Molly's Peaches in Wine

Adapted from Delancey by Molly Wizenberg

Copyright Orangette

Actually, to say that finding a pizza cook was more complicated is an understatement along the line of Michelle Obama has arms.

My Favorite Quote from Delancey by Molly Wizenberg                                                                                        

I don’t do critiques here.  Not of restaurants, not of recipes, and not of books.  A critique would mean I’m giving you my opinion about the good and the badparts of something, and that’s not what I write about.  If I talk about it here, it means I like it, and sometimes it means I love it.

And that is the operational word about Molly Wizenberg’s second book, Delancey.

I LOVE IT!

First off, I’ve been a dedicated reader of Molly’s blog, Orangette, for years.  Second, I thought her first book, A Homemade Life, was splendid.  And maybe it shouldn't be third, but when I head downtown to the Essex Street Market to buy cheese from the pristine selection at Saxelby Cheesemongers, I get off the subway at the station shared by Essex Street and Delancey, the street for which the restaurant, and by default, the book Delancey was named.

On the official publication date, May sixth, the book was delivered, but I didn’t get it.  I kept waiting for a knock on the door of my apartment, but it didn’t come, and when I checked the tracking link on Amazon for where my book was, I found out it had been delivered to a different address – through my own fault in the pre-ordering process.

Bummer.

I couldn’t stand it anymore, so as I was getting ready to head off to bed, I downloaded the book and fell asleep wearing my glasses and holding my Kindle with Delancey on the screen.

I read it at every available moment until I finished it, and I have one thing to say:

Just read it.

Then make something from it.

Since my favorite dessert is Strawberries with Vanilla Ice Cream, I figured something just as simple might be the ticket.  I can’t always find good stone fruit in New York City – rarely local and certainly not at this time of year.  But last week the peaches at Fairway were so fragrant you could smell them from across the room, and they beckoned to me, reminding me of summer vacations spent at Sea Island, Georgia, buying peaches at the farmers’ market on St. Simon’s so this is what I chose.

If you like sangria, you will like this.  It is rather more of an idea than an actual recipe. Molly was inspired by David Tanis’s A Platter of Figs.  The deliciousness of this dessert will depend on how good the fruit is.

Molly's Peaches in Wine

Adapted from Delanceyby Molly Wizenberg

For four to six people take 4 medium sized ripe peaches – the best you can find (and Molly says nectarines are delicious this way too) – and rinse them, gently pat them dry, then cut into thin slices.  Molly says she likes to get 12 to 16 slices per peach, which, obviously, will depend on the size of the peaches you start out with.

Put the slices into a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Mix gently, and add 2 cups of wine – Molly suggests a crisp dry white or rosé.  I used a Grüner Veltliner, which is a lovely white wine from Austria that I generally keep on hand because it is so food-friendly and goes especially well with the things I like to make.  Then taste and add more sugar if you want it sweeter; Molly generally likes it made with 2 tablespoons for herself and up for 4 when making it for Brandon since he likes it sweeter than she does.  The amount of sugar will, of course, depend on your own preference, the sweetness of the fruit, and the wine you are using.  (I used three tablespoons for two peaches.)  If I had superfine sugar in the pantry, I would use it here.

Put the sliced fruit and the wine in a covered container.  (I made it with 2 peaches so a recycled jam jar was perfect.  Obviously, a French jelly jar with a red lid would work well too.)  Chill for 6 and up to 24 hours – 12 to 24 is probably best. 

Serve cold in squat glasses that you can easily get a spoon into.  Don’t forget to drink any liquid left in the glass.

This recipe can be increased or decreased as you wish, using sugar to taste and planning on using about ½ glass of wine per peach.

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At Long Last Meatballs - Meatballs with Pine Nuts and Currants

Adapted from Buvette, The Pleasure of Food by Jody Williams

I love meatballs.  Always have.  Always will.  So it wasn’t a big surprise when we met Godfrey and Angela at Gusto Ristorante on Greenwich Avenue that I ordered the Sicilian meatballs. 

What WAS a big surprise was that they were the best meatballs I had ever eaten.

They were about the size of a walnut, a little lumpy, and studded with pine nuts and currants, and there were eight of them bathed in a dark, smooth sauce.  At the waiter’s recommendation, I ordered the house-made tonnarelli with pecorino cheese and black pepper to eat with them, and the chewy, square-shaped salty, cheesy pasta was the perfect counterpoint to the meatballs – sweet in one bite, savory in the next.  If you want to know more about this delicious pasta, check out what Rachel has to say.

I Googled around and found out that the meatballs were originally made at Gusto’s by the chef Jody Williams, who by then had moved on to Morandi, taking her meatballs with her.  So I had two places to eat them and try to figure exactly what was in them.  I started experimenting around and came up with some pretty good meatballs, but none of them held a candle to the original.

Then, accompanied by a little NYC buzz, Jody Williams opened Buvette, her jewel-box of a restaurant on Grove Street in the West Village.  She calls it a gastrothèque - a place to hang out, read the paper, and eat and drink good things from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.  The first time I went there, I was disappointed not to find meatballs on the menu (but I did eat delicious roasted beets with horseradish crème fraîche and almonds and started trying to replicate them at home too).  The waiter told me Jody Williams was working on a cookbook, and I have been waiting for it ever since.

It was released last week, and I was lucky enough to win a copy from FOOD52.  There it is - on Page 194 - the recipe for THE meatballs.  Currants and pine nuts and garlic, oh my.

Having this book doesn’t mean I won’t be going back to Buvette, but it does mean I can enjoy the meatballs (as well as the Roast Beets with Horseradish Crème Fraîche) at home any time I want.  In my large collection of cookbooks, Buvette is a stand-out - highly recommended.

At Long Last Meatballs (Meatballs with Pine Nuts and Currants)

Adadpted from Buvette, The Pleasure of Good Food by Jody Williams

Your favorite tomato sauce simmering on the stove

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4  cup dried currants

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and finely diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon freshly-chopped flat leaf parsley

2 ounces homemade breadcrumbs from white bread (if you don't have your own bread, use Pepperidge Farm Sandwich Bread)

1/2 pound ground pork

1/2 pound ground veal

1/2 pound ground beef

Pinch of red chili flakes

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1-1/2 teaspoons Maldon Salt, crushed between your fingertips

1/2 teaspoon freshly round black pepper

1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese grated on a Microplane

1 large egg, beaten

Neutral oil for frying - I use grapeseed or peanut

Toast the pine nuts on top of the stove.  I use a 10-inch cast iron skillet, which gives me plenty of room to stir them as they toast.  They get crunchy as they turn slightly golden - they do not have to actually color - so take them out a little before you think you should.  Above all, do not let them burn, or you will have to start over.

Put the currants and sherry vinegar in a small bowl, and add a little warm water to soften them.  Let soak for 10 minutes, then drain.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and add the onion, and cook to soften. This will take about 6 minutes.  Then add the crushed garlic, and cook for 4 minutes more.  Add the parsley, and cook for 1 more minute. Remove the mixture from the skillet to a small plate with a slotted spoon, and using a fork, mash the garlic into a fine paste.  Then let this mixture cool.

Break the egg into a large bowl, and beat with a fork.  Then add all of the ground meat, the cooled onion-garlic-parsley mixture, the drained currants, toasted pine nuts, chili flakes (crushing with your fingers), nutmeg, Maldon Salt flakes (crushing with your fingers), pepper, cheese, and breadcrumbs.  Mix thoroughly with your hands.

Portion this mixture into meatballs using a 1-1/2 inch scoop to make them all the same size.  Roll them with your hands, but they do not have to be perfectly round; a little lumpy is okay.  Heat about 1/4-inch of a oil in a large skillet, and brown the meatballs on all sides.  I like to use a neutral oil, grapes or peanut, to cook the meatballs, but you could use olive oil.  Add to your simmering tomato sauce, and cook for 20 minutes.

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