A favorite Italian rose, imported by our friends at Wine Sources
Ted loves this "cocktail hour" photo
From Susan: Yesterday, we woke to calmer seas and diminished winds; we even saw blue sky for a brief period before the gray clamped down again. Our good friends, Alex and Smadar Berlingeri and two of their three children, drove down to surprise Ted for his birthday. The Berlingeris have a boutique wine importing business, Wine Sources, so we were treated to the open bottles left over from a wine event on Saturday night, including a delicious German riesling they have just started to bring in.
I like to jazz up basic hummus with a drizzle of good olive oil
The rain let up long enough for Alex and I to sneak onto the beach for a walk with the dogs and kids – the beach is officially closed due to reconstruction. We’re guessing this is because there’s big, earth-moving equipment out there, plus the potential danger of finding old WWII explosives in the sand being pumped up from the ocean floor. Thankfully, we did not blow up.
Wine-friendly cheeses: aged Gouda, Chaumes and Saga blue
For Ted’s birthday dinner, I made a pasta dish with seafood and my version of a Provencal sauce – olive oil, garlic, anchovies, tomato, basil, capers and gaeta olives, accompanied by a simple, field greens salad. We had snacked on enough hummus, cheese and charcuterie before the meal to make a more elaborate spread unnecessary! But, of course, we all still had room for cake – Ted’s favorite – yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
Scallops, salmon and cod from Exit 63 Seafood Market
Littleneck clams
Seafood Pasta Provencal
Serves 6
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. chopped fresh garlic
5 -6 anchovies, finely chopped ( I can’t stand anchovies, when I can detect them … here they melt into the sauce and add a layer of salty richness that you will miss if you don’t use them!)
5 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup each capers and chopped pitted gaeta olives
3 doz. little neck clams, shells scrubbed
3/4 lb. sea scallops, cut in half
1/2 lb. each salmon and cod filet, cut in cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 lbs. linguini or spaghetti
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy skillet or pot. Add garlic and anchovies and saute until garlic is softened but not brown, pressing on the anchovies so they melt into the oil. Add tomatoes and saute 5 minutes until beginning to break down. Add white wine, capers, olives and all seafood, stirring gently to coat fish with the sauce without breaking it apart. Cover the pan and simmer over medium heat for 5-8 minutes or until clams open.
Meanwhile, cook pasta, drain, and return to the pot, coated with olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking together.
Just before serving, stir the basil into the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle sauce over the pasta, distributing the fish and shellfish evenly among the plates.
The finished dish!
____________________________________________________________________________
The perfect birthday cake
Birthday Cake ala Ted (Yellow Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting)
Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour (or cake flour, if you want a finer crumb)
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups superfine sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale yellow, add sugar gradually until it is well incorporated. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add vanilla. With the beater on medium-low, add flour mixture alternately with the milk – the flour 4 times and the milk 3 times, mixing just until combined each time. Scrape sides of the bowl and make sure batter is completely smooth. Divide batter evenly among the two pans and bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
4 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sour cream
In a heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat until completely melted and smooth. Scrape into a medium bowl. Whisk in 1 cup powdered sugar and half of sour cream. Stir until smooth. Add remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar and enough sour cream to make the frosting spreadable and glossy.
Chopping the unsweetened chocolate
Incorporating the powdered sugar
Cake construction
Here’s a frosting trick: before placing the bottom cake layer on plate or platter, line with strips of wax paper. When you are finished icing the cake, pull out the strips and your platter will remain clean.
The finished cake!
Happy Birthday Ted!
