Annalena experiences many things when she goes to a restaurant. Some of them are good, some not so good, but mostly, good. There are the restaurants that, for a variety of circumstances, she can never go back to again (Spartina in San Francisco, for example), where she had one of the most memorable desserts in her life (a pear and apple granita). Then, there are restaurants where a dish is so good, that Annalena orders it, over and over again, even though there are many other good things on the menu. That experience is the focus of one of today's TWO recipes. The other recipe comes from the experience of having had a wonderful dish at a restaurant which Annalena has not gotten back to, and even if she did, would probably not be able to have that dish again. It is dessert, and let's go to that one, first.
Many years ago, Annalena's dear friends Chuck and Kevin took her and Guy to "Prune," on the East Side of Manhattan. The experience of eating at Prune is unique. It is very high level cuisine, frequently using very humble ingredients. The restaurant is tiny. In fact, tiny overstates how small it is. Minuscule would be better. How they get anything done there is a miracle. And the restaurant is "manned," more or less, by extremely bright, funny, ladies who take care of you every inch of the way. The head chef and owner, Gabrielle Hamilton, has one of the drollest senses of humor on the face of this earth. Well, the night we were there, they were having a problem: they were running out of everything. And they were improvising. The "improv" produced a "dessert special," which has remained in my mind for well over six years. Yesterday, I finally got around to making it.
"Black fruit salad" really isn't black. But it is dark. And it is a dish of late summer or very hot summer. There's a limited time when all of the fruit components are available, and the ladies made the most of it. The ingredients: blueberries, blackberries, black figs, and sugar cubes, and that is all.
You can make this dessert. Free form it. Here we go.
As noted, you need the three above fruits. Blueberries are far less expensive than the other two, so try to prepare a concoction of 2 parts blueberries, to one part blackberries, to one part black figs, cut into halves or quarters, depending on their size. (If you feel flush enough to increase the amounts of blackberries and/or figs, by all means. I lucked into a street vendor selling figs at 2.50 a basket, so I did just that). Mix the fruit together. Now, take sugar cubes. As Annalena learned, sugar cubes come in different sizes. If you have the big ones, tap them gently and try to break them a bit. If you are having difficulty, i.e, they powder on application of pressure, just stop. If you have the smaller ones, leave em alone. Add the sugar cubes to the fruit. How many sugar cubes? Oh, I was afraid you were going to ask that question: if you like fruit salad very sweet, add a lot. If you don't, add less. Then, turn everything with your hands (so you don't tear up the fruit too much), and then leave it alone, unrefrigerated, for about 2 hours.
Some of the sugar on the cubes will dissolve and mix with the fruit juices and make a syrup. The rest will stay whole, and give a really wonderful crunch, and contrast, both color wise, and taste wise, to fruit that is sweet, but not REALLY sweet. If you would like to gild the lilly, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Did that seem difficult? The hardest thing you have to do is shop. Yes, you can substitute fruit, in and out, but the stark color of the black fruit is something you really must experience. There is nothing quite like it.
Now, let us turn to something more involved: the tonnato recipe. For this, we go to one of Annalena's favorite spots, Barbuto. For weeks, they have had an item on the appetizer menu: a salad of green beans with tonnato sauce. I eat it just about every time we go in.
Tonnato sauce has , apparently, become one of the "it" ingredients of the summer. It is used, classically, with stewed veal, and served cold, in "vitello tonnato." Annalena has discussed and dismissed the issues surrounding veal here before, and will not do so again. The realities of the restaurant trade are such, however, that restaurants serve this sauce on turkey, on pork, and now... on vegetables. So, Annalena got to work, to try to replicate the recipe.
Except... she didn't check and did not have enough green beans. Looking around the fridge, the broccoli seemed more than adequate as a substitute, as indeed it was. So, here we go.
You will need about a pound of vegetables of some kind. Green and yellow beans, or some beans and some broccoli. You want firm vegetables. Squash is not going to work here. But you also want vegetables that aren't as firm as, say carrots, or leafy like chard. Prep them as you need, i.e, tip and tail the beans, trim the broccoli, and put them in a pot of rapidly boiling, salted water, until they are just firm to a knife (we're cooking Italian style here, no undercooked veggies, per favore). Drain them, and put them aside. While this is happening, put two tablespoons of salt cured capers under water, and drain them and replace the water, say, every minute.
Next, let's make mayonnaise. Italian style. Get out your food processor, and dump the yolks of two large eggs into it, together with the juice of half a lemon. Turn on the processor and let the thing go for a good three minutes, while you pour out a cup and a half of olive oil - a good one. Add a half teaspoon of salt to this egg mixture and then, by HALF TEASPOONS, start adding the oil, until you've added about a third of it. Turn off the processor and check. You should have very thick, light yellow stuff in there. Add a bit more salt, the juice of the other half a lemon, and turn the food processor back on. NOW you can start VERY slowly adding the oil through the feed tube of the processor. If you are going too fast, you will know: you'll begin to hear a slapping, wet sound. Slow down, and let the process take its course, then add the oil in a steady stream. Add the capers Taste it and correct for salt. Put this aside too.
Now, get a pound or so of good quality tuna steaks. Oil up a grill and when it's hot, sear them for about a minute on a side (the only thing Mario Batali and I agree on). When they're done, let them cool, and then roughly tear them into chunks. Combine these, the vegetables, and the mayonnaise together, and stir . Again, taste. Correct acidity and salt if you need to. If you can, let this refrigerate for an hour or so, to let the flavors blend, and then let it come to room temperature.
Yes, this one is more involved, but you're getting a fairly complete meal with the fish and veggies, albeit a rich one. This will serve 4-5 people if you put out some pasta too, or 3 very hungry ones.
Ok, folks, this is number 499. Annalena has an idea of what the next one is gonna be, and there won't be any recipes. Ya ready?
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