being tasty, it is really simple to prepare, and would be a great addition to your appetizer spread (it is great alongside hummus!). I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it!

I don’t know about your local farmer’s market (or backyard garden), but this year my market has been selling the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. Last week I bought some small and intensely flavored Black Prince variety tomatoes, some big and sweet Great Whites, and plump and juicy Red Brandywines.  With this sudden glut of tomatoes in my fridge, I decided to do two riffs on one of my favorite uses for fresh tomatoes: the caprese.

The list of ingredients for these two salads is almost identical, but you will find that the sum of their parts add up quite differently.

Gastronormous Caprese

Many caprese recipes do not call for balsamic, but I find that, used in moderation, it adds a little something special to this now commonplace Italian menu item.

If you happen to have a bottle of 40 year-aged balsamic languishing in your cupboard, by all means use it here. But if a $100 bottle of vinegar is not in your price range, do it my way: use a reduction of grocery store balsamic. The result of reducing the vinegar might not fool the palate in a head-to-head taste test against the real thing, but I promise this thick, rich, and sweet substitute will wow your cocktail party guests (or, you know, your spouse)!

1 cup balsamic vinegar
approx. 1 lb piece of fresh mozzarella (a bit bigger than a baseball)
1-2 heirloom tomatoes, depending on size (I used half a Great White and a whole Black Prince)
10-14 large fresh basil leaves
2 T good quality extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat balsamic in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until boiling. Immediately reduce heat to low and simmer without stirring until vinegar is the color and thickness of dark molasses, about 15 minutes.Take off heat and let cool to room temperature (do not refrigerate!).

Slice tomatoes and cheese into 3/8-inch slices. Cut these in vertical halves (this is optional–it looks a little more elegant if the pieces are kept whole, but it is easier for guests to serve themselves and eat if smaller; if the tomatoes are small, do not cut slices in half). Lay out slices of tomatoes and cheese on the cutting board and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper (taste the mozz first–if it is really salty, just use pepper; be sure to salt the tomatoes, though–it helps draw out the juices).

Arrange the tomato and cheese slices in an alternating pattern on a serving platter. Slip a basil leaf between each layer (ie, tomato-basil-cheese-basil-tomato, etc.). Drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle with just a couple teaspoons of the reduced balsamic and serve (do this right before serving or else the balsamic will be absorbed by the cheese and won’t look as pretty!).

Serves 4-6. Serve with (toasted) bread, if desired.

Brooklyn Panzanella

This is really a cross between a traditional bruchetta, which doesn’t include cheese, and a panzanella, which generally utilizes a lot more olive oil than I call for here. Here, the tomatoes are the true star, and the fresh mozzarella plays a supporting, but essential, role. Because the tomatoes are cubed they release a lot more juice than when cut into thick steaks for caprese, and that juice helps create a very flavorful dressing.

3 c heirloom tomatoes, medium dice ( I used Great Whites and Red Brandywines)
1 small garlic clove, minced*
1/4 cup basil leaves, torn (or chiffonade, if you are feeling fancy)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
1 c cubed fresh mozarella
12 3/4-inch slices of baguette

Toss together tomatoes, garlic, basil, oil, and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and give another quick toss. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes but not longer than 3 hours. Before serving add cheese and toss well, ensuring that it is coated with the tomato-y dressing that formed through maceration.

Arrange 3 slices of bread on a small plate and top with about one cup of the salad. Spoon some extra dressing over the top. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil. Repeat with the rest of the bread and salad.

Serves 4.

*Resist the temptation to go for a larger clove–you don’t want the garlic to overpower the sweet tomato flavor.

I love homemade baked macaroni and cheese. I have tried many recipes over the years and have taken the things I liked out of many of them, and threw in some personal touches, to create my own unique recipe.  The problem with having your own personal, and might I add, unwritten, recipe, is that it is more likely for some element to be forgotten and for things to go awry. Such was the case a week and a half ago when the Hubs and I hosted the Predicate for an evening of Project Runway viewing and mac and cheese eating.

Where things went wrong was with the roux. I thought I had remembered that I usually put one tablespoon of flour into the roux for each cup of milk that would go into the béchamel, so I put in five tablespoons of flour for five cups of milk. Maybe I was just being impatient, but after a few minutes, the béchamel was not thickening. Knowing that adding raw flour to a béchamel can make the sauce taste, well, floury, I was hesitant to add more, but didn’t know what else to do, so mixed up one more tablespoon with a bit of milk and added it to the mix. Still no thickening action. Shucks. I added one more tablespoon. It got very thick very quickly, but, as I feared, tasted floury. I thought the cheese might cover up the taste of flour so I took the sauce beyond the point of no return and added all the cheese, only to find the floury taste remained.

I think it probably would have been okay with just the one extra tablespoon of flour and a bit more patience! It was a bit less floury after baking, and The Predicate (I suspect out of kindness) said it didn’t taste floury to her, but the Hubs and I were both dissatisfied. Luckily, when we reheated it the next day for a dinner of leftovers, the floury taste was magically gone, so it wasn’t a totally wasted effort. In any case, the recipe below accounts for an extra tablespoon of flour. But if you have a béchamel recipe that works for you, by all means, use that as a starting point for this recipe.

When making baked macaroni and cheese, it is essential to use a soft, creamy cheese, and is best to use a soft creamy cheese in combination with a harder, sharper, cheese to impart more complex flavor. I have used all sorts of combinations, but this time I used smoked gouda (which the Predicate said added a yummy bacony flavor) in combination with asiago and parmesan. Some recipes call for less cheese than this does, but I find one pound of cheese to one pound of pasta works best (a suggestion I picked up from America’s Test Kitchen, and they should know). Macaroni and cheese in any form is not a health food, so go ahead and go for the gold, I say. (And don’t worry, Mom, we ate it with a vegetable!)

The hidden surprise of tomatoes was a little trick I learned from one of my favorite all-time chefs: Jacques Pepin. (Though I put more tomato in my recipe than he does.) The spicy breadcrumb topping is my invention, as is the idea of shredding the butter (most mac and cheese recipes call for daubs of butter to be placed on top, but I think shredding leads to better distribution of butter, which in turn leads to more crispiness!) I hope you enjoy it!

Gastronormous Macaroni and Cheese

1 lb of cavatappi, elbows, or penne
1 large tomato, chopped in a medium dice

2 T butter
2 T olive oil
6 T flour
5 cups milk
salt and pepper
1 lb of cheese, in a combination of your choice (at least half a pound should be a soft, creamy cheese), in a small/medium dice or shredded

1 c plain breadcrumbs (not panko)
3/4 c grated (not shredded) parmesan cheese
2 tsp cayenne pepper (or more, to your taste)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper
4 T butter, shredded on a cheese shredder and refrigerated

Boil pasta in a generous amount of salted water. Cook for a minute or two less than package directions. Drain and spread in a large casserole dish. Spread tomatoes over the top and then sort of tuck the tomatoes in, so that they are not completely on top of the pasta.

In the meantime, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. When melted but not bubbling, add the flour and whisk vigorously and continuously until a smooth paste is formed and keep cooking (and whisking) for a few minutes more (but do NOT let it brown). Add about a 1/4 cup of milk and whisk until sooth, then add the rest of the milk in a slow, steady stream, whisking the whole time. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Cook (whisking fairly often) over medium heat until the sauce has thickened, 5-10 minutes. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour sauce over pasta and tomatoes.

Combine breadcrumbs, grated cheese, and spices in a small bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired. Add shredded butter and toss lightly with a fork (if made ahead, keep in fridge until ready to use so that butter retains its shape)). Spread mixture evenly over the top of the pasta, and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the top is crispy and sauce is bubbling. Let stand for a minute or two before serving.

Serves 6-8 people.

Note 1 : I used a pasta shape called cavatappi (also called cellentani), which is a ridged tube pasta in a spiral shape. It is great shape for cream sauces because they really grip to the pasta well.

Note 2: I am a fan of panko bread crumbs in general, but here they just don’t work. They don’t have the heft that is necessary to settle into the sauce.

A Spanish drink to celebrate American Independence? Come on, loosen up! Being down on Spain is so 19th Century. Especially for wine lovers, sangria is the drink of summer, so why not celebrate the quintesential summer day, and while you’re at it, our American freedom of beverage choice, by making a sangia that looks like a glass of fireworks? Oh, okay, call it Stars and Stripes Fruit Punch if it makes you feel more patriotic.

This is a bit different than my last sangria recipe. First, staying with the American theme, I wanted the brandy stand-in (traditional red sangria is usually made with a touch of brandy) to be apple-based rather than orangey triple sec. And, I wanted to use white and red wine together in the same glass, but without making somehting that looks rosé. How is this possible you ask? It’s simple really: red wine ice cubes, some with a fruity twist!

When choosing a white wine, try to get something on the paler side to give the most contrast to the colorful fruit. Choose a lighter style red wine for the cubes–a big Zin will just be too heavy. Try to find a clear(ish) apple liquor like this one. If you can’t, then use another clear liquor of your choice. But, do not use apple flavored vodka or rum. These pack too much of an alcoholic punch and overpower the flavor of the wine. Stick to something with a higher sugar content. If you like your sangria on the dry side, use seltzer to top off the sangria, if you like it on the sweet side, then use a clear flavored soda (7-up or clear apple soda, if you can find it, would be best), or you can stir in some super fine sugar.

On the fruit: try to cut the apples so that there is some red skin on each piece. I just ate the middle part so that it wouldn’t go to waste. Oh, and I took a note from the Alton Brown school of shortcuts and used an egg slicer to cut my strawberries. Lazy? You betchya! But look how beautifully uniform the slices are!

Red, White, & Blue Sangria

about 2 cups of light-style red wine
1 bottle of pale white wine
1/2 to 1 cup of apple liquor (or schnapps)
2 cups of plain selter, 7-up, or clear apple soda
super fine sugar, to taste (optional)
2 bright red apples, cut into small cubes
2 cups blueberries
1 pint of strawberries, sliced
6 or so red cherries

At least 24 hours before drinking: Empty out an ice cube tray. Place cherries, stems kept on, in half of the compartments. Pour red wine into the tray (exact amount depends on size of the cubes). make sure cherries are submerged as possible in the wine. Freeze for at least 24 hours.

A few hours before drinking: Mix together the white wine and a half cup of liquor in a large pitcher. Taste and see if you want to add more liquor, up to a cup total. Stir in the seltzer or soda. Dump in all the fruit except the cherry cubes. Give it another stir, and let sit for a few hours.

Right before serving, taste again and if you want it sweeter some super fine sugar, a few teaspoons at a time (or if you happen to have some simple syrup on hand, please do use that).  Depending on the liquor you use, it may not need any sweetening.

To serve: Ladle the sangria into glasses. At the very last moment before handing it to your guest, pop a cherry cube and a plain wine cube or two into the top of the glass.

Now sit back and watch your guests ooh and ah at the fireworks you made!

Serves 4-6 Patriots.

This white sangria I made for a bar-b-que I attended last weekend was inspired by a recipe my husband brought back from a long ago trip to Spain. He stayed in a seaside town called Gijón where they made sangria using cheap red village wine, fruit, and orange soda. Yes, I am talkin’ Fanta. Elsewhere in Spain called tinto con naranja, it was served with fruit and called sangria in Gijón.

Red wine and Fanta sounds unsophisticated, or maybe even unpleasant, but incorporated into sangria it is a surprisingly tasty concoction (I can’t say the same for another popular drink in spain: calimocho, or red wine and coca-cola). We served it at a party once–everybody loved it and you can’t imagine their surprise when told the constituents of the beverage!

I don’t use Fanta in this white sangria recipe, but never fear, it is lowbrow-fabulous, or, shall we say, Rustic.

The trick to bringing sangria to a hot-weather event (it was in the 90’s Saturday). Is to cut up and freeze all the fruit the night before, and then mix the sangria right before leaving. The fruit acts to chill the sangria without watering it down. I served this in a 4 liter plastic pitcher with a spout at the bottom for easy pouring. I brought along a ladle to scoop fruit of the top.

“Rustic” White Sangria

about 8 cups of fruit.
(I used: 1 large orange, 1 bunch seedless red grapes, 1 bunch seedless white grapes, 1 peach, 1 nectarine, 1 pear, 1 apple.)
Plus: 2 limes
2.5 liters of cheap white wine
1 cup triple sec (or other orange liquor)
.5 liters seltzer or club soda

The night before: Cut all the fruit into small wedges. DO NOT PEEL THE FRUIT–even the citrus! Throw it all into a big ziploc bag. If using apples and/or pears, save those for last so that when you throw them in the bag the acid from the other fruits will prevent them from browning. Cut 1.5 limes into wedges and add to bag. Squeeze the juice out of the remaining half of lime over the fruit. Seal bag, then manipulate it to the mix the fruit around inside. Put the bag in the coldest part of the freezer.

The day of: dump the frozen fruit into the pitcher or other container you are using. Pour the other ingredients over it. Give it a taste and adjust as necessary. Now, go put on some sunblock and get out the door!

Notes:

• Bring extra wine and soda with you if you can. There will likely be a lot of fruit left in the container when you have gone through the liquid. I promise you your guests will appreciate a refill. Alternatively: enjoy a drunken fruit salad when all the liquid is gone!
• If you use a super dry wine, this might be good (and more true to its Español inspiration) with a clear flavored soda, like white grape soda.
• You could use some liquor other than orange. Peach schnapps might work, though the resultant flavor might induce a Bartles & Jaymes flashback. This may or may not be a good thing.
• Full disclosure: I used a 5 liter box of Almaden white wine for this recipe! A box! Not anything I would dream of serving straight up, to guests or even just myself. Sounds crazy, but look at it from the flip side: do you really want to violate a good bottle of wine with fruit and soda? ¡Claro que no!

Here the white sangria is served in the familiar red plastic SOLO cup. How rustic.

7/4/08 Postscript: See my spectacular new 4th of July, red, white, and blue sangria recipe here.

As I have mentioned, I just recently moved (rendering me too busy to post, apparently). For all the miseries that changing abodes brings with it, there is one inevitable positive: the housewarming party! I love entertaining, and so am already thinking about the menu for ours.

One of my favorite appetizers cannot be accused of being sophisticated, but it is always a big hit at parties, and has long been a staple at family gatherings. It is my grandmother’s recipe cheese ball, tweaked just a bit.

Grammy’s Cheeseball

2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese (full fat–seriously, low fat does not work)
7 oz. of sharp cheddar cheese*, very finely shredded
1 heaping TB minced onion
1 TB drained and finely chopped pimento
1 TB finely chopped green bell pepper
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup roasted and chopped walnuts or pecans

*Use orange cheddar, which gives a nicer color than white. My grandmother only used Cracker Barrel cheese–gold label–and only used about 5 oz. More adds a pleasant sharpness. In general, I am a fan of extra sharp cheddar, but here it overpowers.

Mix together all ingredients except nuts in a big bowl; Grammy always used her hands to do this, but I usually use a big wooden spoon (I imagine a pastry cutter would work well too). Dump the entire contents of the bowl onto a piece of wax paper and using your hands form a ball. While you can serve it immediately, at this point it is best to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let chill for a few hours or overnight.

Roll the cheeseball in the chopped nuts immediately before serving.

Not only are these festive little bowls adorable, but they also happen to be made of sustainable, organic bamboo and coated with a cashew nut-derived lacquer (like, totally seriously!), so you can feel super-good about serving party nuts in them. [$13.00]

By the way, here’s my favorite party nuts recipe, based on one given to me by my mother-in-law. I like to add a bit of heat to this recipe, but these nuts are the perfect balance of sweet and salty with or without the cayenne.

Diane’s Party Pecans

1 tsp cold water
1 egg white
1 pound large pecan halves
1 cup sugar
1 heaping tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Beat water and egg white until frothy. Mix well with pecans. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne (if using). Mix well with pecans. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature and serve.

They keep well in an airtight container–but don’t expect them to remain around long!