In the Hands of a Chef (6 page)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley for garnish

DO AHEAD:
With the exception of combining the salad ingredients, everything in this dish can be prepared a day ahead. Steam the corn, prepare the soup, and gather the individual salad components. Cover everything tightly and refrigerate.

1.
Preheat a medium fire in a grill. A grill is medium when you can hold your hand near the cooking surface for no longer than a count of 4 before you have to pull it away. You can use a broiler instead, but I prefer the smokier flavor from the grill.

1.
To make the meatballs, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender about 3 minutes. Let cool.

2.
Slice the plum tomatoes lengthwise in half. Toss with salt and pepper and ¼ cup of the olive oil. Grill, cut side down, until charred, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and repeat on skin side. Allow to cool, then remove the skin and seeds.

3.
Mix the bread with the vinegar and the remaining ⅓ cup olive oil in a small bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.

4.
In a food processor, combine the grilled tomatoes, red and green peppers, cucumber, onion, celery, garlic, serrano pepper, parsley, and basil and pulse until pureed. Add the soaked bread and purée again. Transfer to a bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes.

5.
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Add the corn to the boiling water and blanch for 1 to 2 minutes. Drain and shock in the ice water. Drain again and blot dry with a paper towel.

6.
Mix the corn with half the lobster meat, the favas, the scallion, serrano pepper, and basil in a medium bowl. Toss with the wine vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. The flavors should be bright and pronounced.

7.
Ladle the soup into chilled bowls. Put a spoonful of the corn salad in the center of each bowl. Scatter the remaining lobster on top of the salads. Garnish each with a sprig of parsley. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve.

O
rzo means “barley” in Italian,
but it’s actually a small rice-shaped pasta, one of the many tiny pastina that are generally added to soups. I make this soup when I want to take care of myself but don’t have an enormous amount of energy. After you’ve cleaned and chopped the greens there is little to do except heat everything together and then curl up somewhere with a steaming bowl of comfort.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Kosher salt

½ pound orzo pasta

6 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup dry sherry

2 cups lightly packed flat-leaf spinach, trimmed of thick stems, washed, and coarsely chopped

4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 cups lightly packed arugula, rinsed thoroughly, drained, and coarsely chopped

1 cup coarsely chopped watercress leaves

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup grated Asiago

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Add the orzo and stir constantly until the water returns to a boil. Cook until the orzo is tender but still offers some resistance when you bite it, about 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring the chicken broth and sherry to a boil in a large saucepan. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the spinach, scallions, arugula, watercress, and parsley and cook until tender, only a minute or two. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

3. Add the orzo to the broth. Serve in warm bowls, sprinkled with the grated Asiago.

O
n first impression, sweet peas
and bitter radicchio may seem more like adversaries than partners, but what a pairing they make in soup. This is one of those dishes where the flavor seems to rock back and forth between two balanced camps—the sweet and the sharp—making a compulsively flavorful soup. A creamy impression of fresh sweet peas and nutty pistachios gradually yields to a bitter crunch of radicchio that wipes the slate clean, preparing your palate for the next spoonful.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Kosher salt

4 cups fresh or frozen peas

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks, white part only, trimmed of roots and tough outer leaves, sliced thinly crosswise, and swirled vigorously in a bowl of cold water to remove any grit

Freshly ground black pepper

6 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup raw pistachios

1 cup light cream

1 small head radicchio, washed, dried, and thinly sliced crosswise

1.
Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a second pot with ice water. Add the peas to the boiling water and cook until just tender, about 1 minute. Drain and plunge them into the ice bath to cool. Drain and set aside.

2.
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the leeks, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the peas and chicken stock and simmer for 2 minutes. Purée the mixture in a food processor or blender. Strain through a fine sieve and set aside.

3.
Grind the pistachios in two batches: Put
½
cup of the nuts in a blender or food processor and pulse until they form a powder. Watch closely—if you process them too long, they will become a paste. Transfer to a small saucepan and repeat with the second batch.

4.
Stir the cream into the pistachios and simmer over low heat for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

5.
Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the radicchio, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.

6.
Ladle the pea soup into warm bowls. Swirl some of the warm pistachio cream into each portion, top with the radicchio, and serve immediately.

T
his dish shows how even
old standbys can sometimes be reworked so they become vivid and fresh again. Tomato soup and old-fashioned eggplant Parmesan are too predictable. But an open-faced sandwich of eggplant slices with pesto and mozzarella—that would get me to sit up and pay attention. And what if we serve it in a rich tomato broth jazzed up with some garlic and onions? The soup tastes wonderful and the black stripe of eggplant against the brilliant red soup attracts the eye. Where did this dish come from? Not any one place, but bits and pieces of the puzzle are assembled from all over Italy.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

About ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped into ¼-inch dice

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

1 beautiful eggplant (about 10 ounces), sliced ½ inch thick into 8 slices

2 cups water

½ cup chopped fresh basil, plus 4 leaves for garnish

¼ cup Pesto (page 44)

Four ¼-inch-thick slices fresh mozzarella (about 2 ounces)

Four ½-inch-thick slices rustic bread, about the same size as the eggplant slices

1.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and sugar, lower the heat, and cook for 25 minutes.

2.
While the tomatoes are cooking, season 8 eggplant slices with salt and pepper. (If you have more than 8 slices, set the remainder aside for another use or discard.) Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant slices and sear on each side until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the heat and let cool.

3.
Add the water to the tomatoes and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Purée in a blender and strain through a fine sieve. Return the tomato soup to the pot, add the chopped basil, and simmer for 5 minutes.

4.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.

5.
Spread the eggplant slices with the pesto. Put a slice of mozzarella on 4 of the slices. Top with the remaining 4 eggplant slices, pesto side down, to make “sandwiches.”

6.
Brush the bread with about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and place on a small baking sheet.
Toast in the oven until golden brown. Top each slice with an eggplant sandwich and continue heating until the cheese begins to melt.

7.
While the sandwiches are heating, reheat the tomato broth.

8.
Place an eggplant sandwich in the bottom of each warm bowl. Pour the tomato broth around the sandwiches. Drizzle with olive oil, garnish with the basil leaves, and serve immediately.

A
lthough the Fresh Tomato Soup
recipe calls for only ¼ cup of pesto, it hardly seems worth the effort to make less than a cup. The remainder always disappears into sandwiches, crostini, or pasta within a few days. Toward the end of basil season, I make a double batch without the cheese and freeze it in plastic containers the size of baby food jars, topping each portion with a light covering of olive oil; it will keep for 3 months frozen. Allow it to thaw in the refrigerator, then stir in the cheese.

MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP

2 cups lightly packed basil leaves

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced and then mashed with a pinch of salt to a paste

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano Kosher salt

1.
Put the basil leaves in a food processor. With the motor running, add the oil in a thin steady stream and process until the basil is finely chopped, about 1 minute. Add the garlic and pine nuts and process for another 20 seconds, or until the pine nuts are finely chopped but not a paste.

2.
Transfer the pesto to a bowl. Stir in the cheeses. Taste and season with salt as necessary.

Q
uite a few Junes and
Julys had to pass before I finally figured out that the key to enjoying summer squash is to move it from main character to supporting role in a dish. The flavor of summer squash is too fragile to carry the load when the whole show rests on its shoulders. But in a light soup, with some complementary ingredients, summer squash shines. Finely diced, the squash adds color, texture, and a mild but distinctly summery flavor to chicken stock. Ginger and savory (or thyme) enhance its flavor rather than cover it up. Sweet onions, sherry, and almonds (a Spanish combination) contribute depth without overwhelming it. The broken angel hair pasta cooks quickly and adds substance before the freshness of the vegetables simmers away.

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 medium sweet onions (Vidalia or Walla Walla, for example), thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup dry sherry

6 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

2 ounces angel hair pasta, broken into 2-inch lengths

2 pounds mixed summer squashes (zucchini, yellow summer, and pattypan are all good choices), scrubbed and chopped into ¼-inch dice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh savory or thyme

¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan

1.
Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger, season with salt and pepper, and cook until golden, about 20 minutes.

2.
Add the sherry and reduce by half, only a minute or two. Add the chicken stock, pasta, and squash. Bring to a boil and cook until the pasta and squash are just cooked, about
3
minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

3.
Add the savory and ladle the soup into warm bowls. Sprinkle with the almonds and cheese and serve immediately.

T
his satisfying soup is another
instance of a European classic crashing into the New England seacoast and ending up better for the experience. The dish began life as an Italian bean soup loaded with fennel. But I already loved steaming fresh Wellfleet clams with fennel, and it was only a matter of time before the clams and beans were introduced. The beans lend the soup a luscious quality that recalls a cream chowder, but in this case it’s without either cream or pork fat.