Rooftop Gourmet

After scouring the Internet for possible honeymoon destinations, an image of the Greek Islands was stuck in my head all day. A gorgeous view from a balcony, surrounded by ivory walls overlooking crystal clear waters inspired me to make some Mediterranean fare. I picked up some lamb loin chops and baby lamb lollipops from the store and brought them home to spice them up.

 The lamb lollipops come from the rack and the loin chops look like mini T-bone steaks. Grilled lamb chops really don’t need a ton of heavy seasoning because there is so much flavor in the fat and connective tissues around the bones. When that fat hits the grill and gets charred, the result is pure heaven.

 I toasted up some whole coriander seeds, which is the seed of a plant very similar to cilantro that has roots that trace back to Greece and Asia. Toasting the spices releases all of the natural oils and brings out the essential flavors and aromas. I sprinkled the chops with the coriander seeds, a few fennel seeds, and some dried chile flakes before marinating them in lots of extra virgin olive oil.

I let the chops sit, covered in the spices and oil for at least two hours to really take in all of the flavor. The coriander provides a smoky/nutty flavor, the fennel brings some anise flavor, and the chile flakes bring a touch of heat… all flavors that work nicely with lamb.

 My herb garden is overgrown and creeping up the side of the house, so it was a great time to snip off some fresh oregano and mint. With the flavors of a well dressed, Greek salad in mind, I composed a salad around the huge bushels of mint.

Lamb chops have outgrown their mint jelly from a jar companion, but still taste delicious when paired with the fresh herb. I minced up a few cloves of garlic, and shallots and combined them in a mixing bowl with the juice of three lemons and some extra virgin olive oil. I whisked it into a classic vinaigrette before I tossed in some sliced Fresno chilies (red jalapenos), pitted Kalimatta Olives, garbanzo beans, and chopped oregano.

When I think of Greek flavors, I imagine a combination of fresh, acidic, briny, and of course salty. I brought the salty element into the salad in the form of Greece’s famous cheese. Feta is a brined and cured sheeps milk cheese that is typically seen crumbled in salads.

 The feta is produced in blocks and brined and cured in a salted water. If you can, buy the fresh feta when it’s still in the water as opposed to buying it in a package. Once it’s removed from the brine it dries out quickly. At the last moment before the salad was ready to be plated, I sliced the Feta and folded it into the vinaigrette along with handfuls of fresh mint leaves.

 I piled the oily chops onto the grill and the flames began to rise. I let lamb gets a nice char on the outside before I move them out of the flame and onto a tamer side of the grill.

The toasted seeds on the exterior of the chops added some texture and wonderful licorice and woodsy aromas during the cooking process. I plated the chops “family-style” on a large platter and poured my mint and Feta salad all over them.

 A little splash of lemon zest was the finishing touch that helped wake up all the amazing Mediterranean flavors. As the chops were resting, I put a quick chill on a bottle of 2007 Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir from South Africa. I like my Pinot Noir to be served slightly below room temperature, and a good ten minutes in the fridge does the trick, especially before drinking it on the hot roofdeck.

This wine comes from Walker Bay, South Africa, which is one of the world’s most up and coming wine regions. Hamilton Russell’s Pinot is exceptionally well made and is a great food wine. Unlike fruity Oregon Pinots, this wine is big and bold, with tons of black cherry, cedar, tea and notes of Asian spices. The acidity was off the charts, which was a great compliment to my succulent lamb and wild salad. Despite the wine’s high alcohol content (14%) it was barely detectable, showing that it could put up with a few years of cellaring. The finish was full of energy, with all sorts of flavors and perfumes lingering forever.

The chops were cooked to temperature, a warm pink center, and the subtle gamey flavors were balanced with the salty Feta and the minty aftertaste. Even the slight kick from the chilies were tamed nicely by the meaty garbanzos. With a platter straight from the Greek Islands, and a beautiful Pinot Noir from South Africa, this was quite the worldly feast. If only, Greece had made it to the finals of the World Cup, hosted in Africa’s tip, this would have been the perfect fusion meal.  

Construction… check! Electricity… check! Warm weather… check! The roofdeck is finally complete and mother nature was cooperating (minus the brief thunderstorms). This past weekend we planned to have our first dinner on our brand new moon-lit dining room. The humidity was unbearable so I decided to make something light and healthy.

The traditional salad Nicoise was originated in the city of Nice, France but became extremely popular in America when Julia Child introduced it to us in her cookbook “The French Chef”. The original components to this salad are debatable but for the most part it contains canned tuna, potatoes, haricot vert, olives, tomatoes, red onion, and hard boiled eggs.

I left the supermarket with the impression that I still had a few eggs left in the fridge but they magically disappeared, so I left the eggs out of my salad. I also wanted to put my own twist on this classic salad, so instead of using the canned tuna or sardines, I bought some sushi grade, Ahi tuna. 

Ahi tuna is a species of tuna that is typically seared, or eaten raw, sashimi style. I’m sure you’ve seen it before because every restaurant in America has some sort of seared tuna, or tuna tartar appetizer on their menu these days.

I loved this cold salad idea because I was a little skeptical about bringing hot food up the spiral staircase for the first time. Plus, we wanted to sit on the deck and relax without having to worry if our food was getting too cold. I started out by boiling some baby Yukon Golds until they were fork tender.

Then I quickly blanched my haricot vert and after less than a minute transferred them to an ice bath to stop the cooking. I like when my veggies still have a solid snap to them. After that one pot of boiling water was dumped, all of my indoor cooking was finished.

I continued slicing my olives, tomatoes and onions, and seasoned my Ahi tuna steaks with tons of cracked peppercorns. In order to get a nice crust on the tuna, along with keeping the center nice and rare, you need to have an extremely hot grill. I let mine preheat for about 20 minutes until it was close to 700 degrees before I flopped my fish on.

Only a few minutes on each side and I was done. I sliced the tuna and tossed it into a bowl with all of my other components. The center was just slightly warm and bright pink.

Tuna is a great piece of fish for grilling because its flesh is firm and dense. Unlike other delicate fish that would flake off and fall through the grates, tuna can be treated like a steak. To make my vinaigrette, I combined Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a small Tupperware container and shook the living hell out of it. This technique works for this whisk-free vinaigrette because the Dijon makes it thick and creamy.

I tossed my motley crew of flavorful and bold ingredients together and headed up to the roof with a bottle of wine made from more components than were in my salad. Sokol Blosser’s Evolution is a unique white wine made from the most random blend of grapes, I have ever seen.

 It boasts nine different varietals ranging from Chardonnay and Pinot Gris to Muller-Thurgau and Slyvaner all grown in Oregon. This is a really fun wine that’s perfect for a warm, muggy summer night and great with all types of cuisine. It’s off dry and has fresh aromas of freshly cut flowers, and key lime pie. Every sip seems to be different and “evolve” on your palate.

Sometimes you taste semi sweet flavors of sugary nectarines and others are bone dry with hints of pineapple and allspice. For such a weird blend, these random grapes produce a seriously complex wine that leaves you thinking after every sip. It’s bright acidity and off-dry flavors make it a great match for light salads, seafood, and especially spicy Spanish or Asian food.

As the sun set, we sat on our new deck and casually picked our way through a fresh and vibrant salad and sipped our white wine while our glasses and bottle started sweating profusely with condensation. The lanterns lit up the night as if it was twelve noon and the view of the Thomas Park monument towered over us. It was a truly perfect night and a great way to break in the new deck. We all know that wine evolves, but condos evolve, and classic French dishes evolve as well. I am happy to say that the gourmet is now officially back on the Rooftop.

Memorial Day is all about honoring American soldiers who died in combat, and is traditionally spent watching parades and enjoying backyard cookouts. Grilling on your deck or in your backyard is about as American as it gets, so that’s exactly what I did Sunday evening… with a classic French twist. I can’t think of anything that I haven’t thrown on my grill before, so I’m always searching for ways to add some flair to my char.

I had a long relaxing day on the new roofdeck and plenty of time to prep, so I decided to make a classic French Bordelaise sauce to drizzle over my grilled hangar steak. Sauce Bordelaise is named after the famous French wine region of Bordeaux, which produces arguably the world’s finest red wines (don’t tell the Italians).

So obviously this is a red wine based sauce combined with a classic demi-glace, which is like a “super stock” because it’s reduced and skimmed a hundred times over. Lets face it… I don’t have the patience to roast my own bones on Memorial Day weekend and make a traditional demi-glace from scratch so cartons of beef stock were just fine.

 I got the sauce going first by sauteing carrots, celery, onions, shallots, and some portabello mushrooms. It’s important to get these in the pot and just walk away for a bit because the more color and caramelization on your aromatics, means more flavor in your final product.

When the veggies were ready, I dumped in an entire bottle of Bordeaux (any dry red wine will do). The one thing that drives me nuts is when people come into the store and ask for the cheapest bottle of wine to cook with. I’m not saying to cook with expensive wine by any means, but I feel that a $10 bottle is sufficient.

The whole reason that you’re cooking with wine in the first place is because of flavor. You wouldn’t season your food with dirt instead of salt would you? When the alcohol evaporates and the wine reduces, what you’re left with is the flavor of that wine. A good rule is to never cook with a wine that you wouldn’t want to drink or serve yourself. I slowly let the wine reduce over the aromatics until it was almost completely gone. All of the flavors of the wine get intensified into roughly 1/4 of a cup, before I added some beef broth.

When that was simmering away, in between skimming the scum and fat off the top of the pot and discarding it, I popped back up to the roofdeck to enjoy the amazing view and ponder where my urban garden is going to be located (pictures will come soon once the furniture arrives).

 I picked a smorgasbord of herbs from my herb garden and chopped them finely to sprinkle over my trusty hangar steak. I love the smell of grilled red meat when it’s coated with fresh herbs because the oils in the leaves and stems come alive and fill the air with all sorts of enticing aromas. I dowsed the hangar with chopped rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, and parsley before throwing it onto the cast iron grates.

Hangar steak cooks quickly so I took it off and let it rest for five minutes before I sliced it on the bias. Meanwhile, the sauce had reduced quite a bit so I took it off the heat and jammed it through a chinois or very fine strainer. After discarding all the bits and pieces, I was left with a silky smooth, beefy, red wine reduction that still needed some more time to reduce.

In a small sauce pot, I started whisking a roux (equal parts butter and flour) until it magically before my eyes went from white, to light blonde, to dark brown in color. When it was dark and rich, I added my reduction sauce and whisked away until the sauce came together and thickened to my liking.

 I turned down the heat and threw in a few sprigs of thyme to steep into the sauce. I served a light salad with the steak because it was painfully warm outside and the sauce is incredibly rich. I tossed some baby arugula with shaved radish, shaved shallots, and thinly sliced aged Gouda. It was an interesting combination but it tasted delicious. The aged Gouda is a great substitute for Parmesan.

Once I tasted, seasoned, tasted, and re-seasoned the sauce a million times until it was perfect, I sliced the steak. The rich, mahogany hued Bordelaise glistened as it crept into every crevice of sliced beef. I opened a bottle of the 2006 Catena Alta Malbec from Argentina because who knows grilled meats better than Argentinians. Even though Malbec from Argentina is the hottest wine craze at the moment, lets not forget that the French have been growing Malbec long before it was cool to do so in South America. The French have been using Malbec as a blending grape in Bordeaux for years because it gives wine tons of added fruit and a deep, purple color.

This wine in particular had an amazing color to it. It was like black ink and eggplant but had a lighter weight on the palate than I expected. It was creamy and lush, with flavors of blackberry, sage, and dark chocolate. It was medium bodied and had great acidity. Every hour that I had the wine open it improved more and more. More complex, intriguing flavors came alive as the night went on, long after the entire steak was devoured and our plates licked clean. Even though an American invented the dishwasher in 1893, we didn’t need to use it because the sauce was too damn good.

On Sunday we drove to Dedham to check out the new Whole Foods at Legacy Place because we heard it was out of this world. I’m surprised Siobhan let me go knowing how I am in a regular Whole Foods, let alone an oversized culinary kingdom. I could tell she was getting a bit nervous on the drive over because she started firing out dinner ideas, hoping that one would click and we wouldn’t spend four hours wandering down every aisle.

I could tell she was getting even more nervous, almost desperate, when she said she was craving a big chicken Ceasar salad. This was coming from the only person I know who doesn’t like chicken.

At first, I tried to remember the last time I actually had a Ceasar Salad; probably at least ten years ago when a Ceasar salad was like a prerequisit for every entree I ordered. I thought about all of the wild things I’d find in this massive culinary Disneyland, and Ceasar salad sounded a little too “blah” for me. 

After wandering around aimlessly for about an hour, completely overwhelmed, and full from all of the sample stations, I admitted defeat. I was completley stumped as to what to make for dinner. I started grabbing Ceasar salad components and sadly tossing them into my basket. It wasn’t until I made it to the cheese department before a light bulb went off in my head. I could make the boring, old Ceasar salad fun again but deconstructing all of the salad’s and the salad dressings’ components, and putting a slight twist on the traditional recipe.

All of a sudden, I sprung to life and started floating through the supermarket tossing all sorts of items into my basket. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have fresh sardines to grill, but the white anchovies were a decent substitute.

We left the Whole Foods monstrosity and headed home to bring this dish together. The first thing I did when we got home was get the chicken breasts marinating in tons of fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

 This has always been my go-to grilled chicken marinate because it brings tons of flavor and lemons and Dijon are typically always in my fridge. I cheated and brought out the blender to make the dressing. I dunno if I was just too exhausted from Legacy Place or what, but the whisk was giving me an evil look all night. I tossed all the ingredients in at once (one raw egg, a few anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil, a clove of garlic, dash of Worchestire, salt and pepper) and let the motor do the work. In no time, the Ceasar dressing was thick, flavorful, and set aside while I fooled around with the other ingredients.

I knew that I was going to be out on the grill with the chicken breasts anyway, so I figured that I’d grill the bread and the lettuce as well. Yes, I said grill the lettuce. This isn’t as strange as it sounds trust me.

Italians have been grilling leafy greens for hundreds of years. Grilled radicchio or endive with a simple viniagrette is excellent for antipasti. I broke down the major components that make a classic Ceasar a Ceasar… an egg, garlic, anchovies, Parmesan cheese, and croutons. At least that’s what I think of when I picture a Ceasar salad. I hard boiled a few eggs, I reserved a few halved cloves of garlic to rub or grate into my warm, grilled croutons, and I set aside a few more white anchovies to garnish the dish with. I spread the cheese out on a baking Silpat sheet in a flat circle and baked them slowly until they were crispy, but still pliable.

When they were still warm out of the oven I molded them around these cool glasses that were in the cabinet so that they would set in a wavy bowl shape. I headed out to the grill and as soon as it was as hot as can be, I threw on the chicken, bread and finally at the last minute, the whole heads of Romaine. The lettuce only takes a minute and the grill has to be extremely hot. Back inside, I started assembling like an artist would on a blank canvas.

I put all of the deconstructed components onto a bamboo serving platter, topped with the sliced chicken breasts and a drizzle of the homemade Ceasar dressing. This was a really fun dish to eat. Everything tasted very good separately, but when you started to combine different components, all the classic flavors of Ceasar salad started to come together. I contrasted this playful dish with a really serious white wine. The 2008 Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay from Stellenbosch, South Africa is one of my new favorite whites. This wine reminded me of a fine White Burgundy, but coming from one of the rising star, wine making regions of South Africa.

It was beautifully balanced with oak, minerals, acid and fruit. Tons of orange and lemon peel flavors, as well as nectarines and apricots. The oak isn’t too overbearing, but makes its appearance in the finish with a slight toasted almond flavor. It is elegantly creamy, but still has enough acidity to make it a great food wine. Certainly all of the components in this wine come together and merge beautifully, I wouldn’t dare try to take them apart.

 I’ve said it a million times, there’s nothing I enjoy more on a warm summer night than grilled steak and corn on the cob. Something about the charred meat and the buttery, sweet corn kernels popping in my teeth as I typewriter through cob after cob. It reinforces that spring and summer are my favorite times of the year, spending time outdoors with friends and family around great food.

This past Sunday was a perfect night to fire up the grill, especially because I couldn’t run the dishwasher due to the water ban in Boston. Washing my knife, and cutting board with boiled water was frustrating enough, so I tried to cook the majority of the meal outdoors. I wanted to combine my favorite combination of steak and corn on the cob into something that I could hold in my hands. Forget the steak knife and fork, I wanted to create a sandwich that was packed with all of the flavors I was craving.

Skirt steak is perfect for sandwiches because it’s thin, and you have to slice it against the grain to maximize its tenderness; perfect for layering in between bread.

I seasoned the skirt with salt, chile powder, and enough freshly cracked black pepper to send you into a sneezing fit. Because it’s not very thick, I only flash grill it for a few minutes each side until its medium rare before slicing it. While I was out on the deck, I also grilled a couple ears of fresh corn.

This takes a little bit longer, because you want the kernels to brown and take on some of that amazing grill essence. You’ll know that the ears are starting to cook because they start popping loudly underneath the hood of your grill. When the corn was grilled, I took a knife to them and shaved off all of the grilled corn kernels and set them aside for the sauce. I made a classic aioli from scratch, which is basically a garlic-infused mayonnaise.

You start by whisking egg yolks and finely minced garlic while constantly drizzling in the oil. It’s quite the workout, especially if you don’t have a helper to hold the bowl for you. When my aioli was nice and thick, I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice before I spooned it into the blender. I tossed in all of the grilled corn kernels and pulsed it a few times to infuse the fresh corn flavor, but not too much to keep some of the whole kernels in tact.

I dipped my finger in to taste it and was blown away at how “corny” it was! One small, creamy bite was packed with so much sweet corn flavor, tangy garlic,  zesty lemon, and underlying char that made you realize it was grilled.

I could have taken out a spoon and devoured an entire bowl. Instead, I quickly grilled a chewy, French baguette and spread the grilled corn aioli all over it. Then I layered slabs of sliced skirt steak, some baby arugula, and shaved red onions, before topping it off with another drizzleof the corn sauce. I really had to clamp down on the sandwich in order to fit it into my mouth but it was worth the stretch. The juicy steak was so tender with that fiery black pepper crust that burned your lips just for a second before it was cooled down by the sweet and creamy aioli.

These would be great to serve at parties or barbecues because they’re small and handheld. You can hold a sandwich and a beer at the same time, whereas with corn on the cob and steak, it requires two hands, a forkand knife, and a lot of napkins. On the side, I made a grilled fingerling potato salad. Fingerlings are those small golden potatoes that look like fingers and are rich and buttery. I simply tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper and dumped them onto the grill.

When they had a nice crust on them, I tossed them into a bowl with sliced haricot vert (thin French green beans), shaved red onions, and a few dollops of creamy Roquefort cheese.

The steam from the grilled potatoes slowly melted the creamy blue cheese and brought the whole potato salad together. I served these sandwiches on the deck with a bottle of 2006 Thomas Cusine Vilosell from Spain. I love this wine, not only because of its wicked cool label, but it’s a great wine for grilling. It’s a blend of primarily Tempranillo, with a touch of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, and Garnacha.

The wine is perfect for grilled meats because of its rich, smoky flavor. The grapes are grown at high altitude in chalky, clay soil which gives the wine this peppery, earthiness to it. When those flavors combine with the ripe, fruit from the Syrah and Garnacha, the combination is your Weber’s match made in heaven.

On scorching hot days, like this one, you can even throw it in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving it to give it a slight chill which surprisingly enhances certain red wines. The Vilosell had tons of blackberry and cocoa flavors followed by a smoky, black pepper finish. The only problem was putting down my sandwich to take another sip.