Broiled tuna and French vetegable sauté

Heat butter on low with a little salt. Add in order: garlic, sliced thin; carrots, cut on the diagonal; tokyo turnip roots, quartered; cauliflower, keeping the small heads in tact; the greens, shredded; a splash of white wine. While cooking, alternate between sautéing and steaming covered — the vegetables should cook on low and end up brilliantly colored. Meanwhile, butter the bottom part of a broiling pan; rub tuna with salt and broil 10-15 minutes in the buttered pan. Serve with a pinot noir.

Billi Bi take two

We really liked the billi bi — a fresh mussel soup with cream and curry — we had made a few days earlier, so we decided to try again. This time we used oysters, which I should have just shucked directly, as they don't open well during boiling the way clams and mussels do. The chives were very nice.

Mushroom ravioli

Last week, two of our friends came over for dinner. We made mushroom ravioli for them (Dough: 4 cups semolina flour; 1 handful salt; four eggs, one of which had a bright red yolk. Filling: ricotta; pecorino romano; mushrooms, shitake and crimini. Sauce: olive oil; garlic and chives; white truffle oil to finish.), they brought good red wine, and after dinner the four of us played bridge long into the night.

Stuffed squash

Halve delicata squash, remove insides, and back face-down in a glass pan for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Meanwhile, sauté onions, mushrooms, and shredded kale; also mix a tub of ricotta cheese, chives, grated parmesan or romano, and an egg. When the squash is cooked, let cool enough to handle, and turn over. Fill each squash "boat" with some of the greens, top with the cheese mixture, and sprinkle everything with nutmeg. Return to the oven, bake another 20 minutes, and enjoy. Delicata is somewhere between summer and winter squash, and the skin is good to each if it is not too tough.

Thai-Italian curry

Sauté onions and shitake mushrooms in olive oil with some salt. Add broccoli and tofu, cover, and steam until the broccoli is bright green. Add a can of coconut milk, some soy sauce, and a can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and stir in one bunch purple basil. Serve over brown rice.

Billi Bi take one

We based this dinner on the following recipe from The Joy of Cooking (we simplified a lot):

Scrub individually with a vegetable brush:

• 3 pounds small mussels

Remove the beards. Discard any damaged mussels or those that do not close with a sharp tap on the counter. Place the mussels in a large soup pot with:

• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots
• 5 sprigs fresh parsley
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme

Cover and steam over medium heat until the mussels are completely open. Discard any that do not open. Pour the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with several layers of dampened cheesecloth or paper towels into a medium saucepan. Bring to a low simmer. When the mussels are cool enough to handle, remove form their shells. Whisk together in a small bowl:

• 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
• 1 large egg yolk

Gradually whisk about 1 cup of the cooking liquid into the egg mixture, then whisk back into the saucepan. Heat gently, but do not boil. Season with:

• Salt to taste
• Pinch of ground red or white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Ladle into warmed bowls. Garnish with the reserved mussels and sprinkle with:

• Snipped fresh chives

In particular, as you can see we did not remove and shell the mussels. We also did not strain the cooking liquid, having scrubbed the shells very well. The curry powder is perfect.

Office picnic: salad Niçoise

We had planned on picnicking on the tenth-floor balcony in my building: the views of the bay are fantastic, and we had tickets for London Globe Theater Company's rendition of Loves Labour's Lost, which was on campus. But it was one of the first truly miserable pouring rain days in November. The balcony picnic turned into an office picnic, with a view of Oakland if not the bay.

For a picnic Niçoise salad, combine in a large tuperware:

• lettuce, washed, dried, and ripped into pieces
• sweet potato, cut into wedges, simmered 10 minutes, then chilled ten minutes in ice water
• one can anchovies, washed and with the bones removed
• Nicoise olives
• cherry tomatoes

Also make a salad dressing with a shallot or garlic, minced, and balsamic vinnaiger and oil; keep it in a mustard jar. Most importantly, sear tuna (allow half a pound per person), so that the outer centimeter is cooked and the inner raw (use a non-stick pan and very high heat). With a sharp knife, slice tuna into medallions, and bring in a separate tupperware. Dress the salad, plate, and add the fish at the picnic spot.

Don't forget blankets, silver wear, plates, cups, and a good red wine, preferably a Zinfandel. Find a YouTube fireplace to temper the cold, and for background play a Hilary Hahn CD off of iTunes.

Mussels with cream sauce

For each person eating, buy a pound of mussels. Wash and scrub them well, removing the beards, while you bring a large pot with a few inches of water to a boil. Set the cleaned mussels in a colander or steamer insert and steam them covered until they open up wide. Meanwhile, prepare a sauce with cream, garlic, salt, and white wine. Pour the sauce over the steamed mussels, and serve with sourdough bread.






Finish the meal with chocolate-chip cookies.

Rainbow

Homemade linquini with beets greens, leeks, capers, and smoked fish