50 Women Game Changers (in Food) #28 Anne-Sophie Pic - tomato chutney

 I am going to digress for just a moment with the post regarding Anne-Sophie Pic. It's coming. My mind is fluttering.  There are things you think about when you first have a child. "Will they talk?" comes to mind. And of course they do - and they not only talk - they have opinions. And they belong to themselves. And it's a wonder. A day may come when you're sitting at a concert and your daughter is performing a flute solo and your mind races through time - to the curly-afro child who never let you comb her hair (she has since embraced the world of hair straighteners) - to the 5 year-old climbing on high kitchen cabinets to snare a cookie when she thought her mother wasn't looking - to her 13-year old rebellion when she refused to bring home the "red folder" from middle school because she didn't need a stupid folder to bring her parents school notices. She could do it just fine. She wasn't a child! But she was and now she isn't. Well, she is when she goes out at night to search for pre-made cookie dough because her mother hasn't supplied her with cookies - and it's finals week. But she isn't when she is a college graduate. And she is. And she worked for it. The little girl who brought home stellar report cards with the only admonishment "Quiet. Could participate more" is on her journey to be an audiologist and work with the deaf - specifically young children. There's a smile here - my quiet school girl working to open up a noisy world for others. 

And another smile - because she can still be goofy. I think "being goofy" is a necessary life skill.

And now we segue from musings to today's planned post - tomato chutney by Anne-Sophie Pic. This isn't my best transition into a new scene! Thank goodness this is a blog and not a play.

Anne-Sophie Pic is to the kitchen born in the best sense of that phrase. She is chef at "Le Maison Pic" and "Le 7." "Le Maison Pic" was founded by Anne-Sophie Pic's grandfather, Andre Pic, in 1936. (And Andre's mother had previously run a restaurant there as far back as 1891!)  Andre grew-up watching his mother cook local specialties. He apprenticed under some of France's top chefs, came home and took over the business. In 1934, "Le Maison Pic" was awarded 3 Michelin stars. Thrilled with his new status, in 1936 Andre moved the restaurant to its present locale in the heart of Valence. During Word War II, the restaurant lost it's 3rd Michelin star. But when Andre's son Jacques took over, the restaurant regained the coveted 3rd star in 1973. 

Jacques and his wife Suzanne (Anne-Sophie's parents) brought the restaurant to international acclaim. Over the years, the 3rd star was again lost in 1995 and after over ten years as Chef, Anne-Sophie reclaimed the 3rd star in 2007. She is the 4th female chef in France to achieve 3 Michelin stars. You can imagine the drama in those stars! In 2011 at age 41, she was named Best Female Chef of the year by S. Pellegrino. 

Chef Anne-Sophie is a self-taught chef with a very good pedigree. She did not study the culinary arts in college - she studied business and indeed began her work life in the world of business. Eventually she returned to the fold and began cooking. While staying true to her father's vision, she has her own inherent sense of combining ingredients. This tomato chutney recipe is an excellent example. Just look at the ingredients - all full-flavored but they do not compete. They combine to layer flavors - so that the sweetness of the honey and tomatoes begin your tasting journey but you are treated to a pit of pungency, a little sour and a brief hint of hot before you finish a bite. 

Tomato Chutney Ingredients (Recipe from Epicurious)

2-1/4 pounds plum tomatoes

5 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1/4 balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup mild honey

1 tablespoon coarse-grained mustard

1 star anise or 1 teaspoon star anise pieces

1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon fresh, minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Cut an X in bottom of each tomato with a sharp paring knife and blanch tomatoes together in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling water, 10 seconds. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl of ice water to cool. Peel off skin with paring knife, beginning from scored end, and discard. Coarsely chop tomatoes.

Cook sugar in a dry 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring, until sugar melts into a golden caramel. Remove from heat and carefully add vinegars. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 1 1/2 hours. Discard star anise.

Chef Anne-Sophie Pic serves this chutney with a skewer of rabbit liver and kidney. I - won't. I will be slathering this on sandwiches and serving it as an accompaniment to pork. But having spoon-fed myself quite a bit of this chutney - I think it would a be a welcome accompaniment to chicken, steak and fish. It embraces all. Don't eat meat? Mix it in with rice or use it as a topping for crostini. It is an equal-opportunity small dish.

Please check out what the other bloggers are doing for Week 28 of Female Chef Gourmet Game Changers. And if you want to join in the fun, e-mail Mary at  One Perfect Bite. Mary started this delectable journey. We are taking a holiday break and will resume the posts after the New Year. 

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne - Eats Well With Others, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed

Susan - The Spice Garden, Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey, Heather - girlichef,

Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living, April - Abby Sweets

Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud, Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me

Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts

Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds, Amy - Beloved Green, Linda - Ciao Chow Linda

Linda A - There and Back Again, Martha - Lines from Linderhof, Nancy - Picadillo

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things

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Embracing Vinegar: Reinforcement Salad

It was in an apartment development in Fresh Meadows (Queens) called Meadowlark Gardens, New York City where I began this love affair. It was a one-bedroom apartment. The living room held a black and white TV console complete with rabbit ears. There was a sleep sofa against a long wall (where I was sure a skinny werewolf could hide) and the room was shaped into an "L". The "L" section had the quintessential 1950's formica table where we gathered for dinner every evening. I loved the speckled pattern in the formica and would stare at those speckles (especially if broccoli was being served) until the patterns twinkled back at me and the table morphed into the sky and I was one with the formica. (Zen-formica, anyone?) It was at that table where I fell in love with vinegar.

My mother had a wooden, sturdy salad bowl and served salad at least 4 nights a week. (Thank-you, Mom). I remain a salad fiend because of her and that well-seasoned wooden bowl. She would dress the salad with oil and vinegar just before dinner. My mother, the wooden bowl and the vinegar magically transformed lettuce into food fit for gods.The sounds of her tossing lettuce leaves was my cue to wait while she returned to the kitchen so I could start sneaking lettuce leaves out of the bowl and into my mouth. After dinner, I would drink the remains of the oil and vinegar dressing. Most satisfying.

It wasn't until I was 17 on a date at a fancy-schmancy steakhouse that I learned there were other salad dressings. I didn't even know salad dressings came in a bottle! I had flirtations with blue cheese dressing, then Russian and even a brief crush on Green Goddess (the link brings you to Cinnamon Spice's version) - but in the end, I always returned to oil and vinegar. And oil and vinegar always forgave me. I still don't mind taking a spoon (I've come a long way) and having the last of the sour-puckering fermented liquid. But that's probably too much information.

It's no wonder I took to this Insalata di Rinforzo (Reinforcement Salad). It's so named because it is constantly being "reinforced" with added vegetables, or extra dressing to stretch it to last for the week. The salad is fortified with 1/4 cup white wine vinegar. (My heart thumps just typing this.) And really - couldn't we all use some reinforcements during December? The recipe hails from Campania and is true comfort - from vegetables!

Insalata di Rinforzo Ingredients (from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Italy)
1 head of cauliflower
2 tender, inner celery stalks - thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup roasted red pepper - cut thin (you can do it from a jar)
1 tablespoons capers - chopped (I left them whole - I did rinse them)
2 tablespoons Italian (flat-leaf) parsley - chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste - I didn't think it needed it

Cut the cauliflower into bite-size florets, discard tough stalk. Bring a medium-large pot of water to boil and. add the cauliflower florets and some salt and cook until just tender - 6-7 minutes. Drain and place under cold water to stop the cooking.

In a large bowl combine the cauliflower, celery, carrots, red pepper, capers and parsley. You can add the olive oil and vinegar right into the bowl or whisk them first in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate one hour or overnight. The salad just gets better and better. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Play with the salad as the Italians do. Think it needs an anchovy or two? Add it. Want to try broccoli? Why not? The beautify of the salad is because it uses solid, firm vegetables - it does not wilt - it just tastes better every day. It's perfect for a buffet - it never gets soggy. And it's winter pretty - glistening white with speckles of color. And it has heft - not every salad can say they have that. I know there's a lot of tasty butter, sugar and eggs floating around blogosphere these days. A salad break can't hurt!

While I wish I could offer you all my formica-zen moments, I understand that not everyone bonds easily with speckles. In its place, find the Drifters below singing "White Christmas." It's winter magic. I have a crush on the tenor-reindeer (don't tell Paul or Vinegar). Play this every time you need a break - I guarantee you'll smile.

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Spiced pears? Almond-vanilla cookies? Yes, please.

I'm nesting - prepping the home for family. This happens every winter when the days are shorter than the eves. I gaze at my home and think "This doesn't work" and then I move everything around. Saturday I changed everything in my kitchen cabinets. Confusing my family who now cannot find the cereal but are grateful I left the coffee in the same place.

The upside of changing everything in your kitchen around is suddenly you have a new kitchen and you want to make everything - all at once: cookies are baked, soup is stirred, vegetables are cut, meats are braising and if I was an octopus I'd simultaneously have an arm in all those pots. But I did pretty well with two arms

Pere alle Spezie (Spiced Pears)

These hail from Piedmont - a large northern province in Italy that actually does see winter. The baking of the pears in a spiced-sugared wine showcases the creamy, sweet  "meat" of the fruit. Perfect after a heavy meal. More perfect in the deep, dark days of December - the perfect month to rejoice in cloves, cinnamon and ginger. They bring comfort and joy to the table. 

Ingredients (from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Italy)

1-1/2 cups 12 fl ounces) fruity red wine (such as Barbera)

1/4 cup (6 ounces) sugar

6 whole cloves

8 firm, ripe pears (Anjou, Bartlett) Bonus: You don't need to peel them 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a baking dish large enough for the pears but small enough to have them fit all snugly and upright, place your pears. In a small mixing bowl, stir the wine, sugar and cloves. Pour over pears. Bake the pears 45-60 minutes, occasionally basting the pears with the liquid. The pears are done when tender - just pierce one with a fork and see how easily it glides. Cool to room temperature before serving.

In the words of my daughter, "Boom! Done!" How easy was that?

Vanilla-Almond Cookies

(I've made these cookies for so many years, I have lost the source of the recipe. I suspect it may be Tastes of Italia.)

Think of these as once-baked biscotti. These are easy, melt-in-your-mouth sliced cookies that celebrate vanilla and and almonds. Just a tad crunchy on the outside, and tender-melty inside. They hail from my grandmother's region of Basilicata and are reminiscent of Italian wedding cookies. 

Vanilla-Almond Cookie Ingredients (makes about 28)

1/2 pound butter (room temperature and cut into small pieces)

1 cup sugar

5 ounces sliced almonds

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-1/2 cups flour

Cream the butter and slowly add the sugar - beating well. Add the almonds and vanilla and mix. Add the eggs - one at a time - beating well after each addition. Similarly - add the flour 1/4 cup at a time and and mix each thoroughly before adding the next 1/4 cup.

Gather dough into a ball and form a thick log. (My log was about 10 x 2 inches.) Cover and refrigerate for two hours or overnight or a week. It's a content, unfussy dough. (Dough will keep up to ten days. If you don't want to bake the entire log - just slice as many as you want and bake - you can have fresh cookies all week.)

To bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 1-2 cookie sheets. Slice refrigerated dough into 1/4 inch slices (you can slice thinner - just adjust baking time). Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake about 15 minutes - just until the edges start to brown - you want tender, white cookies.

Through these cookies I have grown as a person. I have learned to practice acceptance. Because of these cookies - I can reach into my innermost soul and state - that in the ways of the world in December - I will not be taking off my extra Italy weight anytime soon! A raw carrot does not have the same song as an Italian cookie.

Yesterday, my daughter actually accused me of adding Pippin (her cat) to the end of my blog posts as a cheap gimmick to solicit comments!

I won't even dignify that accusation with an answer.

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50 Women Game Changers (in Food) - #27 - Anne Willan - Parmesan Cheese Balls

Anne Willan has been off my radar. As a cookbook author of more than a dozen internationally acclaimed cookbooks that include From My Chateau Kitchen, Cooking with Wine, and the 17-volume, step-by-step, illustrated Look and Cook. For a more detailed listing as well as a blurb on the books, please click here. The pure romanticism in the title From My Chateau Kitchen makes me want to know more.

"An authoritative yet intimate appreciation of both the food and the culture of Burgundy. Interwoven in the text, which presents colorful characters from the depth of rural France are some 300 photographs and 160 recipes from Anne's personal repertoire." You know I want to know the colorful characters. Don't you? Yes, I'd like to know more.

She recently moved to L.A. from her 17-bedroom, 17th century chateau in Burgundy. Quite a life change but Ms. Willan has had many life changes. A daughter from an upper class British famly, she graduated from Cambridge with a Master's Degree in Economics (circa 1959). A chance class at Cordon Bleu in London proved to be a game-changer. She simply fell in love with cooking and although her family disapproved - she pursued it. She went to Paris to pursue her culinary studies and once graduated she put out an ad in the Herald Tribune: "Cordon Bleu cook will give lessons and and cook for dinner parties." There were only six replies but one reply led her to cook at Versaille.  The tale is here and it's a good one.

Parmesan Cheese Balls

Ms. Willan is the real deal. She may hail from Yorkshire but she has been showered with honors and awards from every corner of France as well as in the USA. This is the holiday season and you are likely busy, so I won't list them here - but take a peek if you have a monent - it's inspiring - http://www.lavarenne.com/about.htm.

She may be a French Chef but this recipe is pure Italian. It sings of Parmesan. It's savory, peppery and you really want a nice glass of Prosecco -or at the very least some fine sparkling water to accompany this. The cheese-pepper bites just begged for sparkle. And this is the season of sparkle, isn't it? I found it on The Wednesday Chef and you can read Luisa's description of these savory cheese bites here. Or just make them. Because in the season of sweets, a little savory is most appreciated.  

Parmesan Cheese Balls Ingredients

1-1/2 cups flour

1 cup freshly-shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (only freshly shredded)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (I wouldn't be afraid to add a tad more)

1/2 cup melted butter

1. In a food processor, mix the flour, Parmesan, salt, pepper and dry mustard. Add the butter and work it in using the pulse button so the mixture forms crumbs. Press a few crumbs together with your fingers.(Luisa notes that if it is sticky, add 2 to 3 tablespoons more flour - mine wasn't - mine was crumbly.)

2. Butter a baking sheet. Turn the crumbs into a bowl, press them into balls 1 inch in diameter and place them on the baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. I (obviously did not get round balls - but they were credible - just a bit crumbly - but then - oven-magic happened and they baked perfectly.)

3. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cheese balls until lightly browned, 25-30 minutes - check after 25 minutes) They keep well in an airtight container, or they can be frozen.

I got 24 Parmesan balls out of this recipe..

And yes, 'tis the season of sparkle and sweet. But don't forget savory and sophisticated. Add a little French flair to your table and check out what the other bloggers are doing for Week 27 of Gourmet Game Changers. And if you want to join in the fun, e-mail Mary at  One Perfect Bite. Mary started this delectable journey. 

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne - Eats Well With Others, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed

Susan - The Spice Garden, Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey, Heather - girlichef,

Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living, April - Abby Sweets

Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud, Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me

Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts

Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds, Amy - Beloved Green, Linda - Ciao Chow Linda

Linda A - There and Back Again, Martha - Lines from Linderhof, Nancy - Picadillo

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things

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Juliet's Kisses (Baci di Giulietta) Cookies

There's nothing quite like a holiday show to give you the Christmas Spirit. Having just attended the delightful  All Wrapped Up (where my friend, Lynn Paulson was the amazing music director - brag, brag - I'm not prejudiced - If you had a super-talented friend wouldn't you like to announce it - in print?). I was finally ready for Santa Baby and The Holly and the Ivy. What I wasn't ready for was Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow. (and I live in Minnesota - why?)

And after intermission - it snowed. Yes, only 3 inches. And yes, heavy, wet, greasy snow - the sort of snow that is stunning to look at - it coats all in a white-furred embrace and shimmers in the dusk. The sort of snow that gives a woman who has "driver's anxiety" even when not driving, even in the summer - pause.

A friend - Mark Paulson - Lynn's talented husband and  /colleague/artist/all-around kind and fascinating person was driving. I do plan well around my anxieties! We had parked in a lot and when figuring out the payment for the day, the parking lot yelled at us to "stop loitering." Twice. Now, I grew up in New York City and a parking lot has never spoken to me - much less admonished me - twice. So, the day began with amusement - "the parking lot voice." And got better - with a show that charmed.

And then I got into my friend's  Miata for the slippery drive home. If you know anything about Miatas - you know they are four inches off the ground.  Three inches of snow expected. Four inches. Hmmm. Worrisome for someone with car/snow-phobia.

Yes, we got home. Yes, Mark told me amusing stories (hitching a ride in Glacier park and getting in a truck with some armed-drunk-people and their 90 year-old mother who smoked all his cigarettes and came on to him when he was - all of nineteen). And more. Telling a playwright stories during an anxiety-ridden drive is ingenuous. My friend knows how to calm.

Once home, I thought about this.

But decided butter, sugar and chocolate was better and did this.

Juliet's Kisses (Baci di Giulietta) Cookies
These cookies hail from - where else - Verona. And come Christmas, the bakeries in Verona are filled with them. But you don't have to celebrate Christmas to know that these tender, soft-crisp sandwich cookies laced with chocolate in the middle are meant to please - all. The recipe is from the Williams-Sonoma book Savoring Italy written by Michele Scicolone.

Ingredients


1 cup (8 ounces, 250 g) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup (2 ounces, 60 g) confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar, icing sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rum (can be omitted - use 1 tablespoon vanilla or almond extract if you prefer)
2 cups (10 ounces, 315 g) all-purpose flour
2 ounces (60 grams) semi-sweet chocolate

Baci Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of butter, confectioner's sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the rum (or extract).  Stir in the flour 1/4 cup at a time and beat till well-blended. Cover and chill until firm. -about one hour.

Tear off 1 teaspoon of the dough at a time and form into a small ball. Place the balls about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart on baking sheet.  Bake until firm - about 12 minutes (mine took 14 minutes - you want them to crisp - so a bit firm but not browned. And they will crisp as they cool. Taste to see - tasting is the fun part.) Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Place the chocolate and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the top of a double boiler. (You can try the microwave - if you are really good about not burning). When water in the bottom is simmering (and not touching the top), stir the chocolate and butter together until they combine. Remove top from boiler and set aside to cool a bit (until it is spreadable - 5-10 minutes). 

Spread a small amount of chocolate on bottom of cookie (I put a small puddle in the center and that worked). 

Place a cookie top on top - pressing it a bit to ooze the chocolate - until it is a sandwich and place it on the wire rack to set. Let cool on the wire rack (10-15 minutes). 

Can store in an airtight container for a week (or in the fridge as I am doing!).

Juliet would be pleased. So would Romeo. And so was family. They encouraged me to continue baking to cure car-anxiety!

And so our oven is on, the heat is on, the Christmas lights are on and still there is a chill in the living room.

Oh! Pip-a-doo knows where all the vents are.

I am thrilled and humbled to announce that Under a Midsummer Moon has been selected as one of two plays to receive a grant by Playwrights in Our Schools to be developed in the winter of 2012. And where will it be developed? Park City, Utah. I skiied there. Before snow-phoia sent in.  It snows a lot. Every day in fact. You have to smile.  

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50 Women Game Changers (in Food) - #26 - Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers - Linguine with Crab

For the last 25 weeks, I have been jumping to my computer on Fridays to look at the recipes prepared by the bloggers cooking from Gourmet's list of 50 Women Game Changers in Food. The list has brought about lively debate and discussion throughout blogosphere and now - with life merely at a hectic place, I am thrilled to join the discussion. The first 25 game-changers were chefs and food writers that I was well-acquainted with (Julia Child, anyone?) The last 25 are fairly new to me. Even if I know them, I haven't cooked from/with them.


I thank Mary from One Perfect Bite for starting this extraordinary journey. If you would like to join in the fun, e-mail Mary for information on how to get started. Do visit her blog if you haven't already - her dry wit, honest assessment of recipes, travel stories and scrumptious offerings will bring you back to her blog again and again.


For week #26, we are cooking from Rose Gray (a Brit) and Ruth Rogers (an American). If you've ever travelled to London pre-1987, you likely went for the theatre, the history, the art, the royals, the Thames, the posh accents, the fashion - but you certainly didn't go there for the food. Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers changed all that. When they opened The River Cafe in 1987, the British got their first taste of Northern Italian cuisine on English soil.


Gone were the red sauces that populated London (and I love red sauce) and in its place was pasta mixed with seafood and/or vegetables, focaccia, an all-Italian wine list and an open floor plan that delighted all including the owner-chefs. Rose Gray mentioned  that she felt like she was in an actress with the restaurant as her theatre. Every night was opening night. I can certainly relate to that!

Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers met in 1969 and although their paths crossed many times on both sides of the Atlantic for almost two decades, their partnership did not begin until the opening of The River Cafe in 1987. Described as bohemians, iconoclasts, they were two women who knew their own minds and believed in things passionately - whether it was food, art or politics. They lived many lives before that! Proof positive that life does not offer one direct path. There are forks and detours and one is never sure where the paths will take you but if you have an adventuresome spirit as they did, you can be in for a glorious ride.

I chose to make linguine with fennel and crab. And while crab is not exactly local in Minnesota (although we do get fresh crab from the Gulf Coast through November), fennel is still abundant and has not been trucked in from other countries.


Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers pioneered seasonal and local in London - way before the movement had taken off. This was an offspring of Rose Gray's time in Lucca where she duly noted how the Italians ate, what they ate and when they ate it. They influenced many chefs to do the same - most notably Jamie Oliver who trained under them at The River Cafe. One year after opening, The River Cafe earned a Michelin star which it retains to this day. Not too shabby for two self-taught chefs who would find themselves at the same protest marches for years before they decided to work together!

Linguine with Crab (from The Guardian, UK reprint of easy recipes from The River Cafe))

Linguine 320 grams (about 3/4 pound)

400 grams (about 14 ounces) crab meat - you may use canned - but avoid the $1.99 ones at Trader Joe's - there are better ones to be had - usually at the fish counter

1 fennel bulb

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

2 dried chilies

1 lemon

extra-virgin olive oil

Linguine with Crab Preparation

Remove the tough outer part and stalk of the fennel. Slice the bulb as finely as you can across the grain. Keep any of the green tops. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Crush the fennel seeds and crumble the chilli. Grate the zest of the lemon, and squeeze the juice.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add the garlic, fennel seeds and chilli, and cook to soften. Add the crab, lemon juice and zest, and season. Stir through, just to heat up the crab.

Cook the linguine in boiling, salted water for five minutes, then add the fennel slices and cook together until al dente. Drain the pasta, keeping a little of the water, and add to the crab mixture. Stir thoroughly to combine, adding a little of the reserved water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Serve with olive oil.

If cooking crab yourself, buy them live and choose one or two large crabs - it will be much easier to pick the meat out from them than from many small ones. Cock crabs (males) have larger claws and a higher proportion of white meat. Spider crabs are very sweet and good for this recipe, though it takes longer to pick out the meat than from the common crab, as the meat-to-shell ratio is lower.

I did use a good quality canned crab! And in truth, the next time (yes, there will be a next time) I will use more crab. The crab need to hold its own against the anise-flavored fennel and I wanted more of the sweetness of the crab for balance. But I did like the nuances - sweet crab, licorice fennel (somewhat muted from the simmering) all balanced with the mellow linguine. The dish is a wee bit white, so I added some of the fennel fronds for color. As for the ease - it couldn't be easier or faster and that is always a plus for those busy days. 

The River Cafe spawned many cookbooks. Take a look at them here. Sadly, Rose Gray passed away in February 2010. But her presence has been noted and her legacy will carry on to future generations. A moving tribute to her by the New York Times can be found here. And take a look at what the other bloggers are cooking from this dynamic duo. Their links are below.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne - Eats Well With Others, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden, Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey, Heather - girlichef,
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living, April - Abby Sweets
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud, Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me

Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts

Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds, Amy - Beloved Green, Linda - Ciao Chow Linda

Linda A - There and Back Again, Martha - Lines from Linderhof, Nancy - Picadillo

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things

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