Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Broccoli first

Eastside Road, March 2, 2010—
BEFORE A REPRISE of last night's buttered barley, as a first course, we had broccoli, steamed with crushed garlic. It's such a nice combination, another elective affinity perhaps (though not startling enough to rate the accreditation). The sweet bitterness of the garlic — especially this time of year, when you have to remove the green heart from each clove — sets off the bitter sweetness of the broccoli.
(Those garlic shoots, hidden within the creamy white of the garlic, always put me in mind of Dylan Thomas:
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
Well might the garlic say that, of that shoot.)
It remains to remark on the cheese: I've been neglecting to include mention of that. We've been working at two: Robiola Nostrano, a pasteurized cow's milk cheese from the Langhe, and Pecorino allo Zafferano, a raw sheep's milk cheese from Calabria: the milk mixed with saffron threads, drained, mixed with black peppercorns (most likely from Africa), and molded into baskets for aging, about four months. It has a natural rind; this particular wheel had cracks on the exterior, allowing a natural blue/green mold. I like both, a lot.
Sauvignon blanc, Charles Shaw, 2007

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