• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 350 0

Manti into the water and cook until they rise to the surface. Meanwhile, finely chop the remaining shallot. Warm a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and sage, swirling the pan until melted. Add the chopped shallot to the skillet. Retrieve the Manti with a skimmer, gently shaking off as much water as you can, and add them to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Swirl and cook just until the butter begins to turn golden and smell slightly nutty, a minute or so. Spoon some Manti, along with some of the butter mixture, onto warm plates. Top each with a few fried shallot rings.

RICOTTA

If you can find fresh ricotta, it will work much, much better than drained supermarket ricotta (fresh sheep’s milk ricotta is the very best). And don’t even bother with part skim. Sometimes you have to commit to a certain level of fat, and this is one of those times.

The difference between fresh and supermarket is even more crucial for ricotta than it is for yogurt. Draining yogurt overnight removes a great deal of water, but the process doesn’t work as well with ricotta, even if it’s drained for 24 hours. The dumplings will still work, but the dough will be quite wet, so you’ll have to add much more flour to create dumplings strong enough to hold up to cooking, and they’ll be floury and glutinous.

SHELLFISH YOUVETSI

YOUVETSI ME OSTRAKA

SERVES 4 TO 6, OR MORE FAMILY-STYLE, AS PART OF A LARGER SPREAD

A youvetsi is a clay pot used to cook lamb by herdsmen in the mountains of Greece. They typically dug a hole, made a fire in the hole, and then allowed it to burn to embers. They placed the clay pot on top of the embers and then buried it. The herdsmen then tended to their flock and revisited the makeshift oven several hours later for dinner. Here I played around with tradition by using shellfish for a lighter, quicker version of this classic.

In this paella-like dish, add the longer-cooking shellfish first and those that require very little cooking, such as the shrimp and the razor clams, toward the very end, so that they are all done at the same time. My version is dominated by the mussels, mostly because they are less expensive than the other shellfish. Feel free to vary the ratio of shellfish any way you like. Sometimes I like to add some sliced spicy lamb sausage (merguez) at the beginning, with the vegetables.

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 Spanish or sweet onion, chopped

1 bulb fennel, quartered, cored, and roughly chopped

6 whole scallions, sliced

5 cloves garlic, smashed

4 stalks celery, roughly chopped

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

Large pinch of saffron threads

6 littleneck clams

30 mussels, beards pulled away

2 cups dry white wine

2 tablespoons ouzo (optional)

4 razor clams

1 cup orzo, cooked and drained

6 U-10 shrimp, peeled

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)

Small handful picked sprigs parsley, chopped

Small handful picked sprigs dill, chopped

15 leaves fresh mint, chopped

4 small lemons, halved

In a large, deep skillet, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion, fennel, scallions, garlic, and celery. Cook, stirring, until nicely softened but not browned. Season generously with salt and pepper and stir in the saffron. Add the clams and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the mussels next, and let them warm for about a minute. Then add the white wine and ouzo; bring quickly to a simmer. Add the razor clams and cover the pan.

Keep an eye on the shellfish; when they are all at least a little bit open, add the orzo. Finally, add the shrimp and cook until they are bright pink. Discard any shellfish that remain tightly closed. Swirl in the butter until it’s all melted, and remove the skillet from the heat. Add herbs. Squeeze all the lemon halves over the top. Toss well and serve.

DUMPLINGS WITH SAUSAGE, DANDELION GREENS, SUN-DRIED TOMATO & PINE NUTS

ZYMARIKA, LOUKANIKO, AGRIA RADIKIA, LIASTES TOMATES, KOUKOUNARI

MAKES 90 DUMPLINGS SERVES 8 NOW OR 4 NOW AND 4 AGAIN, UP TO FOUR WEEKS LATER

These delicate dumplings