Julia Turshen s Small Victories I put this menu together because it includes lots of big, unabashed flavors in a few very simple recipes. It s basically an easy pasta and salad meal, but with enough twists to make it a bit more interesting and memorable than usual. The recipes are some of my favorites to cook with a group of friends because the tasks are no trouble to divide, including assigning someone to pick up some ice cream and cookies for dessert! I hope you enjoy cooking these dishes as much as I do, and especially hope the menu gives you a great reason to have fun in the kitchen with people you love. That s my favorite part about cooking. JULIA TURSHEN MENU Lots of Italian Red Wine Gus s House Salad Cauliflower with Anchovy Bread Crumbs Oreccchiette with Spicy Sausage + Parmesan Store-bought Ice Cream + Cookies
Gus s House Salad SERVES 4 GENEROUSLY One of my favorite restaurants in the world is Gus s (officially called Gus s Franklin Park Restaurant, but I have never heard anyone use its whole name) in Harrison, New York, the town I grew up in after my parents traded the city for the suburbs. Just about everyone who goes there orders the house salad, a mix of crispy iceberg lettuce, sharp onions, sweet tomatoes, and plenty of assertive blue cheese, all dressed with oil and vinegar, heavy on the vinegar. The salad, not to mention the restaurant itself, hasn t changed in decades, and I love that. The small victory with this salad is learning how to dress a salad without making a dressing. Just like making biscuits (see page 53), dressing a salad freestyle means using your hands and knowing the feel of when something is right. It also means tasting as you go, an essential practice for anyone who steps foot in the kitchen. 1 head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves discarded, cut into 1-in [2.5-cm] pieces ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp [90 ml] olive oil, plus more as needed (no need to use anything fancy here) ¼ cup [60 ml] red wine vinegar, plus more as needed Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 large ripe tomato, roughly chopped ½ small red onion, very thinly sliced 1 cup [100 g] crumbled dry blue cheese Put the lettuce in a large bowl and drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with ½ tsp salt and a few grinds of pepper. Using your hands (just go for it), mix everything together. The lettuce should be very well dressed (taste for seasoning and add more olive oil, vinegar, salt, and/or pepper as needed). Add the tomato, onion, and blue cheese and gently toss everything together (you can use salad spoons or tongs now if you don t want your hands to smell like blue cheese). Serve immediately. TOSS PEPPERY ARUGULA with olive oil and fresh lemon juice and top with large, thin shards of Parmesan. DRESS THINLY SLICED RAW MUSHROOMS with olive oil and fresh lemon juice and top with chopped hazelnuts and grated pecorino cheese. DRESS SLICED PEELED ORANGES, torn black olives, and thinly sliced red onions with olive oil and red wine vinegar.
Cauliflower with Anchovy Bread Crumbs SERVES 4 As much as I love roasted cauliflower, the anchovy bread crumbs (crunchy! salty! umami!) are really the heroes here. I made them for the first time when I was fixing a simple dinner, and a platter of plain roasted cauliflower just seemed to be begging for something special. There was a stale loaf of bread on the counter and a tin of anchovies in the cupboard. Done and done. Learning to repurpose old bread into bread crumbs is a small victory that feeds my hate-to-throw-out-useful-things soul. To make them, simply break stale bread into small pieces and pulse them in a food processor until they re as fine or as coarse as you d like them. Coarse is best for this recipe. 1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into small florets ½ cup [120 ml] extra-virgin olive oil ½ tsp kosher salt 1 garlic clove, minced 4 oil-packed anchovies, drained 1 ½ cups [210 g] coarse bread crumbs (see headnote) ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh Italian parsley Preheat your oven to 425 F [220 C]. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet, drizzle with 3 Tbsp of the olive oil, sprinkle with the salt, and toss everything together. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is tender and well browned, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet over mediumhigh heat, warm 3 Tbsp olive oil. Add the garlic and anchovies and cook, stirring, until the anchovies have completely disintegrated into the oil. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they ve absorbed all of the oil and are brown and a bit crisp, about 5 minutes. Stir in the pepper and parsley and remove from the heat. Scatter the bread crumbs evenly over the cauliflower and drizzle everything with the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil. Serve immediately. SERVE THE ANCHOVY BREAD CRUMBS ON TOP OF SPAGHETTI in lieu of or in addition to cheese. It can be plain spaghetti that s simply been tossed with olive oil and garlic, or just with tomato sauce, or even white clam sauce. TURN THE ROASTED CAULIFLOWER INTO SOUP by pureeing it with 6 cups [1.4 L] chicken stock. Serve each bowl topped with anchovy bread crumbs. You can make bread crumbs the same way using DIFFERENT FLA- VORINGS, substituting chopped rosemary for the anchovies, for example, or substituting fresh oregano for the parsley. For a VEGAN VERSION, use capers instead of anchovies. For a CHEESY VERSION, you can add some finely grated Parmesan or pecorino at the last minute. These are excellent on top of tomato soup.
Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage + Parmesan SERVES 4 TO 6 I have a soft spot for old-school Italian American restaurants. I love how they all pretty much have the same menus and how each one promotes one or two signature pasta dishes that, according to my very unofficial research, always seem to have a bit of sausage meat and cream (like the legendary Rigatoni Pitti at Bar Pitti on Sixth Avenue in New York). This orecchiette full of spicy Italian sausage and sweet onions, with a final warm bath of a little cream and plenty of Parmesan is my rendition. It s also my favorite thing to eat on a cold night, preferably on the couch in front of a movie (though it does make for a great, simple dinner-party dish, and then all you need is a salad and something sweet for afterward). The small victory here is all about taking the pasta out of the boiling water before it is totally done and finishing it in the sauce. I like to think of dried pasta as a sponge that swells with whatever you re boiling it in when you cook it. Trading the last few minutes of cooking in water for something more flavorful gives you pasta with the most impact. Also, save some of the starchy pasta cooking water for finishing the dish. It lets you elongate the sauce and better coat the pasta without having to add more cream. 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed 8 oz [230 g] spicy Italian sausage, casings removed 2 large yellow onions, very thinly sliced Kosher salt 1 lb [455 g] orecchiette or a short pasta such as penne or garganelli 8 oz [230 g] baby spinach ¼ cup [60 ml] heavy cream or ¼ cup [60 ml] milk plus 2 Tbsp half-and-half Grated zest of 1 large lemon 1 cup [90 g] finely grated Parmesan cheese In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil and crumble in the sausage. Cook, stirring now and then, until the sausage is really well browned, all of its fat is rendered, and little bits of meat are sticking to the bottom of the pan, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage to a plate and set aside. Add the onions to the pan, sprinkle with a large pinch of salt, and turn the heat to medium-low. Depending on how much fat the sausage released, your pan might be almost dry; if so, add 1 to 2 Tbsp olive oil. Cook the onions, stirring them every so often, until they ve completely collapsed, are dark brown, and have picked up all the stuck bits of sausage, about 30 minutes. Transfer the onions to the plate with the sausage. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the orecchiette, bring the water back to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes less than the package tells you to (or until the orecchiette is cooked through but maintains a little bite). Use a mug to collect about 1 cup [240 ml] of the cooking water and set it aside. Drain the orecchiette in a colander, give it a good shake, and then return it to the now-empty pot over low heat. Add the reserved sausage and onions and stir everything to combine. Add the spinach in handfuls, tossing to wilt each handful before you add the next. Then add the cream, lemon zest, and half of the Parmesan. If the orecchiette seems a bit dry, add some of the reserved cooking water (I will leave the amount to your discretion it depends on how much water ended up in the pot when you transferred the orecchiette from the colander). Season to taste with salt. Transfer the orecchiette to a serving bowl or to individual bowls and top with the rest of the Parmesan. Serve immediately.
FOR PENNE VODKA, heat a slick of olive oil with some minced garlic in a skillet and add a can of whole peeled tomatoes that you ve crushed with your hands (the tomatoes, not the can). Add a splash of vodka and simmer for 20 minutes, then add a splash of cream. Finish cooking the penne in the sauce and serve with grated Parmesan. FOR PENNE ARRABBIATA, do the garlic, oil, and tomato thing, but also add a generous pinch of red pepper flakes or a few crushed dried red chile peppers. FOR SPAGHETTI PUTTANESCA, heat a slick of olive oil with some minced garlic and anchovies in a skillet and add a can of whole peeled tomatoes that you ve crushed with your hands. After it all simmers for 20 minutes, stir in some capers and crushed olives and then finish cooking your spaghetti in the sauce. Serve topped with lots of chopped parsley. FOR FETTUCCINE AMATRICI- ANA, sauté some diced guanciale or pancetta (or prosciutto or even bacon), sliced onions, and a pinch of red pepper flakes in a skillet until the pork is crisp and the onions are tender. Add a can of whole peeled tomatoes that you ve crushed with your hands and simmer for 20 minutes. Finish cooking your fettuccine in the sauce. Serve topped with lots of grated Parmesan.