Charcut. Vol. 15
Charcut. Vol. 15
Some poems, a feast, some joys & a vibe. Plus! Little turtles as bullet points.
Poems for you:
𓆉 “Candle Hat” by Billy Collins
𓆉 “The Patience of Ordinary Things” by Pat Schneider
𓆉 “Tomatoes” by Joy Sullivan
𓆉 “Dog in Bed” by Joyce Sidman
A Feast for Me:
𓆉 I threw my quarterly dinner party this month on the night before the summer solstice. It was a delight, a joy, a cup full of love. Not least of all because I had the day off, and could dedicate my precious focus to achieving perfection.
The menu was designed to involve the least possible amount of stove/oven related heat as possible. My kitchen fan has been working overtime. There would be caprese (because…see poem above re: tomatoes), pasta salad (because this is a pro-pasta salad household), and flounder (because white fish = summer). Then strawberry shortcake.
I awoke in the morning with many errands to run. First stop, Di Palo’s on Grand. Two balls of fresh mozzarella and six marinated artichokes.
It was 10:00am. The mozzarella wasn’t ready yet. Come back in 45 minutes and I’ll serve you right away. Off to the grocery store for grocery store things—pasta, pine nuts, whipping cream, salted butter and flour.
Then I carried those heavy bags back to Grand Street, got my mozzarella and my artichokes. Decided an Uber had to be called and sat there with a watering mouth on the way home. There was fresh, warm mozzarella in my bag.
I nestled the first load into my fridge and set off for the farmer’s market. Tomatoes, basil, lemons, flowers. Strawberries!!!! The flounder!!!!!
Everything was going according to plan. I pride myself on my ability to prep a meal in advance and to clean while I’m going. I was hitting my stride. The pine nuts were toasted, artichokes chopped, parmesan shaved, basil julienned. A dressing—garlic, mustard, lemon zest and juice, champagne vinegar, olive oil, salt, pep—was made with care, and waiting in the fridge while the pasta cooled.
I started prep on my sweet biscuit dough for the shortcakes. My stepmom’s recipe, that I just can’t figure out how to make as well as she does. I whipped the cream with sugar and vanilla.
The pasta was cool. I needed to shower, but I’d mix it all together first. In the process of removing all the precious pieces out of the fridge, in a moment of pure horror, I stood and watched as the little metal bowl, full of my carefully prepared (garlic-y, oily, mustardy) dressing, uncovered and precariously balanced on top of a carton of eggs, tipped and toppled, spilling all over the inside of the fridge, blanketing the jar of cornichons and the mint jelly and the tomato paste & one IPA in the main door pocket. The bowl clattered to the floor, splattering dressing quite literally all over the walls. I stood, mouth agape, considering. My phone was dead, so the first thing I did was go plug that in. Then I spent an hour cleaning.
The absurdity and the avoidability, the sorrow over losing such delicious dressing, so perfectly proportioned. The show had to and did go on. I was worried my second batch of dressing was too garlicky. My friends love garlic. Everything was perfect.
The pasta was fusilli bucati with the aforementioned ingredients, along with several hearty handfuls of arugula. I let it sit in the fridge marinating for around 4 hours.
The caprese was caprese. I displayed superhuman self-control in ONLY eating the end pieces off both balls of mozzarella. Yes, that’s the best part, but I’m still a hero. A big basil leaf on each stack. Only olive oil and flaky salt. NO balsamic (sorry, but this is an anti-balsamic household). If you want pepper, go easy with it.
The fish is my mom’s recipe. Salted butter, olive oil and red pepper flakes in a pyrex (or other oven safe dish). Put it in the oven for a few minutes to melt the butter. Dredge the fish, lightly salted and peppered, in the butter, oil, pepper flake elixir and nestle into the pan. Throw it under the broiler for ~7-10 minutes. That’s all! It’s insanely good.
If you want the strawberry shortcake recipe, get in touch and I might give it to you.
Big strawberry kisses.
A Note from The Joy Journal™:
𓆉 6/1: the entire day
𓆉 6/6: the clouds are good clouds
𓆉 6/13: two little birds hopping up the steps of a brownstone on 9th street, looking like they were getting ready to knock on the door
𓆉 6/25: looking into people’s windows in the dark
A Parting Vibe:
