(by Clara Williams)

So, last night was date night here: dinner and a play (the review of the play is in my next post).  We had dinner at a great restaurant in Manhattan called Hearth.  It was our first time there and we’d heard great things about the place.  It’s upscale ‘peasant-style’ Italian cuisine.

Because we didn’t have reservations and they were only accepting walk-ins, we were offered seats at the kitchen counter.  It was great.  I love watching how restaurants function and we were happy to get a behind-the-scenes look at the place.  The chef, Marco Canora, was there and was incredibly personable with us. He was the one that actually took our order, explaining in beautiful detail about each dish and answering any questions that we had.  We are vegetarians and I would prefer not to eat fish, but occasionally, like last night, there simply aren’t that many vegetarian options…so we both ordered fish for the main course.  Brian started with gnocchi, which were delicious and light. Probably the best gnocchi that I’ve had.  I had an arugula and fennel salad, which was really good if on the slightly dull side.

Marco brought us some complimentary ribollita between the appetizers and the main course.  I love ribollita.  It is one of my very favorite meals and one of my very favorite dishes to cook (my recipe is below).  I was curious about the ribollita at Hearth, but I had made some at home the day before.  I wish that I had liked their ribollita better, but I truly preferred my own.  I don’t know why, but most restaurants overcook their ribollita to the point that the vegetables are virtually indistinguishable from one another.  It doesn’t need to be like that.  This ribollita was also a little too salty.  It made me a little sad that I couldn’t like it more.

For the main course, I had a fish called escolar and I forgot what Brian had. Oh, it was striped sea bass.  Mine was absolutely delicious.  It was cooked in parchment with lemons, green olives, fennel, and a kind of salsa verde.  This was my second favorite fish dish ever.  (First place goes to a curry tilapia over meditteranean cous-cous that I had at Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand.  My mouth still waters over that one.)  Brian’s striped sea bass was really good, too, but it was cooked with clams and squid which I was less than thrilled about (simply because clams and squid usually aren’t even in the ballpark of appealing to me).

For dessert, I had the ginger chocolate ganache tart with bergamot icecream.  Yes, I ate every single bit of that.  Great flavors and great textures.  Brian got a pear and apple tart with caramel ice cream.  It was good, but seemed to need just a little pizzazz, like maybe a touch of cayenne or maybe a little lemon/lime/orange zest in the tart.

The meal was very very good.  And throughout, it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch the goings-on in the kitchen.  Marco would ask us how we liked each dish.  He’d make comments/corrections to the staff and was stern with them without seeming to be an ass.

I highly recommend Hearth and look forward to going back soon.

And now, for my Ribollita recipe:

I love ribollita because it’s a hearty vegetarian soup that can easily be made vegan. Plus, it’s delicious and it’s very forgiving–meaning you can make a million substitions/alterations.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

4 TBSP Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

1-1/2 medium white onion, chopped

4 gloves garlic, crushed

2 carrots, sliced

2-3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced

2 zucchini, halved (or quartered) and thinly sliced

14 oz can chopped tomatoes

3 TBSP pesto

4 cups vegetable stock

14 oz cooked (or canned and drained beans (I’ve used white, garbanzo, kidney…)

1 lb  fresh baby spinach

1 TBSP Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

6-8 slices of good quality bread (like a baguette or peasant bread)

parmesan cheese

Instructions:

It should go without saying that I use organic ingredients whenever possible.

In large saucepan, heat 4tbsp olive oil and cook the onions, garlic, carrots and celery until the onions are clear. Add the zucchini and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, broth, beans and pesto and bring this to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or so.  The vegetables should still be tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  At this point, I sometimes add some crushed red peppers for some added spice. Adjust seasoning (pesto, salt, pepper as needed).

Before serving into bowls, saute the spinach (or other greens) in the remaining TBSP of olive oil just until it begins to wilt.  Grill the bread lightly with some garlic and olive oil.  Place a slice or 2 of bread into each bowl, and spoon some of the spinach on top.  Ladle the soup over the spinach and finish with some grated or sliced parmesan.

Trust me, it’s delicious and it’s great for the wintertime.  The whole thing takes about an hour, including prep time.  It’s not expensive at all and the recipe is super-easy to double, too.

Enjoy!