Cobb Salad Supremo

Tonight's Cobb Salad was superb. It was a bit early to be wanting tomatoes and avocados -- and neither were fantastically ripe, but they were edible. Amy, Ben and Ayla and Tavian were to dinner, as were my two younger daughters. Dean was there for the evening cocktail and stayed to dinner. He brought Betty home a plate. Finally my Missa arrived as dinner was ending and there was plenty left for her to enjoy. For dessert, Amy and Ben brought a cheesecake, but it was a bit sweeter than I prefer. Cookies and Cream, or some such. I like a nice dry New York.

I love laying out a Cobb Salad on a big platter and coming up with an arrangement that seems appetizing and festive. We must have one again as soon as the heirloom tomatoes come in this summer.


There's the platter in all its glory.


And my plate!

Pasta Putanesca

Putanesca Cooking, originally uploaded by wickenden.

One of my favorite things to cook, simmering waiting for the pasta to finish. I started with 2 diced onions sauteed, two bulbs of garlic, peeled and chopped and sauteed. Then, 4 tins of anchovies with the oil, one small jar of non-pareil capers, about 1/2 cup of kalamata olives, minced, and one quart of last summers san marsano and roma tomatoes (from august!). I let that simmer and reduce a bit. Then, top the pasta with it, add some chopped flat leaf parsely and some freshly grated reggiano parmeseano.

Putanesca is an old italian dish -- the "whore's" dish, but stories vary as to why it is so named. One version is that prostitutes made it to lure men in, another that such women weren't able to shop on regular days, and so made a dish from what was in the larder. Whatever -- it's one of my favorites.

Here is the family bowl. You can see I put both spaghetti and linguini in, but it was unintentional.


Here's my plate with a nice glass of red wine. I also served a fried cauliflower with allspice (which is a regular recipe of mine) and a salad made of strawberry-tomatoes with basil and green onions, dressed in olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper.


Finally -- I added some chili flakes to my plate and a dusting of reggiano.

Today I'm making a cobb salad. I feel a bit ill, but hope I'm up for making dinner later this afternoon.