Good morning. I was in the Florida Keys earlier this week, visiting friends at the Key West Library and looking for fish on the cold-chapped flats south of Saddlebunch, and this weekend all I want to do is cook from the memories of the food I had There.
For example, the roast pork at El Siboney on Stock Island, with yellow rice, black beans and sweet plantains, the meat softer and even silkier than a traditional pernil. (In our recipe, Von Diaz tents the pork loosely with foil for an hour of cooking. I think I’ll wrap it tightly for two hours and see if that produces the desired result.) Also served the chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes, white gravy, and blistered asparagus. in the Geiger Key Marina: crunchy-soft-salty-sweet. (In this recipe I use chicken thighs instead of the cube steak for a more traditional fried steak, then keep the skin on for this mashed potato and use a heavy hand on the salt for the roasted asparagus.)
And I’d definitely like to try a version of the salami and hot honey pizza that Rafe Halpern serves at the Seaside Cafe at Southernmost House in Key West. For that I need pizza dough; a sauce of canned tomatoes stewed with diced salami and garlic; some shredded pieces of low-moisture mozzarella and grated pecorino; and a healthy drizzle of honey warmed with red pepper flakes at the end. (Here’s how to make pizza, if you want to try it yourself.)
That is what I am, incessantly carried back to the past. It was unusually cold when I visited, and those meals brought warmth. Maybe you prefer cooking a little less improvising. For that, check out this great dinner menu from our David Tanis: mozzarella with charred radicchio and salsa verde, followed by rigatoni al forno with cauliflower and broccoli rabe (above), and Italian almond cookies for dessert.
Or you could try these great vegetarian Swedish meatballs, in which mushrooms, chickpeas and bulgur combine to deliver the texture of ground beef in a velvety mushroom gravy. Serve, of course, over generously buttered noodles.
Maybe a potato cheddar soup with quick pickled jalapeños? A baked Alfredo pasta with broccoli rabe and lemon? Creamy vegan polenta with mushrooms and kale?
And absolutely, if you want to send the universe a message about the seriousness of weekend cooking, try Sunday Eggs Benedict, perhaps with the addition of some reheated fresh crab. That’s lovely too.
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Now it has nothing to do with cardamom or beets, but you should read Claire L. Evans in The Verge, about her search for Susan Headley, an early computer hacker and telephone phreaker then known as Suzy Thunder. It’s a wild ride.
I write in the Times New Roman font and tolerate no exceptions, but RE Hawley, in DailyExpertNews Magazine, still makes me reconsider Garamond.
The London Review of Books has compiled a fine collection of texts from its archives, all about the joys of partying. It’s worth diving into: “Delicious Sponge Cake.”
Finally, Isabelia Herrera wrote in The Times about Raveena’s latest single, featuring Vince Staples: ‘Secret’. (I could listen to Staples rapping “Pretty Women on Sunset” about 10,000 times.) Listen to that, and I’ll see you Sunday.
