HUNGRY GERALD

No, no. HG is not being naughty. The Greedy Old Guy is referring to the best cook-at-home quick meal. HG’s favorite is the long standing Tex-Mex treat: the Quesadilla. Simple. Place a few slices of swiss, cheddar or pepper jack on a flour (or corn) tortilla. Pop it in the toaster oven until the cheese melts. Fold it. Cut it in half. Eat. HG often enhances the Quesadilla with pico de gallo or fiery salsa. You can build on the basics. Add some sliced tomato or ham slices or cooked bacon to the cheese before toasting. Best of all, HG slips a few smoky, fiery chipotle peppers into the folded treat. A tasty quicky.

Food writer Alex Lobrano met the late, great Julia Child at a Paris bistro. She was eating sliced radishes with butter and sea salt flakes. JC remarked to Lobrano that a radish always reminded her how wonderful a very simple thing can be. HG agrees. HG also loves sliced red radishes from Santa Fe’s Farmer Market. Stronger black radishes from the Farmers Market are another HG fave. The red radishes are good with butter but HG prefers to smear the black guys with some duck fat. Icy vodka with the blacks. Red or white wine with the reds. BSK delights HG with a special salad of sliced red radishes, sliced baby white turnips, chopped fennel and chopped red onions. A savory accompaniment to fish dishes.

Before leaving Rhode Island for The Land of Enchantment, daughter Lesley R., son-in-law Massimo, granddaughter Arianna, gave HG/BSK a special treat: Jahunger. This is a lovely, small Chinese restaurant in Providence. The cuisine is Uyghur, Northern Chinese Muslim cooking. It’s similar to the popular dishes served at Xi’an Famous Foods in New York (Chinatown and Flushing). Jahunger specializes in cumin scented lamb and noodles. Wonderful food. HG/BSK and Family R. feasted on lamb skewers, Lamb on Dry Land (lamb stir fried with chunks of naan-like bread); Ding Ding Noodles (small, solid bits of pasta in a fragrant sauce of onions, peppers, scallions and lamb); Langjiman Noodles (long, springy noodles with beef and a sprightly sauce – similar to the national Uzbeck dish); Cold Chicken (this was HG’s favorite, down home shredded chicken in a very spicy, hot but delicate sauce). The group drank a not too sweet coconut beverage. Memorable meal. Can’t wait for next visit.

Leaves are just beginning to turn into gold, russet and red on Prince Edward Island. Autumn is here. Clear skies. Whitecaps dotting the sea. Snappy winds. And, as temperature descends, there is nothing better than a steaming bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. By an odd coincidence, HG/BSK’s Israeli brother-in-law, Yossi M. (now resident on PEI with wife, Noel), lives close to another Israeli transplant, Amram, a guy who grew up in a kibbutz near Yossi’s. Amran is a dedicated organic farmer with a colorful past (he farmed in Turkey for a number of years). He and Yossi trade foodstuffs, farm equipment, etc. HG/BSK are the beneficiaries of the relationship. HG/BSK have big containers of Amram’s oats, the basis of the best oatmeal ever. Yes, better than McCann’s and all the other Scots, English and Irish imports. (Boxed supermarket oatmeal such as Quaker’s, are gluey and insipid). This chilly morning, HG/BSK breakfasted on oatmeal covered in PEI blueberries and gilded with Canadian maple syrup. Nice way to start the day.

What is bottarga? It is magical Italian substance. Dried fish roe (tuna or mullet). Available in powder or a solid block wrapped in wax (must be grated). It gives a pasta dish a pungent burst of the sea. Thoughtful daughter, Lesley R., brought HG /BSK a little jar from her travels in Portugal. BSK put it to good use tonight. BSK constructed a sauce of olive oil, thinly sliced garlic, chopped fennel and sweet onion, capers. Plus a can of superior Ortiz tuna (a stellar Spanish product) and sliced cherry tomatoes (these sweet wonders are a seasonal Prince Edward Island treat). Mixed it with a few spoonfuls of bottarga. Gave it a hit of hot pepper flakes. A dash of raw olive oil. The pasta was spaghetti cooked al dente. One of the best pasta dishes HG ever tasted (and chubby HG has consumed much pasta). Of course, the best pasta dish is tagliatelle with slices of white truffle. HG/BSK ate this wonder in Bologna, Bergamo and Florence. Killer.

HG likes fiery food. So, a stocked larder of hot sauces is essential. HG’s essential blazers include Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (better than Tabasco and the ONLY hot sauce to be used in preparing Buffalo Chicken wings); Frank’s Red Hot Sweet Chile Sauce (essential with dim sum); Sriracha (best when squirted into bowls of pho-like Asian soups); Harissa (middle eastern food necessity). Two super potent sauces HG adores: Chrug (phonetic spelling as HG can’t make out the Hebrew brand name), a Yemeni/Israeli hot sauce that Yossi M., HG’s admired brother-in-law, brings to HG from his annual visit to Israel and Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp Sauce. The bottle of Chrug has a stern looking bearded patriarch on its label and the Chinese killer sauce has a picture of a dour unsmiling woman. Food writer Pete Meehan notes that one shouldn’t feel sorry for the pictured woman (founder and owner of the sauce company) as her net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. HG is not fond of sweet (except in the aforementioned sweet chili sauce) but likes salty. A favored snack (or appetizer) is a dish of jarred Piquillo peppers adorned with anchovies and a splash of olive oil. HG always wondered why Canadian markets keep their tinned anchovies refrigerated while US markets keep anchovies on the shelves with tuna, sardines, etc. HG found the answer in a recent communication from Zingerman’s, the midwest’s answer to Zabar’s: If anchovies aren’t kept refrigerated, they get soft and lose flavor. Sardines and tuna increase in flavor when they are stored in the pantry. Go figure.

The best gumbo in the world is SJ’s chicken and andouille (or chorizo) sausage gumbo. Far better than vaunted New Orleans Creole or Cajun gumbo. Unlike talented (as writer, cook and reggae impresario) SJ, HG doesn’t have the patience or skill to make the flavorful roux that is the base of lush gumbo. So, last night HG turned out a simple version of bacon and vegetable gumbo. Reinforced with splashes of Frank’s Hot Sauce, it turned out to be a robust dish. HG browned five slices of thick cut bacon, onions and okra. When the mix had softened, HG added a can of Italian plum tomatoes and simmered for twenty minutes. Three ears of left over Blum’s corn were in the fridge. Added the delicious kernels to the pan and warmed for another ten minutes. Stirred with File powder (left over from SJ’s last PEI visit). Served the gumbo over basmati brown rice. No match for SJ’s masterpiece. However….

A wee drop of autumn cool in the Prince Edward Island breeze. To some this can foretell colorful leaf excursions, tweed jackets, football games, the dreaded pumpkin spice, etc. What does greedy HG ponder this season? Hot melted cheese extravaganzas. Mundane (but tasty) toasted cheddar cheese sandwiches, French croque monsieur sandwiches (Sandwiches of white bread doused with beaten egg and sautéed in butter enhancing the stuffing of ham and swiss cheese. Plus, a gilding of maple syrup). Greek sautéed cheese flamed with brandy, Melted brie topped with strawberry jam. Camembert baked atop shallots and sliced apples. Gratins of potatoes, onions, garlic and a heap of gruyere. Baked ziti covered with a pound of mozzarella (or just melted mozzarella on garlic rubbed country bread toast and topped with fruity olive oil and sea salt.) .Fondue? Boring.

HG/BSK’s Prince Edward Island home was buffeted with winds of almost Hurricane Irma velocity. However, HG/BSK luxuriated in comfort as BSK stoked HG/BSK’s Danish wood stove. Dinner was pure comfort. BSK cooked local hot and sweet Italian sausage with peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Hearty sauce. Served it over perfectly al dente papardelle. Oh, my! HG approached heaven. The sausage was good but it wasn’t the true flavor packed (lots of fennel seeds) Italian sausage available in New York (Greenwich Village-Ninth Avenue- 11th Avenue- Bronx: Arthur avenue and Mott Haven-Queens Corona-Brooklyn Carroll Gardens and Bensonhurst.) When HG/BSK lived in Manhattan and northern New Jersey, a favorite source for Italian sausages was Faicco’s Pork Storeon Bleecker Street (other location on 11th Avenue). The best. Faicco’s also had great mozzarella and many other Italian delicacies. Plus, fabulous hero sandwiches. If you are wandering in Greenwich Village and developing an appetite, order a take out Faicco’s sandwich. Be warned. One sandwich is more than enough for two hearty eaters. Abondanza!!

Corn. Butter. Sea salt. These three ingredients comprise a heavenly taste of Prince Edward Island. HG’s perfect dinner is a dozen Malpeque oysters on the half shell followed by three ears of local corn. BSK’s favorite source for sweet corn is Blum’s in Montague. Yesterday, BSK discovered a Montague merchant a shade better than Blum’s. Corn sold from the back of a station wagon. The name? Possibly “Deb and Gary”. The lovely Town of Montague (celebrating its 100th anniversary this year) may be the sweet corn capital of the world. PEI neighbor, beautiful Leslie F., was HG/BSK’s dinner guest last night. Lots of sweet corn, of course, followed by a Greek fish stew of hake, potatoes, onions, garlic, fennel and fish broth, Flavored with saffron and accompanied by a bowl of mayonnaise mixed with Sriracha. Very festive dish. BSK surprised with a dessert of blueberry clafouti and vanilla ice cream. (Lucky HG had left over clafouti for breakfast today.)