It’s a cold winter here in New York City, and nothing’s better than a big, hearty meal to warm up with in the evening. So I got a little excited when La Cucina Italiana magazine arrived in the mail recently, with a bunch of fantastic winter recipes: roasts, braises, soups and other mostly one-pot dishes. The one that most caught my eye was an Italian version of pork and cabbage. A half pork shoulder, some slab bacon, and a few Italian sausages are roasted with potatoes on a bed of cabbage, which they flavor with their dripping juices. This dish will warm you up, fill you up, and leave you satisfied, even on the coldest night of the rough New York winter.

Minestrone is the classic Italian vegetable soup, and an excellent way to enjoy the bounty of summer. In Italy, the soup is often finished with pesto, which adds its beautiful, bright green color, as well as a great deal of flavor. The salty Pecorino or Parmesan cheese in the pesto also seasons the soup – for this reason it’s good to underseason the soup just slightly, and then adjust seasoning when adding the pesto if necessary.

The Ingredients for Minestrone: All of Summer's Bounty, and a Rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano

The soup simmering away, after adding the second group of vegetables

Simmering for Another 2 hours, to Cook the Cannellini Beans

The Chanterelle cookbook was one that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time, and recently finally decided to purchase. I love restaurant cookbooks most of all because they give us an inside look at some of the country’s top kitchens, and its an inexpensive way to explore the cuisines of well-known chefs. Although the recipes are usually more complicated, I enjoy cooking from restaurant cookbooks, and imagine myself creating the dish during dinner service at the restaurant.

So, this here is Chef David Waltuck’s arctic char with grapefruit. The grapefruit is what caught my eye here; I love using grapefruit juice in vinaigrettes, and was curious to see it here in a butter sauce. The candied grapefruit peel had me wondering though, wouldn’t it be too sweet and overpower the fish? Actually no, the sugar balances the bitterness of the peel, and as it cooks down and hardens, it adds an interesting textural note to the dish.

In all, it’s a fresh take on classical French cooking, and fun to both cook and eat; we get a delicious mound of buttery cabbage, a crisped-up char fillet, a rich, fruity sauce, and curly, zesty strips of grapefruit rind scattered about.

The Recipe

Source: Chanterelle by David Waltuck

zest of 1 large pink grapefruit, removed with a vegetable peeler (be sure to remove only the zest, not the white pith beneath) and julienned (3 inches long)
3 tablespoons sugar, plus more to taste
1 cup pink grapefruit juice (from 2 large grapefruits)
1 medium shallot, coarsely chopped
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup heavy cream
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus 2 tablespoons at room temperature
1 small head Savoy or green cabbage, cored and cut into very thin strips
kosher salt
black pepper from a mill
four 6-ounce Arctic char or salmon fillets, skin on, any pin bones removed
3 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Prepare the Candied Zest:

Put the grapefruit zest in a small saucepan and cover with about 2 inches of cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then drain the zest in a fine-mesh strainer. Repeat the process twice more, for a total of three times, to soften the zest and draw out some of its bitterness.

After draining the zest for a third time, return it to the pan and add ½ cup water and the sugar. Stir together and cook over very low heat until the liquid is reduced to a syrup but is still loose and plentiful enough to cover the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. (You do not want to completely reduce the liquid, which would result in a cloyingly sweet and sticky rind. Taste a piece if you like; it should hold its shape but be easily chewable and slightly sweet.) If the liquid seems to be reducing too much, add a tablespoon or two of water to keep the zest from burning. Drain well and let cool on a baking rack. (The candied zest will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Prepare the Grapefruit Butter Sauce:

Put the grapefruit juice, shallot, and wine in a medium nonreactive saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid is simmering and cook until reduced to about 3 tablespoons of syrupy liquid, about 15 minutes (be careful not to overcook or the natural sugars in the juice and wine will caramelize and discolor the sauce). Stir in the cream and let the sauce thicken over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. (The reduction can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated for up to 24 hours; reheat gently before continuing.)

Reduce the heat to low and gradually whisk in the cold butter, a few cubes at a time, adding the next few cubes only after the previous batch has been well incorporated. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and season with salt. You should have about ½ cup of sauce. Taste it; the sauce should be slightly sweet and tart. If you don’t discern any sweetness, add a pinch of sugar. Keep the sauce covered and warm.

Melt the softened butter in a 10-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add the cabbage and cook, tossing, until just slightly wilted, about 3 minutes. Add ¼ cup of water and season with salt and pepper to taste.. Turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until most of the water has evaporated and the cabbage is cooked through but still a little crunchy, about 5 minutes. Drain any excess liquid.

Lay the fillets on a clean, dry surface and season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium-high heat until it is very warm (don’t let it get really hot), then add the fillets, skin side down, and cook until the skin is crisp and browned, 3 to 4 minutes. (Keep a close eye on it because char burns easily.) Turn the fillets over and finish cooking the other side, 3 to 4 minutes more, depending on the thickness of the cut and the desired level of doneness. Blot the skin side with paper towels.

To serve, divide the cabbage among 4 dinner plates, placing a mound in the center of each. Evenly divide the grapefruit sauce, pouring it around the cabbage. Sprinkle the plates with the chives, then place a char fillet on top of each cabbage bed. Garnish with a sprinkling of the grapefruit zest and serve.

Cabbage goes well with apples and pork, so this cabbage braised in apple cider was a natural to go with the roast pork with sage & apples. The recipe is from Best American Side Dishes, a great source of recipes for vegetables that don’t taste bland and boring.

I used red cabbage rather than green this time and found it works just as well. It’s a simple recipe, but the cider, diced Granny Smith apple, thyme, and caraway seeds add a wonderful mix of flavor to the leafy vegetable. I doubled the recipe (cooked the whole head of cabbage rather than half) as I was cooking for a bunch of hungry people who like to get their nutrients and stuff. If you do cook the whole head, just add it in bunches to the pan so it can wilt and make room for the rest. Unless of course you have a huge sauté pan that I don’t know about.

Sautéeing the Granny Smith

We all know how bad cabbage can taste if not prepared well. So show the poor thing a bit of love.

What a nice set of ingredients

I knew this would be a fabulous dish before I even finished reading the recipe. Pork chops browned with bacon, then braised in beer and sauerkraut. I mean, how could you possibly go wrong there? Well, I guess you could burn the bacon, or use some nasty cheap beer…

This recipe yields a tender, flavorful pork chop which is excellent with the sauerkraut, a boiled potato, and sautéed apple rings. And another couple beers to chase it down.

Oh, big ol' plate of pork

The sautéed apples are also a breeze. Just core a few apples and cut them into ½ inch rings (don’t peel the skins), then sauté in a few tablespoons butter to caramelize.

Recipe is from James Beard’s Theory and Practice Of Good Cooking. It’s very easy so I’ll just summarize:

(4 Servings)

4 pork chops, around 1” thick
A few slices of thick bacon
2 tablespoons rendered pork fat, butter, or oil
3 pounds fresh sauerkraut
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1-3 garlic cloves, minced
Beer to cover (2 ½ to 3 cups)

Render the pork fat, melt the butter, or heat the oil in a heavy skillet, then brown the pork chops, 3-4 minutes each side, with the bacon. Then add the sauerkraut, pepper, garlic, and enough beer to cover. Simmer, covered, until the chops are tender and full of flavor.

Step 1: Brown pork and bacon

Step 2: Add sauerkraut, garlic, pepper, and beer to cover, cover the pan, and simmer until tender. Easy enough huh?