Salsa Verde and Steak

I think people have a tendency to forget that herb sauces make a great accompaniment for steaks, assuming one likes piquant flavors. Last weekend, I made a pseudo-salsa verde to liven up a fairly poor supermarket porterhouse, combining capers, parsley, lemon, garlic and olive oil into a thick paste.

Along with taboule, incidentally, salsa verde is a great way to use up parsley, if you are the sort of person who buys parsley in the full bloom of hope, and then glumly watches it wilt.

Brandeis

I am reading the new biography of Brandeis in the brief moments of time I can snatch when I am not preparing for trial. It is quite good, though a little lumbering. Certainly, though, Brandeis had a way with words. My favorite quip so far:

"The man who does not know intimately human affairs is apt to make of the law a bed of Procustes".

Polanski II

This is a truly depraved defense of Polanski by Robert Harris. The worst of it: "Mr. Polanski’s own young children, to whom he is a doting father, want him home . . .". As if we ought to care what his children want, when he showed such spectacular disregard for what someone else's child wanted.

Polanski

Without getting into details, I am extremely puzzled to hear that the arrest of Roman Polanski is a matter of controversy. It is, in fact, a positive thing that the law does not tire or flag in its pursuit of the wicked. And it is a matter beyond rational debate that what Polanski admitted to doing was wicked. As others have noted, the raped girl was a child, could not consent due to the drugs she was given, and in any case did not consent despite the fact that she was drugged.

If criminal law is even somewhat about retribution, then this arrest is just.

Striped Bass with Meyer Lemon aroncini

I'm posting this dish from our meal tonight at Restaurant Daniel not because the striped bass or the fava beans with barigoule sauce were so good (though, in fact, they were quite good) but because the meyer lemon aroncini were revelatory. What a good idea - to flavor risotto with meyer lemon, and pair it with fish. Wow.

I'm posting

this

In praise of (one) bureaucracy

We visited the City Clerk of New York City this morning to secure our marriage license. It was an extraordinarily smooth and well run affair, and we were out of there, despite a queue of about 25 couples ahead of us, in a mere half hour. Well done!

Beet tartare

I love beet tartare, and last night when I found ready steamed beets in a vacuum pack at the grocery store, I pounced. This is simply diced beets dressed with mustard, smoked paprika (which gave the dish a surprisingly deep and beefy flavor) olive oil, lemon, and salt, topped with a very ripe avocado.

Apple tart

Here's a somewhat failed apple tart from dinner last night. The topping is simply sliced apples with sugar and fleur de sel. It is failed for the crust, which was meant to be a puff pastry, that didn't puff.

Still delicious.

EDIT: Also, this is proof to me that you can make a pretty good tart in a toaster oven, issues with uneven heating aside.