GEFÜLLTE TOMATEN Baked Tomatoes & Eggs with Nutmeg


Sharon and I were wandering through Door County, Wisconsin, on a beautiful autumn day when we chanced upon this recipe. The tourists were gone by now. We bought smoked white fish in Gills Rock, where Sharon’s relative Willie WEIBORG once owned a big home (still there as a bed and breakfast), a warehouse and fishing boat. We had a lunch of ham sandwiches, split pea soup and cold beer at Al Johnson's, where six goats were still feeding atop its grass roof. We drove by her family’s original farm of 40 acres, just outside of Ellison Bay. We even visited two graveyards looking for long lost relatives! In a gift store Sharon found a German cookbook and in it I found this recipe, which I had never seen before. It is truly simplicity itself and a wonderful combination of tastes.

6 large tomatoes
6 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
  salt and pepper to taste
  nutmeg or curry as you like
  garnish of parsley, lettuce, or toast

Preparation: 1. Slice off the top of the tomatoes and scoop out the pulp, making space for a whole egg. 2. Rub the insides with salt and pepper to taste, put in a nugget of butter, and set the tomatoes inside of a shallow greased baking dish. 3. Crack an egg into each tomato, sprinkle with either curry or nutmeg (depending on the menu). 4. Bake in a preheated oven at 425F for 20-30 minutes until the eggs are nicely poached. The juice and butter in the tomatoes acts as a poaching liquid and it takes a bit of time for the tomatoes to heat up so they poach the eggs.

Presentation: For a breakfast I would suggest using nutmeg and setting the tomatoes on a slice of toast. For a dinner curry would do nicely, set on a bed of lettuce. In either case garnish the top with a parsley sprig.

Notes: This dish retains its heat wonderfully. You can time these to be first out of the oven and they will still be warm by serving time.

Sogneford, Norway (Photo: RLW)

Torsk med Eggesaus
Poached Codfish Steaks with Egg Sauce (Norwegian)
Serves 4-6

You have no idea how satisfying it was to find a Norwegian dish that pleases Sharon, my Norwegian! This recipe originated in Foods of the World, 1968, Time-Life Books, New York. Yes, we use a whole stick of butter (If you don’t like my butter, don’t pump my churn).

4-6 codfish steaks, fresh if possible, or flash-frozen from Iceland
½ cup salt

Egg Sauce:
¼ pound butter (one stick)
¼ cup hot fish poaching stock
2 hardboiled eggs, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of dill, parsley and/or chives to your taste
salt and ground paper to taste

Garnish:
Thinly sliced lemon
Dill, parsley, or chives to your taste

Preparation: (1) Fill a fish poacher, or enamel roasting pan, with four inches of water. Add ½ cup of salt. Add white wine if you like. Add to your taste: whole pepper corns, fresh sage, lemon wedge, and/or dill. (2) Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce heat to a steady bubbling. (3) Gently place the cod in the liquid and poach for five minutes or until tender. Egg Sauce: (4) Melt the butter in a saucepan. (5) Remove from the heat and whisk in the poaching stock. Mix in the chopped egg, tomato, and herbs. Salt and pepper to your taste. (6) Return to the heat and bring almost to a boil.

Presentation: I served this dish with boiled and quartered potatoes and asparagus tips. I cut the cod into chunks about two by two inches each and placed them in the middle of the plate. The potatoes went on one side of the cod and the tips on the other. Then I spooned the sauce over each cod piece and dabbed a bit on the vegetables. A sprig of dill and a lemon slice were the garnish. I have to tell you that both Sharon and I were blown away by this dish. It is simple, elegant and delicious. As a family style main dish, arrange the cod on a serving platter, garnish and serve the sauce on the side.

Butter-Poached Maine Lobster with Leeks, Pommes Maxim, and a Red Beet Essence
The French Laundry - Homarus americanus

English explorers started taking lobsters in Maine as early as 1605 and in 1880 they were so plentiful that they sold for two cents a pound in Boston. When my dad, Robert E. WOTTRICH was 14, his parents spent the summer in the tiny town of Camden beside Penobscot Bay in Maine. Camden was known as “the prettiest town in Maine” at the time, which was 1937. My grandfather Wilfred arranged for my dad to ride out on the lobster boats as a junior hand each of several mornings.

Fast forward to my days at Dartmouth College in 1964-1968, we would drive to Boston and pick up “chicken” lobsters (one pound or less) right on the docks for $1.00 each. We’d bring them back in the trunks of our cars along with buckets of steamers and seaweed and steam them over coals in big new galvanized garbage cans for the Green Key weekend each spring. Those trunks never smelled the same again!

As House Manager at Bones Gate fraternity (Delta Tau Delta) I was responsible for the lobster dinner. As chef this meant I could eat as much lobster as I was able and that was a considerable amount at the time. The trick was to stay away from cheap New York State champagne, which when combined with lobster usually made our dates quite ill!

So suffice it to say that I have boiled my share of Maine lobsters over the years. Imagine my surprise when I opened up a gift copy of “The French Laundry Cookbook” by Thomas Keller recently and learned that there was a better way to cook lobster! The French Laundry is the celebrated restaurant in Napa Valley, California.

Boiling lobster for several minutes in the time-honored tradition does cause the meat to seize up and become tough, and it makes it difficult to get any flavor into it. While great for summer beach parties, it loses in translation to the fine dining experience. If you take a lobster out of its shell before fully cooking it, you have more control over the taste and texture. Steep the lobster just enough so that its meat will pull away cleanly from the shell, leaving the interior raw, so you can treat it like raw fish. Try the following procedure and get ready for heaven itself.

Steeping the Lobsters: Fill a large pot with enough water to cover three 1 ½ to 2-pound live lobsters and bring to a boil. Add ½ cup of vinegar for every 8 quarts of water. Pour the boiling water onto the live lobsters in another pot and steep for 2 minutes if using 1½ pound lobsters, or 3 minutes for 2-pound lobsters. Remove the lobsters from the water, turn off the heat, but do not discard the water. One at a time, using a towel or rubber gloves to hold the lobster, grasp its tail and twist and pull to detach it. Twist and pull off the claws and return them to the water for 5 minutes. Reserve the bodies.

For the Tails: Hold each tail flat and twist the tail fan to one side, pull off and discard. Use your fingers to gently push the meat through the tail end and pull the meat out through the large opening at the other end. Lay the tail meat on its back and cut lengthwise in half through the middle. Remove the vein running through the top of the meat. Lay the meat on a paper towel-lined plate or platter, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

For the Claws: After 5 minutes, remove the claws from the hot water. Twist off each knuckle to remove it. Hold the claw in your hand and pull down to loosen the lower pincher. Push it to either side to crack it and pull it straight off. Ideally, the cartilage from inside the claw should be attached to the pincer and the claw meat should remain intact. Still holding the claw, crack the top of the shell with the heel of a knife, about ¾ inch from the joint where the knuckle is attached. You want to go through the shell, but not damage the meat. Wriggle the knife to loosen and crack the shell. If the shell doesn’t pop off, it may be necessary to turn the claw over and repeat the procedure. Shake the claw to remove the meat (if it doesn’t fall out, cut off the very tip of the shell and blow through the hole to release the meat).

For the Knuckles: Pull back and discard the top shell of each lobster, including the heads and antenna. Remove the tomalley, roe, lungs, and the sac behind the head. You can reserve the dark green roe for other uses, but discard the light green tomalley, feathery lungs and sac. You will be left with body and legs. Rinse them thoroughly under cold water and use immediately, or freeze them to make lobster stock or consommé.

Butter-Poached Maine Lobster with Leeks, Pommes Maxim, and a Red Beet Essence:

For the Pommes Maxim: (Which originated at Maxim’s in Paris) Preheat the oven to 300F. Peel one large 12-ounce potato and slice it into paper-thin rounds on a mandoline. Toss the rounds with clarified butter; they should be well coated. Arrange them on a Silpat-lined baking sheet, overlapping the slices by half to form a solid circular sheet of potatoes, or lay them in overlapping circles in a large ovenproof skillet. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake the potatoes for 45 to 50 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown. They may not hold together completely. These can be made hours ahead and left at room temperature.

For the Red Beet Essence: If using fresh beets, juice enough beets to make a generous cup. Reduce the beet juice slowly in a small saucepan to 2 to 3 tablespoons of glaze.

To Complete: For the lobsters, bring the pieces to room temperature. Place them in one layer in a large saucepan and add the beurre monté . The lobster should be almost covered. Place the pan over low heat and slowly poach the lobster in the butter for 5 to 6 minutes, just to heat it through.

Meanwhile, for the leeks (1 ½ cups leek rounds), warm the leek rounds in a saucepan. Add tomato diamonds (2 tablespoons), chives (2 teaspoons), Brunoise (1 tablespoon), and beurre monté (1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon).

Reheat the pommes Maxim in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes.

Bring the beet glaze to a simmer and whisk in the beurre monté (3 tablespoons), red wine vinegar (1/2 teaspoon) and a few drops of lemon juice.

Place a small spoonful of beet essence on each plate. Top with a generous tablespoon of leek mixture, a lobster tail, and a claw. Break off a piece of the pommes Maxim and place it on top of the lobster. Present. (Serves 6)

Richard Wottrich

NYC's Tavern on the Green files for Chapter 11 

 

Editor's Note: On July 6, 1945, my parents, Bob and Joan, were married at the Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. My dad was a Navy pilot on leave as WWII raged on in the Pacific. The pictures we have from their reception show a measured celebration, against the backdrop of war. The dinner was simple. Decorations were at a minimum. It was a different time.

 
NEW YORK (AP) — Tavern on the Green, the landmark restaurant in New York City's Central Park, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The filing comes just four months before the 75-year-old restaurant is to hand over its license to another operator.

Tavern Chief Executive Jennifer Oz LeRoy blames the filing on the financial crisis and New York City's decision to give the Tavern license to a new operator.

The new license was granted to Dean J. Poll, who runs the Central Park Boathouse restaurant. The federal bankruptcy filing lists 20 creditors.

Poll, who takes over Jan. 1, plans to renovate with green technology. The original building, which dates to the 19th century, housed sheep. LeRoy's father, Warner, took over the Tavern in 1976. He died in 2001.

Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/

(Photo: Marais Market, Paris RLW)

Ten Principals of Healthy Eating
(Adapted from “In Defense of Food,” Michael Pollan)


Avoid Food You Do Not Understand
Do not eat anything your great grandmother would not recognize. Avoid food products that have ingredients you do not understand, or more than five unrecognized ingredients, or high-fructose corn syrup.

Avoid Engineered Foods
Avoid food products that make claims. An apple does not need a label. Fresh food does not need supplements. Humans do not need food pyramids. Eat more plants and their leaves. That is where the antioxidants are.

Learn To Market – Buy Often – Buy Fresh
If you must shop at a supermarket, shop around its edges (fruit, vegetables, bread, cheeses, meats) and stay out of the middle where the engineered foods are. Find a bakery, butcher, fruit and vegetable stand and farmer’s market that you like. Shop fresher and more often. Make it a habit.

Know Your Food’s Origin – Buy Quality – Buy Variety
You are what you eat eats too. Be aware of where your meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit come from. Closer is better. Grass-fed is better. Antibiotic and steroid free is better. If you find something that is perfect, buy it in quantity and freeze it.

Buy Local – Buy Heritage, Organic, Wild and Artisan Foods
Eat well-grown foods from healthy soils. Ask. If they can’t tell you where it is from, don’t buy. There will be an organic farm near you. Call and ask about heritage fruits and vegetables, artisan meats and cheeses, and wild plants.

Emulate Cuisines That Endure – Be Informed
Eat more like the French, Italians, Japanese, Indians, Greeks, or Turks. Google their diets. Buy cookbooks. Use them. Be informed about nutrition. Pick a good multivitamin that fits you and take it, especially as you get older.

Dine Together and Talk
Dine together as a family. Dine at a dining table. Not in your car, or on a bar stool, or anywhere that is not receptive to the enjoyment of food over time. This is where you teach your children manners, behavior, patience, ethics, humor, values and build their character. Have a glass of wine with dinner. Take your time and practice the art of conversation.

Practice Moderation
Pay more for quality. Buy better food in smaller amounts, unless you are preserving or freezing. Spend the same by eating less and stabilize a healthy weight. Don’t look for a magic bullet in the traditional healthy diet. You keep a healthy weight through being active and eating in moderation.

Respect Your Mind and Body
Listen to your body. It tells you how it feels, what it craves and when you are abusing it. Your body is the organism that takes care of your brain. Do not abuse it. You can’t trade it in. Eat slowly. Try not to eat alone.

Learn to Cook
Be in control. Meet and talk to people who grow and raise your food. Make the connection. Plant a garden. Plant and keep herbs. Learn to cook and then cook. Preparing food for people you care about is an act of respect and love. Enjoy life!

Richard L. Wottrich