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mark_asphodelThe 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.
Peas with Lettuce:
2 T butter
Three shallots
Three cipollini onions or other small mild onion
10 oz frozen peas (fresh ones not on the market yet, I guess)
1 head red leaf lettuce, shredded (ideally you'd use little new lettuces-- couldn't find those either)
Salt and pepper to taste
White wine
A few sprigs of mint (optional)
Peel the onions and shallots and slice them up thin. Slice the shallots top to bottom and the cipollini however you please. Melt butter in a nice heavy skillet and cook the allium-family-things a few minutes until soft but not brown. Add salt, pepper, and the frozen peas and cook 3-4 more minutes. Once the peas were getting warm I added a splash of white wine and a little more butter to the skillet. The I threw in the mint and lettuce and cooked a couple more minutes until the lettuce was wilted.
Serves four as a side dish but you can split it between two people if that's all you're having for dinner. Think of it as a warm salad. This is normally a green, green monochromatic dish, but the use of shallots, red-tinged lettuce, and purplish new sprigs of mint from my garden gave it a lovely subtle green-and-violet effect. Anyway, this is seriously good stuff and now I want fresh peas and baby lettuce to make it the right way.
I served the warm salad alongside...
Quick 'n' Dirty Baked Brie
One chunk Brie cheese with rind (I used a slab of lovely Remy Picot double-cream that I fell for on sight)
One roll refrigerated crescent roll dough
Half a jar Elegant Table mulled wine jelly, but since you can't have that, use whatever jelly suits you. Red or reddish-purple looks best.
Some nuts if you like.
Nice crackers. Carr's table water are fine by me.
Take the whole damn thing of crescent roll dough and lay it out in a square. Moosh it a bit together so the crust doesn't leak. Plop the Brie in the middle. Spread the jelly, with or without nuts, atop the Brie. Then fold the dough around the Brie. I used the dough-strip perforations to make a kind of basket cradling the cheese with a little jelly showing through on top.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about twenty-five minutes. Take it out and let it cool at least five minutes before serving. Serve with crackers.
I'd say serve this to guests, but you're using crescent roll dough from a can as a casing for expensive cheese. Hide your shame.
[It tastes good though]
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.
Peas with Lettuce:
2 T butter
Three shallots
Three cipollini onions or other small mild onion
10 oz frozen peas (fresh ones not on the market yet, I guess)
1 head red leaf lettuce, shredded (ideally you'd use little new lettuces-- couldn't find those either)
Salt and pepper to taste
White wine
A few sprigs of mint (optional)
Peel the onions and shallots and slice them up thin. Slice the shallots top to bottom and the cipollini however you please. Melt butter in a nice heavy skillet and cook the allium-family-things a few minutes until soft but not brown. Add salt, pepper, and the frozen peas and cook 3-4 more minutes. Once the peas were getting warm I added a splash of white wine and a little more butter to the skillet. The I threw in the mint and lettuce and cooked a couple more minutes until the lettuce was wilted.
Serves four as a side dish but you can split it between two people if that's all you're having for dinner. Think of it as a warm salad. This is normally a green, green monochromatic dish, but the use of shallots, red-tinged lettuce, and purplish new sprigs of mint from my garden gave it a lovely subtle green-and-violet effect. Anyway, this is seriously good stuff and now I want fresh peas and baby lettuce to make it the right way.
I served the warm salad alongside...
Quick 'n' Dirty Baked Brie
One chunk Brie cheese with rind (I used a slab of lovely Remy Picot double-cream that I fell for on sight)
One roll refrigerated crescent roll dough
Half a jar Elegant Table mulled wine jelly, but since you can't have that, use whatever jelly suits you. Red or reddish-purple looks best.
Some nuts if you like.
Nice crackers. Carr's table water are fine by me.
Take the whole damn thing of crescent roll dough and lay it out in a square. Moosh it a bit together so the crust doesn't leak. Plop the Brie in the middle. Spread the jelly, with or without nuts, atop the Brie. Then fold the dough around the Brie. I used the dough-strip perforations to make a kind of basket cradling the cheese with a little jelly showing through on top.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about twenty-five minutes. Take it out and let it cool at least five minutes before serving. Serve with crackers.
I'd say serve this to guests, but you're using crescent roll dough from a can as a casing for expensive cheese. Hide your shame.
[It tastes good though]
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.
