Gwyneth Paltrow on June 2011 Bon Appetit Cover

I refer regularly to Jim Harrison’s collection of food essays the Raw & the Cooked because even though they were written more than ten years ago their relevance to contemporary culinary trends persists. In one such essay, Harrison writes about the tens of millions of chicken legs and thighs the US ships to Russia annually because the domestic market has a preference for the breast. Mocking America’s stupidity and wastefulness, he imagines the ship sinking and the surprise of a frenzy of sharks as they bite down on tons of frozen dark meat.

When in this month’s issue of Bon Appetit I noticed a side-by-side of features on Fergus Henderson and Gwyneth Paltrow, I recalled Harrison’s essay. Credited for his emphasis on Nose to Tail eating, the BA article features Henderson discussing the traditional British Sunday roast — something that he neither resurrected nor uses offal nor is seasonal for the June issue — and the feature on Paltrow showcases her new family cookbook My Father’s Daughter and the way it places her at the heart of domestic cookery.

Henderson, an architect by training turned restaurateur, is a man whose reputation hinges on having turned his back on our inherently wasteful carnivorous habits, and who, in so doing, inspired a generation of chefs and home cooks to do the same. Paltrow, an actress, celebrity macrobiotic vegetarian and hispano-file turned TV karaoke sensation, is using her fame to encourage families to eat healthily together. Both are laudable goals, with broadly similar underlying philosophies of reduced carbon footprints and personal happiness. However, one is an established giant in the gastronomic world whose cookbooks have been cult classics for years, the other is a bona fide A-list celebrity and first-time cookbook author. Which of them do you think Bon Appetit featured on the cover?

As it happens, in many ways I rather like the new direction BA editor Adam Rapoport is taking the magazine. For me, turning it into a journal that appeals to both ends of the home cook and food enthusiast spectrum – and reclaiming some of the now absent Gourmet magazine’s territory – something these two contrasting features amply demonstrates, is both admirable and sensible. The improved graphics and slightly quirkier editorial line are also significant improvements over Barbara Fairchild’s rather constipated copy and frumpy presentation, but I must descry the bandwaggoning of Gwyneth. People whose entire career’s have been spent innovating and producing excellence behind the burners have never made BA’s cover, and simply because she’s currently flavor of the month after karaoke-ing her way into the spotlight again, to make her the cover story almost at her first foray into the food world seems both perverse and wrong, particularly since she’s not even the first good-looking female celebrity to write a cookbook.

Indeed, the article featuring Ms. Paltrow is little more than two paragraphs long which wouldn’t normally constitute lead article status, even in a publication as light on reading material as BA typically is, so the use of her celebrity to make it cover material is barely disguised. What’s more – and I’m no prude – the photo spread accompanying the article competes with Rachel Ray’s FHM spread in the tasteless stakes for objectifying her as eye candy – perhaps unsurprising for an editor whose own reputation was built at GQ, but the article is at pains to promote Paltrow’s recipes, describing them as being of the same ilk as those of Jamie Oliver and the River Cafe cookbook, the popularity of which suggests some kind of cynicism on behalf of the publisher.

Now, you might argue that the way Paltrow cooks bears a much closer resemblance to the way we cook at home than the magical concoctions of Ferran Adria, and while that might very well be true, if I wanted a celebrity to show me how to cook spaghetti with cherry tomatoes I’d buy a copy of People magazine and expect to find her recipes there.

Nonetheless, I have no personal beef with Gwyneth. I am entirely prepared to concede that she is very likely a great human being: a loving and devoted mother, an abundantly talented actress and singer, and a polymath, able to turn her hand successfully to almost any venture. However, I still maintain that the arrival of her first cookbook should not justify an appearance on the cover of one of the world’s pre-eminent culinary journals, if for no other reason than it somehow cheapens that publishing real estate for subsequent issues and mocks those whose careers should justify such an esteemed location.

On another level, while BA’s final page feature of some celebrity and their food faves has been underway for a while and is mostly tolerable, to devote the cover to a mainstream celebrity when such folk already have an entire press industry devoted to them and their glamorous lives already is very disappointing. Surely the role of the food press is to highlight those really making a difference in the food world not to cravenly devote column inches to Hollywood celebrities parachuting in when they feel like promoting their credentials as lifestyle models? Comments welcome.

Such was my mood then upon reading the latest issue of the magazine that is quickly overtaking Rachel Ray as WANFs bête noire. You see, the January edition of Bon Appetit focuses on what is calls “the new trend” of everything a cheval, or mounted by an egg, as it were, and quite apart from having spent a good part of our 2007-2008 oeuvre (pun intended) posting recipes and photos of various foods dressed in this way, we, quite pathetically perhaps, like to think of ourselves as in the comparative culinary vanguard and hate to be thought of as simply following a BA trend. So, before we go on, I would like to state, in no uncertain terms, that we not only made the subject of this post dish in October (towards the end of our self-indulgent egg sluttishness), but that our posting this now is influenced in no way by the food magazine zeitgeist.

With that off my chest, allow me to introduce to you one of the most wonderful ways of cooking eggs – uova in ragú, or eggs in a Bolognese sauce. Not to be confused with the well-known Tex-Mex breakfast staple of eggs in hell, this is essentially a Bolognese sauce version of the Tuscan classic Uova e Spinaci Cotti alla Fiorentina which we posted during aforementioned egg-focused period. And, not only does it allow one to indulge a fetish for eggs and meat, but the visual contrast on your plate of the white and yellow of the egg against a reddish-brown background of ragú is one to please children of all ages, even those in their 30s.

Less research than we typically do suggests that this is not an authentic Bolognese dish, and in fact, our inspiration came from a menu item - Uova al Pomodoro (eggs baked in a marina sauce) - at a small local trattoria called Apertivo. Nevertheless, we feel that it should definitely sit among the greats in the canon of Emilia-Romagna cuisine, utilising as it does the king of sauces, the ragú.

The main key to success, then, in this stupidly simple dish, apart from some (forgive the pun) good eggs, is clearly the quality of your ragú, so we strongly encourage you to read at least some of the marathon post that is A Tale of Two Sauces: It’s A Traditional Ragú Bolognese Deathmatch from last year to get a sense of the time, effort and joy involved in creating this wonderful thing. Then, once made (and you will have plenty leftover), simply add sauce to a large saucepan, heat until simmering, and crack in as many eggs as you like (two per person seems about right). Then, either cover with pan lid and reduce heat to medium-low, or slap the whole thing into a 350F (180C) oven and bake until eggs are firm, about fifteen minutes. It can be served over pasta (think pappardelle or tagliatelle) or simply as a main course with some bread and salad on the side. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t be upset if I was served this for breakfast either.

I tweaked the original Bon Appetit recipe a bit and only had a piece of puff pastry in the freezer and some pie crusts. I will write the recipe asking you to use only puff pastry, but feel free to do what we did and roll out defrosted pie crusts, shape into a rectangle and line the outside of the tart with strips of puff pastry. It works just as well!

The taste of this tart was light and chewy. Using various different veggies and ricotta over all eggs helped me convince myself that I was eating healthy. Even after a few helpings, I knew I was kidding myself but I’ve never been one of those fools that really believed that “a moment on the lips is a lifetime on the hips”. If I did I’d be much thinner and this blog would not exist, clearly!

Btw… thanks to our friend at Serious Eats who featured this post in their “Blogwatch” section recently.   Gracias!

ASPARAGUS, CREMINI AND TOMATO TART WITH RICOTTA AND PETITE JURASSIC CHEESE

Ingredients:

• 2 sheet of thawed puff pastry (1/2 of a 17.3 oz. package)
• 1 egg, beaten
• about 10 to 12 asparagus spears
• 6-8 grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 6-8 cremini mushrooms (or white/brown mushrooms), sliced in half
• 1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• pinch of salt
• 6 slices of thinly-sliced genoa salami, soppressata or other sliced cured meat of your choice
• 2/3 cup grated Petite Jurassic cheese (or Gruyere, Swiss or Comte cheese)

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out puff pastry on floured surface and roll into a large rectangle (about the size of a long baking sheet). Cut 1/2 inch of puff pastry from each side and brush the sides with a bit of the beaten egg. Place 1/2 inch pieces all along the edges of the puff pastry tart so that the egg is the binding ingredient. Transfer to a baking sheet.
• Steam asparagus until so it’s crisp-tender – about 2 to 3 minutes. Shock in an ice bath to keep color and texture. Chop the bottom 2 inches of the asparagus off and puree these in a food processor along with the rest of the beaten egg, ricotta, the olive oil and pinch of salt. Transfer to bowl.
• Spread the asparagus puree on the bottom of your tart, reserving a few tablespoons. It will fill up to about 1/8 of an inch high. Make sure it is coated evenly. Nestle the pieces of salami into the puree in random places around the tart. Sprinkle your cheese around the tart as well and put your remaining tablespoons of asparagus puree over the pieces of salami (so to cover them).
• Add your sliced grape tomatoes, asparagus spears and mushrooms to the top of the tart – make it look pretty, why not.
• Drizzle some olive oil over the top and bake about 25 to 30 minutes or until the filling is set. Serve warm or cold along with a salad or for breakfast with a runny egg.

Check out some other posts you may enjoy:

• Lemongrass Beef Shortribs
  
• Watercress & Ricotta Ravioli with Radicchio Butter Sauce
• Ensalada de Cabrales (Thin Sliced Apple Salad with Cabrales Cheese & Chive)
• Parsley, Parmigiano and Garlic Roasted Artichokes