Eastside Road, —
I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT THEM here before, but it's been a while — more than two years. The recipe came to us originally in one of Elizabeth David's books, I think, but I haven't looked at it in decades, I'm sure. For two nice fairly thick boneless chops, I put maybe a three tablespoons of fennel seeds in a mortar with some salt and a chopped clove of garlic, and reduce this to a paste with the pestle. Then I add the microplaned zest of maybe half a lemon, and moisten the result with enough olive oil to make it spreadable.
I rub the fat edge of the chops on a black iron skillet, then get it good and hot, then add the chops, to sear one surface good and golden. While it's cooking I spread half the fennel-seed paste onto the top surfaces of the chops. When they're half cooked I turn them and spread the remaining paste on the cooked surface.
I probably turn the heat down after they've seared at first, then turn it back up when I turn the chops over, then down again. Depends on the chops. We like our chops just a teeny bit pink.
When they're cooked, I put them on the warm dinner plates, splash some white wine into the skillet to deglaze it, and then reduce the pan juices, which will have picked up a lot of the fennel-seed mixture; this gets poured over or spread onto the chops. And there you have it. We accompanied them tonight with the year's first asparagus, tiny and tender and sweet and welcome. No salad; an apple and some chocolate for dessert.
Cheap Nero d'Avola
LUNCH IN TOWN today at a well-thought-of restaurant better, I think, for dinner than for lunch, which offers a restricted menu. I had the "Tunisian Meatball Sandwich": ground lamb meatballs with grilled red onion, bell peppers, yogurt,
with mixed greens and very nice fries on the side. It was a little gloppy, but tasty.
House "Bloody Mary" (sake, kimchee, tomato juice)
• The Spinster Sisters, 401 South A Street, Santa Rosa; (707) 528-7100
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants
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