Nothing on my "To-Do" List But Eating, Drinking, and Relaxing!

Peter Gibbons, my hero!
taken from examiner.com

It’s not very often that I find myself able to simply sit down, relax, and watch a movie. All too frequently, my free time is spent at the gym, in the kitchen, or locked in my room furiously scribbling away thoughts and stories in any one of a dozen active notebooks. But on Friday night, after a jam-packed week at the office, I treated myself to a night of nothing.


Once the work day was finally done, I bolted out the door, scrambling to get to Salumeria Italiana before close. I made it in time and filled my basket with an assortment of goodies, including burrata and taleggio cheeses, farro pasta, and a jar of eucalyptus honey produced by Alce Nero, a group of organic farmers based in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. Somehow I resisted the salumi counter―no small feat, considering what a rare occurrence it is for me to leave this shop without at least a few strips of their 24-month prosciutto.

Treats in tow, I rounded the corner onto Hanover Street, on my way to The Wine Bottega, where the team was pouring French, Italian, and Portuguese wines from Oz Wine Co., a Massachusetts-based importer of organic/biodynamic/sustainable wines. I left with two wines: an Aglianico-based red from Campania featured in the Oz array, and a recommended Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that I passed on my way to the cash register but couldn’t pass up when I saw that it was only $12.00.

Next stop? Mercato del Mare, because a food-gathering excursion to the North End that doesn’t include oysters is like a martini without an olive. I left with 6 Onset oysters from Buzzards Bay, MA, as well as a half-pound of local cod and inspiration for an interesting mignonette (recipe below).

Finally home!  I changed into pajamas, uncorked the Montepulciano, threw “What About Bob?” in the DVD player, shucked my oysters, plated my cheeses, kicked up my feet, sipped my wine, and basked in the glory of doing nothing. It was everything I thought it could be!



Curry Mignonette for Oysters

1 t. malt vinegar
1 T. mild white vinegar
1-2 drops vanilla extract
Dash hot curry powder

Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl; use a few drops to season oysters on the half-shell.


 

Onset oyster, Buzzards Bay, MA

 

Onset oyster with Curry Mignonette



Burrata - Cow's Milk; Puglia, Italy

Taleggio - Cow's Milk; Lombardy, Italy - drizzled with Alce Nero Eucalyptus Honey

Oysters Camelot, Baked Salmon, and Truffle Fries

If the dinner I had last night sounds like something you'd see served up on a fine restaurant menu, good - that's exactly what I was going for.  However, fancy as it may sound, my meal took only 15 minutes to prepare, cost very little (although I admittedly had some of the ingredients in stock and didn't factor these into the price), and the results were delicious! 

The Island Creek oysters were $1 each.  Considering that a half-dozen oysters generally costs between $10-20 at a restaurant, that oyster shucking lesson I had last weekend paid for itself!  Oh wait - it was free.  Even better!  Any oyster lover should learn to shuck (shall I insert "go shuck yourself" joke here?).

So what is "Oysters Camelot," you may ask?  Here's the story behind the dish - while watching an episode of "Top Chef D.C." in which the contestants' challenge was to create a cold dish and serve it to the judges on the Presidential Yacht ("Think of the Kennedys," Judge Gail Simmons instructed the cheftestants), I decided that if I was a contestant, I'd serve oysters on the half shell.  But how would I make it interesting and relevant?  By serving them with an out-of-the-ordinary sauce based on our most famous political family, the Kennedys.  I used a little malt vinegar and Jameson whiskey to add a taste of Ireland and to honor Joe Kennedy's days as a bootlegger, seasoned  with finely minced shallot.

I combined the vinegar, whiskey, and shallot in a small bowl and spooned a few drops over each opened oyster, and voila!  Not only did I discover a delicious way to serve oysters, I had enough left over to use as a marinade for my salmon, which I simply baked at 425 for 10 minutes alongside my truffle fries.

Truffle fries - delicious, decadent, demystified.  A small bottle of black truffle oil and a jar of truffle salt is all you need to create these tasty treats at home.  Truffle oil usually costs between $5-15 per bottle, but since each drop contains massive blasts of flavor, you don't need much.  It will pay for itself over time, as it keeps well.  A jar of truffle salt will probably cost between $5-10, and the same principle applies.  The flavor-to-volume ratio is stacked in your favor.  The real way to make truffle fries is to slice a few russet potatoes lengthwise into thick strips, toss them with olive oil, and bake for 40 minutes in a 450-degree oven. As soon as you take them out of the oven, sprinkle them with a few drops of truffle oil and a few pinches of truffle salt, shake them up in a basket or bowl to distribute the seasonings, and serve piping hot. The time-saving way is to buy a premium brand of frozen French fries (Alexia Foods is my favorite brand - no trans fats, no artificial flavors, and no preservatives), bake according to instructions, and then season with the truffle oil and truffle salt as instructed above.

So there you have it - Dom Perignon flavors on a Franzia budget.

Croí follain agus gob fliuch!