The Ash Creek Papers

On a couple of levels this recipe is a perfect fit.  First, consider what follows as a variation to the literary tale of Mr. Jack Sprat and his Missus.  But neither fat nor lean need detain us in telling the story that unfolds.   This story involves the consumption of lobster, and more specifically, the preferential parts of a cooked lobster for the eating.   Sandy, you see, can think of nothing better than to detach the tail and claws & put them to the side in order to focus her activity on the remaining carapace & little feelers… which she proceeds to dismantle, pick, crunch, smash & chew her way thru with a medieval relish.  It’s not as if she wouldn’t eventually turn her attention to the claws and tail.  But why suffer the distraction?  Particularly if she can consign those parts to some other party?

This is where I come in.  Although I am well trained in eating a complete  lobster, I prefer to direct full enthusiasm to scarfing down the tail and claws, leaving the rest to a desultory post script.  I think you see where this going.  Years ago we, that is Sandy & me, settled into a beautiful accord: the Pact of 71 Woodbury Hill, wherein I trade my carapace and feelers for Sandy’s tail and claws.  Each of us sees this as hitting the “lobster lottery.”  Quod erat demonstrandum… a perfect fit.

And so it remained for many years.  Sadly, of recent, I have not been upholding my end of the bargain.  Gone are the days when I could without blush, polish off the two tails, four claws… and an andouille sausage, an ear of corn, a small red potato, a good portion of clams and maybe a chicken thigh (all part of our steamed in beer clam bake & washed down with a bottle of a crisp white wine).  Now?  I’m lucky if I can finish off one tail, two claws, a side of slaw and a glass of Muscadet.  Sandy?  She continues to render her two lobster bodies into rubble… her finished plate is a scene reminiscent of what Berlin looked like in April 1945.

I have come to terms with my diminished capacity for chowing down.  But it does leave an unresolved matter of what to do with the surplus tail and claws?  Having been nurtured on fresh  hot buttered lobster rolls from Jimmies of Savin Rock, I consider cold lobster salad as a supremely inappropriate use of leftover tails and claws.  Cue the recipe for “Lobster Cacio e Pepe”!  It’s an enhanced version of a classic pepper and cheese pasta dish that uses, wait for it, lobster tail and claw meat! Further, this recipe is designed “for two”!  Yes! The dots are connected! Another perfect fit!

For wine I have selected Bourgogne Blanc from a small Domaine in Chassagne-Montrachet.  The wine has a perfect depth of flavor that pairs superbly with the pepper and cheese in the pasta, yet without overpowering the supple lobster meat.  The wine angels in heaven are smiling.

Domaine Paul Pillot Bourgogne Blanc ’18 (Burgundy, France)
Domaine Paul Pillot, today one of the finest addresses in the Côte de Beaune, has been directed since 2004 by the young and dynamic Thierry Pillot. The Domaines wines are characterful, elegantly textural and mouthwateringly incisive.  The Bourgogne Blanc is sourced from Villages vineyards in Chassagne (60%) and Remigny (40%), and therefore must be classified as Bourgogne.  But there is nothing “ordinary” in the finished wine.  Fermented and aged in 350L barrels (10% new) for 12 months + 6 months in tank before bottling.  The 2018 hits all the quality notes: elegant, finesse driven with surprising complexity for a Bourgogne. Pale in hue, the wine has an inviting scent of freshness that leads to a palate that has a soft complexity of light hazelnuts and lemon rind.  A clean dry finish that is kissed with a subtle wet stone minerality.  An excellent value in this Domaine’s terrific portfolio.

LOBSTER CACIO e PEPE

Ingredients
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
½ lb of uncooked spaghetti
1 ½ cups of lobster meat, cut into chunks
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 ½ oz pecorino Romano cheese, grated (about a ½ cup, plus 2 tbsp)
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon

Directions
1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Cook spaghetti according to directions on the box. Put lobster chunks into the base of a colander.

3. Drain cooked spaghetti over the lobster in the colander, reserving a ¼ cup of cooking water.

4. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add cheese, pepper, salt and the ¼ cup of cooking water, stir, mixing well & cheese melted.  Add the spaghetti and lobster to the skillet.  Mix to coat the spaghetti.

5. Serve and garnish with tarragon.

n.b. The recipe also suggested that more cooking water (and additional ¼ cup) could be added to create a “creamier” sauce, although I like it the way it is.  As you can well see, this is a very simple recipe, and I have to believe that it is scalable to accommodate more people sitting at the table.

John Adams was the second President of the United States. Always included as one of our “Founding Fathers”, but before becoming an important voice in the First Continental Congress, he gained fame as a trial lawyer.  In October 1770 John Adams famously defended Captain Thomas Preston in the trial that followed the “Boston Massacre”.  He won his acquittal, because it was impossible to prove that Preston had ordered his soldiers to fire.  Adams went on to joining a key delegation, that included Benjamin Franklin, that was sent to France to secure support for the American cause.  At the conclusion of the Revolution, he served as George Washington’s Vice President, and then was elected President to succeed Washington.

It was during his time in France when Adams developed his interest in “matters that pertained to the preparation of what we enjoy at the table.” When Adams headed to the Continent,  Abigail Adams had remained home in Braintree, but Adams brought his 10 year old son John Quincy along with him on the trip in order to “promote for young John an expanded view of the world.”  And when in Paris Adams wrote to Abigail, “… the kid has to eat! So I put on apron & picked up spoon to prepare our dinner.”

And so it goes.  Adams was the first President to reside in the newly built White House, he continued his interest in preparing family meals, once ordering Abigail out of the kitchen with a stern rebuke, “Madam, I have this well taken care of. Leave. Vex me no more!”

I have selected one of Adams’ “signature dishes” that he often prepared when hosting informal gatherings at the White House.  My wine choice?  A thoroughly American Cabernet Sauvignon: the 2016 Malk Family Vineyards.  One could make a case that Napa Valley produces the finest Cabernet Sauvignon wines on the planet!  And that’s coming from me, a dyed-in-the-wool lover of Bordeaux!  Malk Family Vineyards’ Cab is the only California wine that I follow from one vintage to the next.  Robbie Meyer is a gifted winemaker and he brings a rigor to vineyard management and a deft touch in the cellar that is seen in his Malk Cabs, regardless of Napa’s overall vintage success.  In short, this guy doesn’t know how to make an ordinary wine!

Malk Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon ’16 (Stags Leap, Napa) 
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon is the best wine I have tasted from Malk. Dark, pliant and inviting, with terrific fruit purity, the 2016 is very nicely balanced. Dark cherry, plum, violet, spice and menthol all run through this plump, juicy Stags Leap Cabernet. Silky tannins add to the wine’s considerable appeal and immediacy. Drink it over the next 15-20 years. 93pts Vinous

JOHN ADAMS’ BEEF BRISKET

Ingredients
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
3 lbs beef brisket (preferably flat cut)
2 tsp kosher salt divided
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
½ cup ketchup
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 lb red potatoes, cut into 2” pieces
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces

Directions

1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Pat brisket dry. Sprinkle brisket on all sides with 1 tsp of salt. Place brisket in slow cooker

3. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes more.

4. Add smoked paprika, black pepper, thyme, oregano and remaining tsp of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until very fragrant, about 1 minute.

5. Transfer the onions to the slow cooker, and place on the brisket.

6. Return the pan to medium-heat, add broth and deglaze pan.  Add ketchup, brown sugar and tomato paste and stir to combine.  Bring mixture to a simmer, reduce slightly then pour over the onions and the brisket.

7. Add potatoes and carrots, tucking them around the brisket.  Cook on LOW for six hours.

8. Transfer the brisket to a cutting board.  Slice, served with potatoes, carrots and cooked onions & sauce. 

n.b.  After taking the brisket out of the slow cooker, if desired use a spoon to scrape the “fat cap” it off. Or alternatively if you’d like to remove more fat, slice the brisket and return it to the slow cooker to cool and then refrigerate the contents – let the fat harden, remove fat – and reheat, serve the next day! 

Other notes… I made up some of the Adams’ stuff.  And I actually couldn’t verify that this recipe, or anything close to it, could be attributed to a connection to John Adams

I love recipes that are easy to assemble and prepare.  Minimum prep time, and then if the dish can be consigned to a slow cooker, we are in “home run” territory!  This chicken dish not only packs wonderful flavor, it is so easy that it is almost embarrassing!  In fact, it rates an 8.7 on the “embarrassment scale!”  To put that into context, making plain Jell-o rates a 9.5 – it misses a perfect 10 because sometimes opening the contents packet can prove a vexing exercise.  The dish itself is a perfect “transitional” dish, i.e. winter is long gone, and true warm weather is still in the nearing horizon.

Gérard Boulay Sancerre “Chavignol” ’18 (Loire, France)
Of the 9ha owned by Gérard Boulay, 8 of the hectares are on the slopes of Chavignol on Kimmeridgian or “terre blanche” soils (similar to the soils in Chablis), which he works manually and has farmed organically since 1990. Overall, Gérard Boulay’s “terre blanche” vineyards produce some of the most distinctive and soil-inflected Sauvignon Blancs in the Loire, with a delineation and minerality often reminiscent of a top Chablis. The 2018 Chavignol offers classic gooseberry and lime zest aromas mingle with notes of minty herb, stone, almond and white flowers. On the palate the wine is pure with a solid core of fruit, excellent focus, racy acidity and a long, mouth watering finish.

SLOW COOKER APRICOT CHICKEN

Ingredients
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
1 tsp olive oil
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Zest & juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 cup sliced onion
1 cup dried apricots, halved

Apricot chicken prepped and in the slow cooker

Directions
1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat

3. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.  Add to pan and cook 5-6 minutes, until browned, turning once.

4. Combine chicken broth, lemon zest and juice, mustard, garlic and thyme in the slow cooker and whisk to combine. 

5. Add onions, apricots and seared chicken thighs to the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours

6. Look frazzled and be sure to tell everyone how long you fussed and  labored over making this dish

n.b. Rice or coucous is the “natural” side dish.  A perfect for landing place for the sauce!  Shredded hash brown potatoes would also do the job!