ESC #10: Valentine’s Edition

You just can’t beat Italian for Valentine’s Day. The Sunday Gravy was phenomenal—none of us could believe that so much flavor came out of so few ingredients (basically a couple of kinds of meat, garlic, and Italian herbs added to tomato purée). The semolina gnocchi (aka Roman gnocchi) were really interesting—kind of like rustic gougères. I think the Utica Greens would have been wowed us more if we could have gotten hold of escarole, whose juicy texture is crucial to the success of the dish. And for dessert, it was really fun to finally try my hand at making my friend Geri’s delicious anise biscotti recipe, written out in a nice, old-fashioned cursive on a Southwest Dental Laboratories notepad. They didn’t come out quite as well as they do when Geri makes them, but practice makes perfect. Happy Valentine’s, everybody.