The Best Fall Slaw!

There are perks to living near a city with several of James Beard Award-Winning Chefs.  Outside of the obviously great food at their restaurants, one of them writes a witty food column for our Sunday newspaper's food section.  Even though Sandy D'Amato no longer lives in Milwaukee and has sold his restaurant Sanford to his Chef de Cuisine (and recent James Beard Award winner as well), he still writes his weekly column. More than a few times, he shares a recipe that I simply have to be make right away. 

Such was the case for this amazing autumnal slaw. Celeriac, apples, celery, red onion and dates tossed with a cardamom dressing.  Doesn't that sound great? 

If you're not familiar with celeriac (also called celery root) and wouldn't know what it looked like if one was staring you in the face, it reminds me of a small ogre's head. Yup. Certainly not the beauty queen of the produce aisle, but, peeled of it's outer knobby and warty-looking brown exterior, it's a wonderful, mild vegetable. I've used it cooked and mashed in lieu of potatoes (delicious and low starch) and also in soups, but this was the first time I've used it raw. Not related to celery at all, celeriac is a relative of fennel, carrots, parsley and parsnips. 

My husband started 'tasting' the slaw before our fish was grilled that evening and before the end of dinner the entire bowl (more than you see here) was gone. It won high praise from my husband and we both gave it two thumbs up. It is the best fall slaw!

The Best Fall Slaw

Adapted from Chef Sanford d'Amato
Printable Recipe

1 pound celery root (celeriac)
½ red onion
2 crisp apples (such as Gala or Fuji)
2 ribs celery, cleaned and cut on the bias ¼ inch thick
6 to 8 pitted dates, cut into ¼-inch pieces
1-¼ teaspoons kosher salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, or mint, chopped

Lemon cardamom dressing:

Zest of ½ lemon
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons honey (my addition)

To prepare the lemon cardamom dressing, combine the lemon zest and juice in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Reduce to 1 tablespoon liquid. Cool to room temperature, then add the remaining dressing ingredients and blend well.

Peel the celery root to yield about 10 ounces. Cut into ¼-inch slices, then cut the slices into thin, julienne strips and cut those in half. Place in a large bowl.

Peel and core the onion, then slice very thin. Rinse under hot water, then in cold, and drain. Add to celery root in bowl.

Cut the apples in half, core, and cut into quarters.  Cut each quarter into ¼-inch-thick slices from stem to bottom. Add to bowl.

Add sliced celery, dates, salt, pepper and parsley or mint. Mix in reserved dressing. Toss well, cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Pea Gnocchi with Browned Butter Radishes

Every now and then you find a recipe suits the season perfectly! This is one of those recipes that celebrates spring and all you need to make it is a bag or two of frozen peas, fresh radishes, parsley, butter...and some time. 

Sandy d'Amato, a local, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurant-owner, writes a weekly food column in our Sunday newspaper. This recipe was one that he featured in his column just a couple of weeks ago.

Since we had the entire family over for a triple birthday celebration Saturday night, I had the perfect excuse to make it.  I did test it on my husband the week before and it was given 2 thumbs up (RIP Roger Ebert).  The recipe is time-consuming, but when I made it for my family, I tried some time-saving steps that worked great.  

The peas need to be blanched, puréed and then pushed through a strainer to remove the outer skin of the peas.  I did this a day ahead.  You also need to bake a couple of potatoes and pass those through a ricer.  I did that a day ahead also.  Then, you need to either make your own clarified butter or buy ghee if your food market carries it.  It was really quite easy to make the clarified butter and I followed instructions I found after doing an online search.  I did that 2 days in advance. 

The morning of the party, I made and boiled the dumplings and sliced the radishes and kept them refrigerated so all I had left to do was sauté the dumplings and radishes - which I did right before everyone arrived and simply lightly reheated them at dinner time. 

  

Pea Gnocchi with Brown Butter Radishes

Adapted from Chef Sandy d'Amato
~from Savoring Time in the Kitchen

Makes 4 servings (about 70 1-inch dumplings)

1 pound Idaho potatoes (two 8-ounce potatoes)
1 pound peas (fresh-shucked or frozen); one-fourth reserved for garnish
1 egg
2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
3/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces flour (about ¾ cup)
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces clarified butter
2 tablespoons whole salted butter
8 medium radishes, trimmed and sliced 1/8th inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup loose-pack fresh Italian parsley leaves, cleaned and dried

Bake potatoes 1 hour, until tender.  While still warm,  pass through a ricer or food mill into a bowl.  Cool and refrigerate, if necessary (Can be made a day ahead)

Blanch the ¾ pound peas in boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain and shock in ice water. Dry on a towel and purée in a food processor until fine. Pass through a medium strainer into a bowl to remove all skin (scaping off the bottom of the sieve occasionally to release the all of the strained pea purée.  (Can be made a day ahead).

When ready to make the gnocchi, add the cooled and riced potatoes to the strained peas in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk egg with salt, nutmeg and pepper. Add to potatoes and peas and work together. Add flour and mix to just incorporate.  Do not overwork the dough.

Divide the dough into 5 pieces. Dust lightly with flour and roll out each piece with your hands into a rope shape about ½ inch thick and 14 inches long. Cut into 1-inch lengths to yield about 70 dumplings total.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add about a tablespoon of kosher salt to the boiling water.  Quickly add half the dumplings, one by one, so they don't stick together. Turn heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let the dumplings poach 3 minutes. Remove and drain with a skimmer to a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with just enough oil to keep them from sticking together. Repeat with remaining half of dumplings and cool all of them (they may be covered and refrigerated until needed at this point).

When ready to serve, place 2 nonstick saute pans over medium-high heat. Divide clarified butter between pans. When butter is hot, divide dumplings between the pans and sauté 2 to 3 minutes until lightly brown.  Remove the dumplings to a large bowl. 

Divide the whole salted butter between the 2 pans. When the butter browns, divide the radishes and reserved peas between the 2 pans and stir for about a minute. Return the dumplings to the pans. Season lightly with salt and pepper (I love lots of pepper), toss and place on a serving platter.  Garnish with parsley leaves

Sauteed Potatoes with Green Onions and Parsley ~ Ode to a Tuber...Part Eight!

We are hosting our gourmet group this weekend. It was actually the only weekend all summer long that we could gather five couples on the same day and it will be a fun day to host a party - July 4. There will be sparklers, grilled steaks and a very summery menu befitting the day. 

One of the side dishes we will offer I found from the weekly column of a local chef, Sanford D'Amato, who is a James Beard award winner and the owner of one of the finest restaurants in Milwaukee - Sanford. My husband surprised me with a 25th wedding anniversary party at Sanford with all our closest friends in attendance. A fun and delicious evening! I also had the pleasure of taking French conversation classes with Sandy D'Amato and his wife, Angie, years ago when they were preparing to take a trip to France. Friendly and nice :) His column reflects his witty personality.

The recipe for sauteed potatoes that I found in D'Amato's column sounded like it would be the perfect compliment to the steaks we plan on serving. I did a little 'test run' tonight and they are wonderful! So simple and yet so flavorful.

The potatoes are par-boiled and then sauteed in a very hot pan in a single layer until crisy. Green onions and garlic are added during the last two minutes and the parsley added during the last minute.

Sautéed Potatoes with Green Onions and Parsley

Recipe Courtesy of Sanford D’Amato
Makes 4 to 6 side dishes
Printable Recipe

2 pounds red potatoes), quartered (unpeeled)
1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 bunch green onions (6 to 7), cut diagonally into ½ -inch slices
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup packed Italian parsley leaves (about 1 ounce), cleaned and leaves cut in half

In large pot, cover potatoes with water. Add the salt and bring to a boil, then cook at a low boil 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Drain and let cool about 8 minutes or until just cool enough to handle. Slightly crush each potato wedge with your hand to make them about ¾ to 1 inch thick. (I omitted this step as my potato were small and the quarters were only an inch thick)

Place sauté pan (or pans)over high heat. Pans should be large enough to hold potatoes in one layer without crowding. Place oil in pan or divide between two pans and, when oil is hot, add potatoes. Sauté without disturbing for 2 to 4 minutes until potatoes are nicely golden on bottom.

Season with salt and pepper and start turning potatoes over to brown all of them evenly so they are very crisp and golden - 10 to 12 minutes total. Lower heat if potatoes are browning too fast.

When potatoes are golden and crisp, add green onions and garlic, sauté about 1 ½ to 2 minutes.

Add parsley to potatoes and sauté 1 minute, stirring.

Enjoy!

*Did you know that the word 'spud' comes from the digging of soil (or a hole) prior to the planting of potatoes? The word is of unknown origin and was originally used as a term for a short knife or dagger, probably related to Dutch spyd (circa 1440). The word spud traces back to the 16th century. It subsequently transferred over to a variety of digging tools. Around 1845 it transferred to the tuber itself.

The origins of "spud" has erroneously been attributed to a 19th century activist group dedicated to keeping the potato out of Britain, calling itself The Society for the Prevention of an Unwholesome Diet.