Tarragon Pistachio Butter and Beer Making, Part I

Tarragon Pistachio Butter

One of our Chanukah presents this year was a beer maker which, until now, has sat patiently above our kitchen cabinets, waiting to be used. Sunday night, after spring teased us with a 60F-day on Friday (only to shoot back down to a wintry 20F over the weekend), we decided it was time. Since neither the vegetarian nor I know very much about beer or beer-making, we invited one of his best friends from college, E, over to join in the merriment. We made West Coast Pale Ale, set everything in a (mostly) empty cabinet and began the more-immediate task of making dinner.


I've been on a sweet potato kick lately and, while looking for yummy sweet potato recipes in the folder in which I keep all the recipes I've stumbled upon and plan to make, I excitedly lighted on the word "sweet". It was followed, however, not by the word "potato" but instead by "pistachio".  Ah, yes! The Sweet Pistachio Butter from 101 Cookbooks--a vegetarian "healthy recipe journal" that I cannot recommend highly enough--that I had saved as a way to use up the pistachios from my Cornish Hens (and Tofu) with 

An (almost-set) Table

Cranberry Paste. (On a side note, one of my former college roommates, Miss Julie, a San Franciscan, cooks from there incessantly and was actually the one who first turned me on to the site.) Heidi made her Pistachio Butter for crepes but I, with my waning sweet tooth, wanted something more savory, to serve atop a protein. I stared for a while at the picture of Heidi's brilliantly green butter and decided to replace the sweetener with an herb. What herb? Something light, with a sweet taste and a loud flavor--tarragon! I often think of tarragon with chicken, but instead I paired it with Salmon Roasted with Herbs (from How to Cook Everything) for E and me and Tofu Roasted with Herbs for the vegetarian. The tarragon created just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the flavor of the pistachios and paired beautifully with the richness of the salmon. It also matched quite nicely with the delicate flavor of the tofu, I was told. And, to satisfy this sweet potato obsession, we had Roasted Yam Puree with Brown Butter--decadent and delightful. There was also a Cherry Tomato-Caper Salad and Hummus with Capers. And, while I would 
recommend a Viognier as a wine-pairing, we stayed on our beer theme and instead 
had Long Haul Session Ale with the Hummus and Morimoto Soba Ale with the Salmon, Tofu and Tarragon 
Pistachio Butter. I highly recommend both, especially the Morimoto. Enjoy!


Tarragon Pistachio Butter

• 

  Salmon and Tofu

  1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pistachios, shelled and crushed
• 1 bunch fresh tarragon leaves
• 1/2 cup water, hot (from the tap is fine)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 pinches Hawaiian salt

First peel almonds: pour boiling water into a small bowl and add almonds. Allow to sit at least 1 minute, then remove them one at a time (go for those whose peels are the most shriveled first) and peel, rub, whatever to remove.

Place peeled almonds into food processor along with pistachios, tarragon, hot water and garlic. Pulse until all one consistency (add more water if you'd like it to be wetter), then add salt and pulse once or twice more to incorporate. Serve, atop salmon, tofu or whatever you'd like. Makes more than enough for 3 people's dinner. Enjoy!

Links to other tarragon pistachio butter noshes:

• Baked Peas with Tarragon, Yogurt, and Pistachios from 101 Cookbooks
• Tarragon Chicken Thighs with Buttered Leeks from Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow

Le Madeleine

Taking advantage of being back in NYC, a few nights ago, the Boy and I went out to dinner and the theatre. (Or, rather, the theatre and dinner so we could enjoy our meal at a more leisurely pace rather than wolfing it down so as to get to the show on-time.) We saw Harvey Fierstein in Fiddler on the Roof, a revival that I cannot recommend enough. Fiddler has always been one of my favorite musicals and seeing it on Broadway, with such a talented actor was a delight. Fierstein carries the whole show and makes you laugh and cry, playing, singing and dancing the whole way through. The sets are beautiful, making Anatevka look like a town any of us would want to visit. There are stars twinkling in the background and Fierstein completely fills the Minskoff theatre's grand stage. He's only in it until mid-August, however, so if you have a chance, run and get tickets. They're selling fast.

After such an exciting night at the theatre, I was worried dinner wouldn't live up! Luckily, though, it did. We ate at Le Madeleine, a restaurant in the Theater District that's been around forever but that we've never gone to. It calls itself a "modern French Bistro," and it was, for New York standards. By that I mean we never forgot ourselves and thought we were in Paris, but it was good, creative French food and we enjoyed ourselves greatly.

The restaurant is quite dark and, at 10.15 at night, there was easily room for us even though I had made reservations. There's an outdoor garden, but we sat inside, in a small room. Surprisingly, however, even though there are a lot of tables, it doesn't feel crowded and we sat in a small private corner. The service was friendly and attentive (our water glasses were never left empty for long), but not overbearing.

Since it was so late, we didn't want to go for the full three-course prix-fixe. In fact, we were going to only get main dishes, but I had read about their mussels, one of their specialties, so we split an order as an appetizer. These Prince Edward Isle Mussels "Basquaise" were perhaps the best mussels we had ever had. They are cooked in a meaty tomato sauce, similar to a bolognaise, with chunks of spicy merguez sausage and saffron. It was really delicious; I would never have thought of adding meat to mussels. The mussels themselves were plump and sweet.

For main dishes, we were boring and both ordered the same thing, but we weren't disappointed. A Spice Crusted Duck Breast, it was meltingly tender, perfectly cooked to medium-rare so it was bright pink inside the dark spiced outside. I'm not sure what the spices were, but there was a significant bite to it. It was served with a little pile of spinach, and exquisite endive marmalade that I ate plain, only putting it on one piece of duck, and a savory dried fruit bread pudding. I was curious how a fruit bread pudding could be savory, but it was spicy and the dried fruit blended right in, adding a chewiness to the soft bread pudding.

We also had a half-bottle of an unmemorable Shiraz--the only bad part of the meal.

All in all, this was a delicious restaurant, one to which we will certainly return. My only problem? It seems a little gender-confused...

(Madeleine is a feminine word, meaning La, not Le.) And that's the French lesson for the day!

Le Madeleine
403 West 43rd Street
New York, NY

Back in NYC

My profound apologies for this enormous silence. We've been travelling France and Italy and internet cafes were sparse, so there just wasn't time for blogging! But we took notes and will slowly do write-ups of the places we visited, so please stay tuned for that.

The other news is that I'm back in New York, having arrived yesterday afternoon. It's strange being back in an English-speaking country and living with my parents, but nice to have a stocked kitchen and all the wonderful stores and the Union Square Greenmarket. There are also new restaurants to try, old ones to visit and the new enormous Whole Foods in Union Square. So there will be many write-ups and such.

Sadly, though, the nature of this blog must now change. After living in France, my cooking has definitely been influenced, both because of the ingredients and what I ate in restaurants. I'm excited to see where it leads now I'm in the States and I'll have to try and adapt everything to pounds, ounces, cups, etc. So, we'll always love Paris...

...but onto New York!