Looking from the window above

My cousin Tammy, a chef and food scientist, cooked a beautiful dinner for my cousin Hien's bachelorette dinner. We sat on the roof of her friend Gerlyn's Upper West Side apartment and had a grand ol' time. And when it started raining we went inside and had a grander time, listening to music, watching homemade videos and eating lemon tart. I rarely get to see my cousins now (there are 30 of us spread out over 5 states), but when I do and the Erasure/New Order/Yaz hot mix comes on (and it always does), it's like nothing has changed and I'm snapped right back to the age of 15, driving around aimlessly in a beat up Honda with the girls, listening to the same tapes over and over again. Now, we're all grown up and Tammy can be found cooking Ghetto Gourmet dinners in Los Angeles. There are still seats available for the next one she will be doing this Thursday in Brentwood.

This is what Tammy 'threw together' for our dinner, in between shopping, eating out, and wrangling together a bunch of women:

• Bluefin Crab, cucumber, Thai basil and grapefruit ceviche (YUM!!! Perfect for a summer evening.)

• French Brie, caramelized onions, and fresh English pea Pizettes (This was a great, creamy appetizer.)

• Crostini with grilled avocado, goat cheese and roasted cherry tomatoes.

• Roasted speck on a bed of whole fava beans, Grano Padano cheese (Speck is holy bacon, and their fat dripping on fava beans is delicious.)
  

• Milk fed veal with roasted red pepper butter and fiddlehead ferns (Incredible. I didn't know veal could be that deeply meaty tasting.)

Of course, we didn't just sit at home and recount the story of how Hien took Tammy's Cabbage Patch kid for a swing at the playground and forgot to bring him back. (There were fliers, and the kidnappers called in for a ransom, but never showed with Nathan.) There was some dancing, out in the world:

The bride to be and sister Cookie

Here is Tammy's guidance and recipe for the fava bean dish:

Fava beans (Italian name) also known as broad, faba, horse, tic, and field beans are long, thick, green fibrous pods.  They are usually eaten young while still vibrant green and are at its peak in Spring. As summer and fall hit, they mature and start to turn black but are edible, just not their pods.  

How to pick: Stems should be fresh, pods should be heavy, with hint of the rounded beans inside. Try not to pick the ones with black spots (esp. if you want to eat whole).  This recipe is inspired by Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali of the newly opened Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles. 

Whole Roasted Fava beans with Speck and Grana Padano cheese

12 Fava beans, large (size will vary)

1/8 # Speck (Smoked Proscuitto)

To taste Grana Padano cheese or semi-aged Parmesan cheese

To taste Salt

To taste Black Pepper

To taste Olive oil

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut tips of fava beans and place in roasting pan or tray, add salt, pepper, and olive oil.*
2. Roast for 10-12 minutes, then lay Speck onto beans, continue roasting for another 8-10 minutes.**
3. Plate nicely and sprinkle immediately with cheese.

 

*Not too much Olive oil, you'll want to grab the juices/fat from the Speck onto fava beans too!

**The fava beans should be caramelized be careful of burning them.  

Comments

[Blake]

Here's what I want to know--how did you get the raw meat out of the blue crabs? Those suckers are mean and feisty and I usually just shut my eyes and toss them in the boiling water before they take one of my digits.

[Michelle]

Hi Blake,
I am quite sure the nice fishmonger person had sold the crab to my cousin perfectly cleaned and ready to eat. Yeah, small creatures always seem meaner, Napoleon complex maybe.

-Michelle

[spencer]

mmmm, fiddleheads.

[laura max]

did ya know that fiddlehead ferns can be poisonous?

[Tammy]

Michelle, great blog about the party, thanks for bringing that 'sweet' tart:) But, did you have to mention Nathan again?You are correct about the crab meat, they have ladies down south who actually pick all day, rough life. The fish escolar can be poisonous too.

[Michelle]

Spencer, is that where goldenfiddle is inspired from?

Laura, hmmm. Interesting. Just googled it. They are safe until they become mature, huh?

Tammy, I'm sorry. I will never mention *him* again. Picking through crab does for work sound intense, even if you did get to nibble at it. Escolar!!! They once served me a barbie doll portion of it at a restaurant, and I was so mad because it was so good, but then I looked it up and realized they actually saved me a really bad experience. I have read that it is not poisonous, it's just that you can't digest the fats...Hmm. I'll have to do more googling.