Camberville Cuisine

Hyoun and I celebrated two years of being together last night with dinner at Craigie Street Bistrot.

1. Amuse-bouche of two cured meats: Banyuls-cured duck breast and fennel- and pepper-cured lardo in a Banyuls vinegar reduction. (Hyoun had the cured Portuguese sardines.) Salty, pungent, smooth little bites.

2. Appetizer: bluefin tuna sashimi with avocado, pine nuts, lamb’s lettuce, and an apricot-pepper dressing (aji amarillo; some sort of Peruvian pepper). I’m used to raw tuna with avocado done in very Japanese ways, so adding the pine nuts and fresh small greens made it refreshing.

3. Appetizer #2: beef marrow with toast and sea salt. (I *think* it was an egg bread of some sort? Square loaf, so not challah, but it had that same rich buttery texture inside. Or that could have been the marrow.) Sounds incredibly simple, but oh, man, the texture and the flavor. Indescribably perfect. I will want to eat this many, many times this winter.

4. Entree: tahini-marinated giant sea scallops over a base of razor clams, rock shrimp, pea greens, and mousserons mushrooms. I had originally been eyeing the “Organic Pig Two Ways” (suckling confit and some sort of in-house sausage preparation), which Hyoun got, but I’m glad I went with the scallops; they were amazing. Such a refreshing taste, contrasted with the sharpness of the tahini sauce accompanying it.

5. Dessert: sour milk panna cotta with tangerines, candied apricots, and candied fennel. Hyoun got the seasonal fruit crumble topped with anise-hyssop ice cream. I wish I’d remembered to write down the exact wines that accompanied dessert, but fittingly, mine was, again, Banyuls.

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This, of course, means that the rest of the week we’ve mostly been eating mangos and mangos and more mangos (we bought a case last Saturday at Russo’s for $8). Currently attempting to chill a mango and chocolate mousse icebox cake (thanks to Haya for linking me to the icebox cake recipes on Epicurious; I’m trying to combine this icebox cake with this mango mousse as filling!). In open tabs, I’ve got recipes for mango lassis, mango chutney, a brie and mango quesadilla, and scallop mango tartelettes.

We’re going a bit mad here.

I am not a runner. Really. I’m trying to get in better shape, though, and Hyoun is a very enthusiastic runner, and very encouraging of me taking these baby steps towards joining him in these torture sessions, so I have, kind of, started running.

So Hyoun walks in the door yesterday afternoon with a big grin on his face, and is all, “Wanna go running?”

Me: “Awww, do I haffffta?”

Hyoun: “A quick run! Not too far away. You know, down to, say, Savenor’s?”

ZING! I shoot my butt off the couch and am ready to go in moments. :D

So we brought home many yummy things from the market, and made:
- Blackberries, almonds, and grape tomatoes over mesclun greens, topped with poppy seed dressing
- Pan-seared foie gras with figs in a lemon-sage honey reduction
- Grilled lamb loin chops and pineapple

The best part? I still had a gift certificate for Savenor’s from my birthday, so dinner cost a grand total of $2.07. :D Thank you!

Savenor’s: 92 Kirkland St, Cambridge; second location at 160 Charles St, Beacon Hill. 617.576.MEAT. Open M-S 9-8, Sun 11-6.

So an ex-boyfriend of mine is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

We’d been originally introduced by a friend who emphatically pointed out our mutual love of food. He was definitely a better cook than I – I’m the baker in all of my relationships – and we ate very well during our year or so together, even though I mostly didn’t cook meat at home because it terrified me. (He was most emphatically in charge of the Thanksgiving turkey breast.)

For the most part, it was a long-distance relationship; I lived in Boston, and he was a law student in DC. That summer, though, he was doing an internship in his old college stomping grounds of Kenosha, WI, so I went out to visit him there a couple of times. We went on picnics by the lake, and to the Jelly Belly factory, and Six Flags – but he failed to even mention to me the existence of the Mars Cheese Castle. Apparently they have some of the best cheese curds in the Midwest! And I’ve never had cheese curds, and I hear they squeak between your teeth?

I had to learn about this mystical, magical Castle of Cheese from Hyoun and Emily tonight. We were talking about weddings and what one considers important at them, and how the people who own Cabot Cheese spent most of their money on flowers at their wedding; I said, “Geez, I think I’d spend that money on, well, cheese!” and that’s how it came up. But the important part is THERE IS A CHEESE CASTLE AND MY EX-BOYFRIEND WHO LIVED IN THAT TOWN FAILED TO TAKE ME THERE WHEN I VISITED. TWICE. He loses at teh Käsenets.

Update: Little did I know that five days later, I would get to experience the Formaggio cheese cave. In my own backyard, practically. Cool and damp and full of so many delicious cheeses.

Formaggio Kitchen. 244 Huron Ave, Cambridge. 617.354.4750. Open M-F 9-7, S 9-6, Su 10-4. Mars Cheese Castle. 2800 120th Avenue, Kenosha, WI. 262.859.2244.

Because Hyoun won’t get around to telling you all about me making him the Best Sandwich Ever, I will: grilled cheese panini on multigrain bread with herbed chevre, parmesan, sauteed dates, and bacon, toasted in garlic butter. I made a similar version the night before to use up the Humboldt Fog, sans bacon, and it was yummy-melty too.

For dinner that night, I seared scallops in butter and served them with a lemon-caper sauce. As simple as you can get, but so delicious!

For dinner the next night, I made dishwasher salmon: Take a filet of salmon. Put it on a sheet of foil that will securely wrap around the fish. Pour good olive oil and lime juice over it, then salt and pepper it and sprinkle with whatever other herbs you want. Fold the foil over in half, nudging the salmon down into the fold, then roll up the other three sides securely until the pouch is airtight. (Do a second layer of foil if you’re worried.) Put it in the top rack of your dishwasher, and run it on a full wash cycle.

The recipe for the awesome applesauce cake I brought to meet a friend’s new baby last week:

Microwave Applesauce Cake

1 stick butter, plus extra for greasing
1.5 cups applesauce
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, separated
~1/2 cup sugar, separated
1 cup all-purpose flour
pears

Instructions:

Take a stick of butter out of the refrigerator, and set it aside. Take your glass 2-cup measure, pour 1.5 cups of applesauce into it, add 1 tsp baking soda, and stir. Set aside.

Separate two eggs, the whites into a metal bowl and the yolks into another bowl (Bowl #1). Add 0.25 cups sugar to the yolks, and beat together. Hopefully the butter’s been sitting out long enough that it’s a little soft; mix it into the yolk-sugar mixture until that mixture is fluffy and pale yellow. Take your applesauce (which will have risen a fair amount), and mix it into the yolk mixture. Slice and skin a pear or two, and stir it into the applesauce mix. Stir in 1 cup of all-purpose flour in 1/4 cup increments, then set aside.

In the metal bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then pour them into the applesauce mixture and fold them in gently.

Take your second stick of butter, use it to grease a 2-quart microwave safe bowl (Bowl #2). Then pour ~1/4 cup sugar into the bowl and swirl the sugar around until all surfaces are covered. Pour the cake mixture in.

Put a bowl or dish upside down in the microwave, preferably one with a brim that will permit the cake bowl to perch steadily atop it. Then set the cake bowl on top, and microwave the cake on high for 16 minutes, or until a knife in the center comes out clean but moist. Remove and let stand for 30 minutes, then invert onto a plate and enjoy the fact that you have awesome cake but your kitchen is still cool for the summer!