all photos by george billard

It’s so wonderful to be able to celebrate with friends. Nothing makes me happier than sitting down to a delicious meal with a group of pals in high spirits. If I have made the meal, so much the better. It’s a way for me to express my love, to share a little bit of myself. We had three weekend guests at our tiny cottage, and two more drove over from Stone Ridge for the evening. Because Stephanie is still watching her fat intake (like a hawk), I had to come up with a menu that was virtually fat-free yet could still satisfy all these gourmands. I don’t think anyone left the table feeling deprived.

You get so used to the richness of cooking with butter, oil, bacon and cheese—not to mention the unctuous mouth feel—that you can sometimes lose track of how easy it is to be sated by other flavors and textures. Something doesn’t have to be fried to be crispy; it doesn’t have to be laden with fat to be creamy. I’m going to give you the recipes to make the entire dinner, but do try any one of them on their own. When guests arrived, they were offered a glass of fresh citrus juice (grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime, tangerine)—perfect mixed with tequila or bourbon or prosecco, a splash of orange bitters and a sprig of fresh mint.

The first course was cream of asparagus soup, with stock made from the woody bottoms, enriched only with a bit of lowfat buttermilk. Next was whole dorade (pink snapper) stuffed with lemon, fennel and parsley and roasted under a salt crust. A dramatic but super simple preparation that you really must try. (I am going to attempt it with a chicken next.) This was accompanied by gremolata, a finely chopped mix of parsley, garlic, lemon zest and capers, bound with very litle olive oil; grilled polenta flavored with saffron and green peppercorns; and fresh peas and snowpeas tossed with preserved lemon and fresh mint. For dessert? A variation on the classic Pavlova, made with butterless lemon curd and a sauce of rhubarb, grapefuit and vanilla. I think this was missing the textural addition of some fresh berries, which I have added to the recipe below. (I would be lying if I said I wasn’t cooking most of the day, but it was relaxed and very enjoyable. I stopped midway through for a lunch with the first arrivals of red chile pork tamales steamed straight out of the freezer.) Afterwards, the limoncello and Poire Williams came out but there wasn’t a great deal of interest; too much delicious pinot grigio consumed at dinner…

Spring Asparagus Soup

serves 6

3 bunches of asparagus, woody bottoms separated

6 cups water

1/2 onion, cut into 1″ wedges

1 leek, white & light green parts sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

6-7 sprigs of fresh thyme

3-4 sprigs of parsley

10 whole green peppercorns

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup yellow onion, sliced

2 cups sliced leeks (white & light green parts)

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

3/4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 teaspoons sea salt, or more, to taste

1/2 cup white wine

3-4 cups asparagus stock

1 cup buttermilk (lowfat is fine)

soft goat cheese

Make the asparagus stock by bringing the water to a boil in a large pot. Break or cut off the bottom 3″ of each asparagus stalk. Reserve the tip half of the stalks. Put the bottom half of the stalks in the boiling water and add the next 6 ingredients. Simmer covered for 1 hour. Strain, discarding solids, and set aside.

Melt the butter and oil together in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Slice the asparagus into 2″ pieces (about 5-6 cups). Throw them into the pot along with the leeks, onion, garlic, herbs and spices. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat to low and sweat at a very low simmer for about 45 minutes or until the asparagus is very soft.

Remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-low and add half the wine. Reduce until the wine is completely gone. Add the rest of the wine and reduce again.

Combine the asparagus with the stock and puree (in batches, if necessary) in a blender or food processor. Return to pot and reheat, stirring in the buttermilk. Adjust seasoning, adding more salt, freshly ground black pepper and/or lemon juice if needed.

To serve, ladle into bowls and top with 1 tablespoon of crumbled goat cheese.

Dorade Baked in Sea Salt

serves 8

6 lbs whole firm white fish – can be 1 or 2;

dorade (pink snapper) or sea bass work well

thin slices of lemon

parsley sprigs

fennel fronds

6 pounds coarse sea salt

3 egg whites

Have your fishmonger clean the fish, leaving the head and tail intact and the scales on. This helps prevent the salt from seeping into the flesh.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Loosely stuff fish cavity with lemon slices, parsley and fennel.

Combine egg whites and sea salt in a bowl and mix well. This will not create a goopy paste but will help to bind the salt a bit.

Spread 1/3 of the salt on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Lay the fish on top. Pour remaining salt over the fish, mounding it up and covering the fish completely (the tail can remain exposed).

Bake 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes.

Crack open the crust with a small hammer or the heavy handle of a knife. Remove and discard the crust. With your fingers (careful!) or a pair of tongs, gently peel back and pull off the skin. Filet the top half of the fish. Pull the spine out and filet the bottom half, remembering to remove the skin from the bottom.

Serve fish with gremolata (recipe follows), lemon wedges, a pitcher of extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle on top and Maldon sea salt.

Parsley Gremolata

1 cup finely chopped parsley

2 garlic cloves, minced

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Stir all ingredients together.

Grilled Polenta

serves 8

2 cups lowfat buttermilk

2 cups lowfat chicken stock

1 teaspoon kosher salt

large pinch saffron

1 cup polenta

1 tablespoon green peppercorns, crushed

½ cup grated parmesan

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Bring the milk, stock and salt to a boil. Stir in saffron. Slowly whisk in polenta. Turn heat to low and continue whisking for 5 minutes, or until polenta is smooth and creamy. Stir in peppercorns and parmesan. Spread the polenta in a 9×9 baking dish and set aside to cool.

When the polenta is quite firm, use a 3″ round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add polenta rounds and cook until browned and crusty on one side, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook the other side another few minutes.

Two Peas with Preserved Lemon & Mint

3 cups English peas, shelled

3 cups snow peas

2 tablespoons chopped preserved lemon

3 tablespoons fresh mint chiffonade (fold a stack of mint leaves into quarters and thinly slice)

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and blanch both kinds of peas for about 3-5 minutes. Drain and toss with remaining ingredients.

PAVLOVA WITH LOWFAT LEMON CURD, RASPBERRIES

& RHUBARB-GRAPEFRUIT SYRUP

serves 8

Meringue

1 cup superfine sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 large egg whites, room temperature

3 tablespoons cold water

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 300ºF with rack in the middle. Trace an 8” circle on a sheet of parchment paper. Turn parchment over and place on a baking sheet.

Whisk together superfine sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat whites and a pinch of salt at medium speed until soft peaks form. Add water (whites will loosen) and beat until whites again hold soft peaks.

Increase speed to medium-high and beat in sugar mixture 1 tablespoon at a time. After all the sugar has been added, beat 1 minute more.

Add vinegar and beat at high speed until meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes (longer if using hand-held mixer).

Using a flexible spatula, gently spread meringue inside circle on parchment, making edge of meringue slightly higher than center (the well in the center is for the curd). Bake until meringue is pale golden and has a crust, about 45 minutes (inside will still be slightly gooey).

Turn oven off and prop door open slightly with a wooden spoon. Cool meringue in oven 1 hour.

*For best results, keep oven door closed as much as possible during baking.

While meringue is baking, make the lemon curd:

Lowfat Lemon Curd

Juice of 4 large lemons, strained

1 cup superfine sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon cornstarch

8 tablespoons lemon zest

Place strained lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat on low and stir until sugar has dissolved.

Place cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk in a few tablespoons of the lemon syrup. Then stir back into saucepan.

Lightly beat eggs in a medium bowl.

Remove lemon syrup from heat and pour slowly into beaten egg while stirring the mixture with a whisk. Continue to whisk by hand for one minute.

Return mixture to saucepan; add lemon zest, and heat on low until it thickens, about five minutes.

Remove from heat. Transfer to a container, cover surface with saran (to prevent a skin from forming), and refrigerate.

Rhubarb-Grapefruit Syrup

1 pound rhubarb, cut into ½” pieces

3/4 cup sugar

½ cup grapefruit juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons grapefruit zest

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the rhubarb, sugar and grapefruit juice in a pot over medium heat. Simmer until the rhubarb is soft and then mash it as much as possible.

Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing the solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Return to pot over medium heat and whisk in cornstarch. Simmer to reduce and thicken. Stir in vanilla and zest. Chill.

In addition to being delicious with the Pavlova, you could also spoon this over ice cream or angel food cake. Try putting a couple of tablespoons in a tall glass with ice and filling with club soda (or prosecco)!

Toss 3 cups of fresh raspberries with a tablespoon on sugar and the juice of a lemon. Let site to macerate for 30 minutes or so.

To assemble Pavlova:

Spoon lemon curd onto center well of meringue. Mound raspberries on top. Drizzle with syrup and pass more on the side.