sunday supper at botanica
and a recipe for charred romano beans with goat gouda
a few months or so ago, my wonderful friend emily fiffer and i were having one of our usual coffee & catch-ups. emily is the co-owner and chef of botanica restaurant in silverlake. along with another wonderful friend, heather sperling—they have co-created one of the most special restaurants in los angeles.
i love catching up with emily so much, and indeed—i am so grateful for our friendship over this past year or so. i think of emily not only as a friend but as a mentor—she listens so intently and really champions me and my ideas, which i so appreciate.
em is one of the sweetest and kindest people i have had the pleasure to call a friend in the past few years.
we connect so deeply over the nuances of vegetables, the sea ranch coast, eating and enjoying british food and restaurants and so much more. emily is an insanely talented chef and she is also a fantastic writer, as you might already know.
whilst enjoying our coffee emily asked if i might be interested in being the guest chef at botanica’s next sunday supper. every few months botanica hosts a guest chef to come into the restaurant and kitchen to create a menu for sunday supper. then, supported by the incredible team at the restaurant, everything is executed (to perfection, i might add) by their kitchen staff.
i was honored and jumped at the chance! we set a date and i started menu planning almost immediately.
as you all may well know, my food is very vegetable-forward—usually with the odd protein peaking out here or there, and so we thought my style of cooking would be a perfect pairing to the style of food that you will usually find on the menu at botanica—vegetables in abundance.
i met with alex barkely, botanica’s extremely talented executive chef to go over my menu ideas and talk about produce sourcing, specifics within each dish, how i wanted everything cooked, and, of course, how i wanted everything plated. plating is something that is a very big deal to me. for me, how something looks when being presented to a guest is just as important as how something should taste. it is all-encompassing when it comes to my definition of service and a huge part of who i am as a chef.
upon first meeting, alex and i got on like a ‘house on fire’ and it soon became obvious that we shared a lot of food ideas in common and indeed, style of cooking. alex had spent some time in the uk and was on the same wavelength as me when it came to talking about cooking vegetables and simple, but nuanced sauces.
alex also has such a sweet, understanding demeanor about him, which i personally warm to immediately as a chef. it is how i like to think i am, when working with anyone in a kitchen. i spot the kind chefs a mile away—it can be so rare. it’s safe to say, we became firm friends in this first meeting.
the menu
charred and marinated zucchini, with anchovies two ways
i had originally made a version of this when we were vacationing in sicily last year. we had been traveling around a lot, and in and out of hotels. finally, we checked into a airbnb and the first thing i did was run to the local farmers market and buy a ton of vegetables, including zucchini. it was so delicious, and even better on a crostini with an anchovy—i knew i wanted to put this on a summer menu sometime.
drizzled with some really good, really aged balsamic vinegar and flaky salt. this was maybe my favorite dish of the night! starting off strong.
blistered jimmy nardellos with whipped, spice marinated feta
i made a quick spiced oil with coriander seeds, cumin seeds and a pinch of ras el hanout and bloomed everything for a just a minute in a medium-hot pan—i then poured in the olive oil and immediately took this off the heat and set aside to cool. this oil was then then drizzled over the charred jimmies.
a beautiful dish, if i can say that about my own food.
scallop crudo with grated garlic-y tomato
i had been wanting to use the grated tomato base from ‘pan con tomate’ over a crudo for a while. i tested the recipe at a home a few times, and i just could not believe how gorgeous but simple this dish was. i love raw scallop on any given day, but this was a knockout.
we added a dash of champagne vinegar to really help add to and balance the acidity, but other than that, it was a classic ‘pan con tomate’ preparation.
i also wanted the scallops ‘chunked’ rather than just sliced—to add a more interesting mouth feel when eating. i am going to be doing this more often, i really enjoyed it like this.
we made a vegetarian version of this by replacing scallops with braised kohlrabi, and it was absolutely incredible. that was on chef alex’s genius recommendation.
charred romano beans, with a white balsamic vinaigrette and goat gouda
i made this initially a few years ago when i did a pop-up in paris, and it was a favorite dish, according to my guests. i have been dying to put this back on one of my menus and i am so glad i did. this time around we used a hard goat gouda instead of the french cheese i found at the cheesemonger, when i was in paris. i am now addicted to goat gouda—i will leave it at that. wow.
roasted moroccan spiced mushrooms, with tzatziki labneh and picked red cabbage
i usually make these with lamb, on a warm summers night in my garden. we wanted to lean into the glorious vegetables and so decided on maitake mushrooms in place of the lamb. marinated in ras el hanout and a little vinegar and olive oil, then grilled until charred.
the pickled red cabbage is a staple in my fridge at all times, and only annie knows the secret recipe. deciding if i should share it here one day or not. we’ll see.
clams with braised chickpeas and sea beans
look—at this point, it feels inauthentic not to put beans of some sort and clams on my menus, ha. it truly is the crux of my cooking and is always a personal favorite of mine.
you’ve all seen a variation of this before—i am sure. this will always be on the menu in some way, shape, or form. this feels very @chloecooks___ coded, you know.
gluten-free olive oil cake with cardamon-honey poached plums and whipped cream
if you know me and my cooking, you have also seen this somewhere before—i developed this for my wiley dinner a year or so ago, and have been getting rave reviews ever since, which makes me so happy. i am a confident baker—sure. but it’s not in my natural wheelhouse. regardless, friends and guests always comment on how much they are always so pleasantly surprised by my desserts. which of course makes me so happy and inspire me to continue developing fun desserts that feel very ‘me’.
i just had the best time doing sunday supper! supported by emily, alex, and the team. i can’t wait to do it again sometime—if they’ll have me that is. :)
recipe—charred romano beans with a white balsamic vinaigrette and goat gouda
serves 2-3 as a side dish
1 lb of romano beans or haricot vert
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup of a hard, goat gouda
1/2 cup of roasted, chopped marcona almonds
flaky salt
white pepper
begin by blanching the beans for a least 30 seconds, no longer than 1 minute in boiling, salted water. remove and submerge into ice water. once cooled, drain from the ice water to dry.
next, char the blanched beans in a pan over high heat (or grill) with a little olive oil, until deeply charred on most sides.
plate and dress with more olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, flaky salt, white pepper, and chopped almonds. finish with a massive shower/pile of the goat gouda.
i love vegetables! and on that note, i need to head to the sunday farmers market.
talk soon
xo
It all looks sooo good!! I am making that this week.