The Contessa, The Baby and The Bathwater

During most of the year the task of putting food on the table is pretty straightforward. Go to the store or Greenmarket, buy the ingredients, take them home and cook. But during June and July when we rent a house on Fire Island, the word ‘logistics’ creeps into the conversation. For two months, the planning, provisioning, and porting of our weekend meals occupies much of my energy. For nine successive weekends, the chef (that’s me) is on the hook for two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners for my children, their spouses, and four grandchildren.

Thank heaven for Ina Garten.

Last summer a friend recommended Ina’s Barefoot Contessa cookbooks to me and I brought home both the Family Style and Parties! editions of this estimable series. Cookbook snob that I am, I immediately rebelled against the friendly, simplistic, anyone-can-do-this level of the recipes. She espouses Redpack canned tomatoes with nary a mention of San Marzano for heaven’s sake. But now, well into our second summer with Ina, I worship at her bare feet.

The summer invariably starts with Ina’s amazing "Real Meatballs and Spaghetti" on the first Saturday night, which morphs seamlessly and gratefully into meatball parmesan hero leftovers on Sunday afternoon. Later on we’ll have the "Montauk Seafood Salad" which not only looks just like the picture in the book (how often does that happen?) but tastes like it was created for the expressed purpose of dining with a view of the Atlantic. The following weekend, I’ll serve up Ina’s "Parmesan Chicken" with lemon dressed arugula on top. And so it goes.

The ingredient list is compiled and assembled in the city during the week. On Friday after work I make a run to Murray’s Cheese on Bleecker Street for a tangy wedge of Humboldt Fog, a crystalline slice of Roomano, and perhaps a melting pool of Stinking Bishop. At home I drag our scarred and battered red and white Igloo cooler out of the closet and load it up with provisions and a goodly number of ice packs from the freezer (not one of which I have any idea how I acquired). Truth be told, this is not even our Igloo cooler. Last summer, two identical red and white coolers were off-loaded from the Fire Island ferry. The one I came home with had someone else’s food inside.

If we’re lucky the traffic on the LIE late on Friday night won’t be too bad. Soon enough we’re crossing Great South Bay with the lights of Fire Island twinkling on the horizon. The cooler comes off the ferry and is deposited immediately in our ubiquitous red Fire Island wagon. A short walk along the car-free walkways of the island brings us to the house, the lights on and welcoming. The kids are already here. In the kitchen everyone gathers around to see what we’ll be eating over the next few days. Wine magically appears and the cheeses are unwrapped and consumed. The Stinking Bishop won’t be seeing Saturday, that’s for sure. Even the grandkids are part of the welcoming committee, but not because they’re interested in the food. No, it’s the cooler that beckons them. They can’t wait for the food to be removed, because for the past several summers, the two youngest having been using it as a bathtub. They’re actually too big for it now, but it’s clear they’re going to squeeze in one more summer of cooler baths before graduating to the outdoor shower.

Recipes from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style. Three for the beach, or anywhere else.

Montauk Seafood Salad
(serves 6)

For the seafood
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp (25 to 30 shrimp), peeled and deveined
1 pound sea scallops (10 to 12)
3 pounds fresh mussels in the shell, scrubbed and beards removed

For the sauce
1 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon whole fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
Zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

To assemble
3/4 cup medium-diced celery (2 stalks)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Thinly sliced lemon for garnish

1. To cook the seafood, combine 8 cups of water with the white wine vinegar and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook for two minutes only. Remove with a slotted spoon. Bring the water back to a boil and cook the scallops for 4 to 5 minutes until cooked through. Drain.
2. Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil in the same saucepan and toss in the mussels. Return to a boil, cover, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes until they’re all open. (Discard any that remain closed after 5 minutes.) Drain. Remove the mussels from the shells and discard the shells.* Drain all the cooked seafood and place in a large bowl.
3. To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan and add the thyme, garlic, and lemon zest. Cook over low heat for 1 minute. Off the heat, add the lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour the hot vinaigrette over the seafood.
4. Add the celery and parsley and toss well. The salad can be served immediately, but it is best when allowed to sit, refrigerated for an hour or two. Sprinkle with salt and toss with sliced lemon.

*Our family prefers keeping the shells on for a more festive presentation, similar to how Ina Garten presents the salad in the photograph that accompanies the recipe in her book.


Parmesan Chicken
(serves 6)

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil
Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
Lemon vinaigrette*

1. Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.
2. Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides in the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low eat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

*Ina Garten's recipe for Lemon Vinaigrette is on page 82 of Barefoot Contessa Family Style or you can use your own favorite recipe.

Real Meatballs and Spaghetti
(Serves 6)

For the meatballs
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs (4 slices, crust removed)
1/4 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

For the sauce
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 freshly ground black pepper

For serving
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.
2. Pour equal amounts of vegetable and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don’t clean the pan.
3. For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until translucent, 5 to10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.
4. Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan cheese.

 

 

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