In the Hands of a Chef (7 page)

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

½ cup dried medium white beans (navy or cannellini), picked over for stones and broken beans, and rinsed

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 medium white onion, chopped into ½-inch dice

1 small carrot, chopped into ½-inch dice

½ celery stalk, chopped into ½-inch dice

1 fennel bulb, trimmed of stalks and tough outer layers, cut in half lengthwise, cored, and chopped into ½-inch dice

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

4 bay leaves

3 cups Fish Stock (page 33) or 2 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) plus 1 cup bottled clam juice

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

2 anchovies, rinsed and finely chopped

1 teaspoon minced lemon zest

40 littleneck clams (3½ to 4 pounds), scrubbed

1 cup dry white wine

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

1.
Put the beans in a medium saucepan, cover with 2 inches of water, and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Let sit uncovered for 1 hour. Drain.

2.
Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and fennel, and cook until tender and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add two-thirds of the garlic, the fennel seeds and bay leaves, and cook 2 minutes.

3.
Add the drained beans, stir well, and then add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour.

4.
Add the fish stock and continue cooking until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes. The mixture should still be quite soupy by the time the beans are done; if not, add more water as necessary. Stir in the thyme and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm below a simmer.

5.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the remaining
garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Add the anchovies, lemon zest, clams, and white wine, cover, and cook until the clams have opened, about 5 minutes. Discard any clams that don’t open.

6.
Add the clams and the steaming liquid to the beans and stir in the basil. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary. Ladle into warm bowls, drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and serve immediately.

E
very home cook needs the
first-course equivalent of a little black dress—convenient and provocative at the same time. This is a rich, astonishingly quick appetizer soup that leaves you wanting more. The classic chowder trio of seafood, salt pork, and milk metamorphoses into chunks of lobster and corn kernels suspended in an aromatic base of smoked trout and cream. Using homemade lobster or fish stock gives it a depth of flavor unusual in a soup that cooks so briefly. The ingredients shouldn’t come together until the last moment, when they’re heated for just a few minutes, so don’t assemble the chowder until you’re ready to serve it.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Kosher salt

One 1-pound lobster (or ¼ pound freshly cooked lobster meat)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 ears corn, husked and kernels stripped off with a sharp knife (about 1½ cups)

2 shallots, finely diced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups light cream

2 cups Lobster Stock (page 34) or Fish Stock (page 33) or 1 cup clam juice plus 1 cup water

2 ounces smoked trout, skin and any bones removed, broken into small pieces

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives for garnish

1.
If you’re using a live lobster, set a steaming rack in a large pot big enough to hold the lobster. The rack should sit at least 2 inches off the bottom of the pot (support it on ramekins if necessary). Add 1 inch of salted water to the pot and bring to a boil. Set the lobster on the rack, cover, and steam for 10 minutes. Let cool.

2.
When the lobster is cool enough to handle, crack open the shell and remove the meat from the tail and claws. Cut the meat into ½-inch pieces. Cover and refrigerate.

3.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the corn and cook until it starts to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 more minutes until aromatic. Add the cream and lobster stock and heat through. Add the lobster and smoked trout and heat until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper.

4.
Ladle the chowder into warm bowls, sprinkle with the chopped chives, and serve.

T
oo many cheese soups are
weighty, gloppy affairs. This recipe produces a lighter soup with a smooth, creamy body infused with the spectacular flavor of Stilton cheese. Stilton’s unique taste easily justifies its position as England’s only name-protected cheese, so don’t make the mistake of substituting any old blue cheese for the genuine article.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 medium leeks, white part only, trimmed of roots and tough outer leaves, thinly sliced crosswise, and swirled vigorously in a bowl of cold water to remove any grit

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 baking potatoes, peeled, cut into quarters, and placed in a bowl with water to cover

4 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

2 bunches watercress, tough stems removed, washed and coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

3 ounces Stilton (If Stilton is unavailable, substitute French Fourme d’Ambert or Italian Gorgonzola
naturale,
also called “aged” Gorgonzola—not
dolce,
or “sweet, “ Gorgonzola)

GARNISHES (OPTIONAL)

12 very thin slices peeled and cored apple (keep covered with lightly salted water)

4 to 6 small sprigs watercress, large stems removed

2 to 3 teaspoons chopped walnuts

1.
Melt the butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.

2.
Remove the potatoes from the water and add them to the saucepan. Add the chicken stock, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Add the watercress and simmer until it’s tender but still green, 3 to 4 minutes.

3.
Carefully purée the soup in a food processor. Pour the purée through a coarse strainer into a clean pan. Heat the soup over medium heat until hot. Add the cream and Stilton, stirring constantly until the cheese has melted. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

4.
Ladle the soup into warm bowls. If using the garnishes, float a few slices of apple and a sprig of watercress atop each portion. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts, and serve immediately.

M
ussels are the harried cook’s
friend. The simple process of steaming them with white wine, garlic, and a few herbs produces a broth so intensely flavorful that you can just adjust the seasonings and call it a day—with a great soup. If saffron and tomatoes are on hand, you have the makings of one of the Mediterranean’s storied flavor combinations, and the basis of dozens of different fish stews. Perhaps because this takes so little effort, and happens so quickly, slices of grilled rustic bread are more often associated with this type of soup than polenta. Why make more work? But polenta adds a dimension that bread does not. Bread is a pleasant companion; polenta elevates the dish with its own flavor and texture. Mussels are extremely perishable and should be eaten within a day of cooking, but the exquisite broth will last for a couple of days if refrigerated.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

POLENTA

2 cups water

Kosher salt

½ cup coarsely ground cornmeal

½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

SOUP

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Kosher salt

Pinch of saffron

½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

48 mussels, scrubbed and debearded

6 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled (see page 55), seeded, and chopped into ¼-inch dice

1 cup dry white wine

3 cups Fish Stock (page 33) or 2 cups Chicken Stock (page 31), plus 1 cup bottled clam juice

½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

1.
Bring the water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan over high heat. Add
½
teaspoon salt, then add the polenta in a slow, steady stream through your fingers, whisking constantly so it doesn’t clump up. If you get any lumps, mash them against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon and keep stirring. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until the polenta is thick and shiny and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Regulate the heat as necessary so the mixture doesn’t boil over or cook too quickly.

2.
When the polenta is done, stir in the hot pepper flakes and cheese. Season with salt as necessary. Pour the polenta into a glass or ceramic loaf pan. Allow to cool uncovered in the refrigerator until chilled and firm, at least 30 minutes.

3.
When the polenta is cold, cut it into 4 or 6 equal triangular portions, depending on how many you want to serve. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

4.
Preheat the oven to 200°F.

5.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the polenta, top side down, and sear until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook on the second side until golden brown and heated through, about 3 minutes. Put the polenta into shallow ovenproof soup bowls and keep warm in the oven.

6.
Heat ½ cup of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, season with salt, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the saffron, red pepper flakes, mussels, and tomatoes, then add the wine, cover, and cook until the mussels open, 4 to 5 minutes. Divide the mussels among the soup bowls, discarding any mussels that haven’t opened, and return to the oven.

7.
Add the fish stock to the sauté pan and bring to a boil. Add the parsley and season with salt and pepper as necessary. Pour the soup over the mussels and polenta and serve immediately.

I
have a special fondness for
this recipe; I wrote it several months after our first child was born, while I was still the sous-chef at Hammersley’s Bistro in Boston. I’d go to the market in the morning before work and buy a chicken, a bunch of leeks, a bunch of carrots, and a head of celery. They’d go into a pot with some lemon and tarragon and chicken stock and everything would cook together for forty-five minutes. Later, Ken, who worked at home, would strip the meat off the bones, reduce the stock, and return everything to the pot along with some pasta. The result is thicker and richer than ordinary chicken soup. Then he’d purée some of the stew for Oliver. The two of them had dinner for the next three days.

Food writer Sheryl Julian published the recipe in the
Boston Globe
ten years ago and I suddenly found myself with a fan club. People stopped me in the street to tell me they’d made Oliver’s Chicken Stew. For years, when I’d pass through the dining room to check on things, new clients would introduce themselves by assuring me that they made my chicken stew. Once or twice a year someone still calls Rialto and says she’s lost the recipe and could I please send her a copy. The ingredients are standard French chicken soup, but my own theory is that the recipe is successful because it’s uncomplicated and it tricks people into making a rich chicken stock. Poaching the chicken and vegetables in stock makes it possible to remove the chicken before it overcooks, while the meat is still tasty. Reducing the poaching liquid intensifies the flavor, making a rich soup even more concentrated.

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

CHICKEN STEW

1 free-range chicken (about 3 pounds), washed

8 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

Kosher salt

5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced ¾ inch thick on an extreme diagonal

5 celery stalks, peeled and sliced ¾ inch thick on an extreme diagonal

4 medium leeks, white part only, trimmed of roots and tough outer leaves, sliced
¾
inch thick on an extreme diagonal, and swirled vigorously in a bowl of cold water to remove any grit