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The story of tonight's dinner begins in Palo Alto in the late 1990s. No lie.
Once upon a time there was an awesome little business out of San Jose called The Elegant Table which made the absolute best floral/spice jellies I've ever tasted. They were beautiful, too-- clear and gem-like. The jelly-maker also had a stock of thoroughly awesome recipes you can still read on her website. Back in the day I wowed guests with the rose petal cheesecake and lavender-glazed meatballs. I encountered The Elegant Table at an artsy-crafty fair at Stanford and stocked up. Later I think I mail-ordered some and shipped it to Michigan, which was quite the indulgence given I was unemployed at the time.
Anyway, since we can't have nice things, The Elegant Table is long gone and I was down to a pathetic half-jar of Mulled Wine Jelly, which I needed to send out in style.
Also, after yesterday's experiment with daylily shoots, I really wanted to try something I'd been sitting on for a decade-- French-style green peas braised with lettuce. Yes, warm lettuce. Bear with me. This was something I'd also read about back in my college days thanks to a bizarro cookbook my grandmother had lying around: Caramel Knowledge by Al Sicherman. I'd never heard of the guy but he's kind of the Roger Ebert of food columnists-- very Midwestern and with a lot of heart. But not famous like Ebert. Also not dead like Ebert, though one of his sons, who is referenced occasionally in the cookbook, met a terrible LSD-induced end back in '89. The kid was dead long before I ever picked up the cookbook but the incident does cast a bit of a shadow in an otherwise lovely and funny book... which, to get back on-topic, introduced me to the concept of peas cooked with lettuce.
[I think Sicherman had as much of an influence on my informal writing style as any fiction writer, to be honest. Him and Will Cuppy the historical humorist.]
There are a LOT of variations on the peas-with-lettuce meal. Some use spring onions, or shallots, or scallions, or garlic. Bibb lettuce or some other kind of lettuce. White wine or chicken broth or just butter. I eyeballed this recipe for instructions and proportions but otherwise winged it.
( Actual recipes this time )
I washed this all down with cheapo white table wine from St. Julian winery here in Michigan. It has a screw cap. That sort of wine.
Once upon a time there was an awesome little business out of San Jose called The Elegant Table which made the absolute best floral/spice jellies I've ever tasted. They were beautiful, too-- clear and gem-like. The jelly-maker also had a stock of thoroughly awesome recipes you can still read on her website. Back in the day I wowed guests with the rose petal cheesecake and lavender-glazed meatballs. I encountered The Elegant Table at an artsy-crafty fair at Stanford and stocked up. Later I think I mail-ordered some and shipped it to Michigan, which was quite the indulgence given I was unemployed at the time.
Anyway, since we can't have nice things, The Elegant Table is long gone and I was down to a pathetic half-jar of Mulled Wine Jelly, which I needed to send out in style.
Also, after yesterday's experiment with daylily shoots, I really wanted to try something I'd been sitting on for a decade-- French-style green peas braised with lettuce. Yes, warm lettuce. Bear with me. This was something I'd also read about back in my college days thanks to a bizarro cookbook my grandmother had lying around: Caramel Knowledge by Al Sicherman. I'd never heard of the guy but he's kind of the Roger Ebert of food columnists-- very Midwestern and with a lot of heart. But not famous like Ebert. Also not dead like Ebert, though one of his sons, who is referenced occasionally in the cookbook, met a terrible LSD-induced end back in '89. The kid was dead long before I ever picked up the cookbook but the incident does cast a bit of a shadow in an otherwise lovely and funny book... which, to get back on-topic, introduced me to the concept of peas cooked with lettuce.
[I think Sicherman had as much of an influence on my informal writing style as any fiction writer, to be honest. Him and Will Cuppy the historical humorist.]
There are a LOT of variations on the peas-with-lettuce meal. Some use spring onions, or shallots, or scallions, or garlic. Bibb lettuce or some other kind of lettuce. White wine or chicken broth or just butter. I eyeballed this recipe for instructions and proportions but otherwise winged it.
( Actual recipes this time )
I washed this all down with cheapo white table wine from St. Julian winery here in Michigan. It has a screw cap. That sort of wine.
