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Here’s another basic, simple meal to make in a basic, simple kitchen.  Broiled cod dusted with some herbs de provence, and dressed with lemon and raw olive oil.  This follows the theme of last night’s meal in the city:  broiled seafood because it broils quickly and the amount of smoke it produces is minimal (much less than broiling a piece of meat).   

On  the side–white beans and butternut squash (one dish), and sauteed broccolini.

Beans with butternut squash is a wonderful sweet and earthy combination, which needs little other than salt, olive oil and black pepper.  You could use canned beans, but I’m using fresh.  Since I didn’t soak them overnight, I’m doing a quick-soak by placing them in water, bringing them to a boil, shutting the flame, and letting them rest in the water for an hour.  Drain, add fresh water and simmer gently for about 45 minutes–then you have something similar to canned beans (only with much more bite and texture). 

The butternut squash is cut into small cubes and sauteed in oil for about 10 minutes, covered, then simply tossed with the cooked, drained beans, and dressed with raw oil, salt and pepper.  Save a bit of the bean cooking liquid to add to the dish to make it creamy. 

There is an age-old debate about whether to salt beans when you cook them (older Italians will say that adding salt to the cooking liquid prevents the beans from ever softening).  In her latest book, however, Marcella Hazan reveals that she’s come to the conclusion that it’s an old-wives’ tale. That’s good enough for me–I now salt my bean cooking water right at the outset–it makes for much tastier beans.

Even when I’m in the city, I still look forward to cooking dinner–don’t let a tiny kitchen prevent you from cooking good food!

This meal was cooked in stages–none required that much work, but each required forethought, because I’m working in my city kitchen with limited stovetop and oven space.  The meal was broiled scallops, broccoli di rapa, oven-roasted tomatoes and baked potatoes.  There are no recipes–just a strategic plan.

I planned backwards from the scallops. . . I knew that I wanted potatoes, but roasted potatoes would have to come out of the oven once the broiler went on for the scallops.  Since they don’t hold well once they come out of the oven, I opted for baked potatoes–they can sit for at least 20 minutes and still retain their heat while I broiled the scallops.

Slow-roasted tomatoes are a very simple do-ahead dish, so I actually began my prep with those on a low oven–275 degrees.    I let them roast for an hour, then turned up the oven to 400 degrees and tossed in the yukon gold potatoes (washed and, while wet, coated with kosher salt).  I let the tomatoes overlap with the potatoes for about 15 minutes, then took out the tomatoes.  I knew the potatoes would take about an hour. 

Meanwhile, I blanched the broccoli di rapa (see my “Fritto di Mare” post for the full recipe) and let them sit in a strainer until the last minute.  

 Once the potatoes were done, I took them out and turned up the oven to broil.  I decided to broil the scallops, rather than pan searing, because pan-searing scallops requires a broad skillet and a strong flame–neither of which I have in the city.  Better to broil them–less splattering and less odor. The scallops went under the broiler coated with salt, pepper and olive oil until they started to brown and blister.  I find that they cook so quickly, it’s better to let them develop a little bit of a crust on one side and simply continue to cook them on that side–do not turn them at all.  By the time they begin turning golden, they’re cooked through.   A little drizzle of lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil at the table is all they need.

Once the scallops went under the broiler,  I sauteed the broccoli  with lemon zest for 2 minutes.  All went on the table hot (except the tomatoes, which are meant to be served at room temperature).  Not much to clean up, either.