Pickled Vegetables

After a full day of working in my garden, I needed to make this salad.  It had to be big enough to serve the Simonds’ kids for dinner and my kids for lunch the next day.  It was hot, and the idea of a cold salad with vegetables (just soft enough to bring out the extra flavor and color, but served cold) had me thinking all day.  

In the end, this salad was a perfect accompaniment to grilled chicken and Italian sausage.  It was even better the next day as Lyman and Mansell returned from the beach at 3:30 in the afternoon.  We put the bowl of 24-hour pickled vegetables in the middle of the table.  Lyman opened a Wolffer Rose and the table had perfect balance.

PICKLING PHASE:

2-cups cold water

2-cups white vinegar

4-Tbsp sea salt

1/4-cup sugar

3 shallots finely diced

Mix in a bowl and set aside.

VEGETABLE PHASE:

10 small carrots, scrubbed clean and split into four pieces top to bottom

3 cucumbers, peeled halfway and sliced into pieces

2 cups yellow wax beans, ends snapped off

1-cup sweet peas

10 radishes, thinly sliced

1/2-cup parsley cleaned and chopped

1/2-cup oregano, cleaned and chopped

1/4-cup mint, peeled and chopped

Start by boiling a pot of water and salt with three tablespoons of sea salt.  Add the carrots to the boiling water first.  Then fill a large bowl with water and ice.  After three minutes, transfer the carrots to the ice water.  Repeat with beans and then with the peas.

When the peas have cooled, strain the ice water from the bowl and then add the cucumbers and the radishes.  Follow with the pickling solution and the herbs.  Toss and allow to stand in the refrigerator for at least an hour, tossing regularly every ten minutes.

VINAIGRETTE:

1-cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4-cup white vinegar

1-teaspoon salt

2-Tbsp Dijon mustard

As you get ready to serve, strain the vegetables of the pickling mixture.  Then toss the pickled vegetables with the vinaigrette.  Serve as much as you need over a bed of mixed garden greens.  

Reserve the remaining picked vegetables for the next day.  They will go well with fish or grilled meats.

Old Stove Salad

In 2008, I was asked to manage a rejuvenation at The Old Stove Pub.  The Sagaponack, New York steakhouse had been shuttered for five years.  My partner, Brian Murphy, and I brought it back to its exact specifications for two summers.  That meant serving 30-oz, bone-in steaks from the ancient broilers in the tiny kitchen at the back of the original Sagaponack farmhouse on Montauk Highway.  It also meant serving an authentic Greek style salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumbers, onions and olives (no lettuce).

As the days went by in the first season, I wanted to offer specials with a twist on the salad detailed above without stepping too far from the menu.  So I turned to my backyard garden for arugula and “Matt’s Cherry Tomatoes.”  Then I added watermelon and feta cheese followed by the same red wine vinaigrette that we used for our Greek Salad.  We had a cooler next to the salad station for plates; it helps with a space with no air-conditioning.

OLD STOVE SALAD

2-cups arugula, cleaned, dried and chopped

12 arugula leaves for garnish (don’t chop)

12 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

2-cups watermelon chilled, sliced into cubes

For the dressing:

1-cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3-cup red wine vinegar

2-tbsp fresh oregano

2 garlic scapes, finely chopped (or 2 cloves garlic)

Whisk all together.  Hold in a bottle.

Combine chopped arugula, watermelon, feta cheese and onions and a few twists of black pepper from the grinder in a bowl and toss with dressing as needed (don’t use all the mixture).  

Place arugula leaves on the edge of four chilled plates and spoon the salad into the middle of the plate.

Serve immediately.

Paella

When Jessica informed me, “We will have 18 for dinner tomorrow night,” my mind automatically went to Paella.  The first phone call was placed to Mrs. Iacono for two pounds of her Spicy Chicken Sausage.  Then I called the Seafood Shoppe in Wainscot for four pounds of cod, two pounds of sea scallops, three cull lobsters and three-dozen littleneck clams.  Just prior to leaving the restaurant, I organized a box of dry goods, a quart of jasmine rice, a quart of mirepoix, a wine bottle-full of saffron infused wine and clam juice, one coffee cup filled with Sofrito, one 16-ounce can of “Muir Glen” whole peeled tomato and two quarts of chicken stock.  Then, I grabbed a pound of North Country Andouille sausage for extra flavor.

Putting paella together is different almost every time.  But it’s always important to use a heavy bottomed pan.   If the lobster is too expensive, you can use shrimp instead.  If, while fishing, striped bass is on the end of your line, make the paella with bass instead of cod.  Always start with the aromatic (mirepoix) and Andouille, then add a little olive oil and stir.  When the onions begin to sizzle, add the chicken sausage and follow that with the rice and Sofrito and stir again.

Once the rice begins to take on color while stirring (about two minutes later), season with salt and ground pepper.  Then, add the Sofrito-infused clam juice and allow it to simmer undisturbed for five minutes.  Next, add 1.5 quarts of warm chicken stock followed by the chopped tomatoes and bring the rice to a light boil.  Now add the fish (lobsters lightly steamed and removed from the shell, scallops lightly seared with vegetable oil) and place the pan in a 400-degree oven.  After 10 minutes, check to see if all the clams have opened.  Then, scatter slice snap peas (when in season) and fresh herbs on top.  Check the moisture of the rice, and add some warm chicken stock if needed and allow two to three more minutes in the oven.  

Serve with warm bowls, fresh bread and a nice garden salad.

PAELLA FOR 18:

2-lb chicken sausage (diced)

1-lb Andouille sausage (diced)

1-quart jasmine rice

1-quart mirepoix (diced carrots, celery and onion)

8-oz Sofrito (finely diced red and green pepper, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro and olive oil)

750-mL white wine mixed with clam sauce (50:50) and one tablespoon of saffron threads (allow to set for one hour before using)

16-oz can whole peeled tomatoes (juice removed, roughly chopped)

2-quarts chicken stock

1/4-cup olive oil

4-Tb vegetable oil

Sea salt and ground pepper to your liking.

3 cull (2+ pound) lobsters (steamed and removed from shell)

2-lb scallops (10/20 size) cleaned and lightly seared

4-lb fresh fish (skin and bones removed, cut into 2-inch pieces)

3-dozen little neck clams (rinsed and lightly scrubbed in cold water)

2-cups snap peas (chopping into pieces) of fresh shucking peas

1-cup cleaned and chopped fresh oregano, parsley and mint mixed