A LA CARTE ~ AN ARMENIAN FAMILY RECIPE

Stonington Times
es/archive/2009/04/24/a-la-carte-an-armenian-famil y-recipe.aspx
April 24 2009

We rarely get to see Kathryn and Haig Casparian, who live in Manhattan
and summer in Nantucket. We fixed that this Easter. Kathryn, who’s
in investment banking, is light and lovely and quieter than her
husband, Haig, but everyone is a little quieter than Haig. He is a
born storyteller and his words would keep the young and the older
transfixed. He retired some years ago from Wall Street before it went
belly-up. (We all asked Kathryn if she had met Bernie Madoff. She
said she’d served on a committee with him. Her take? One of the nicest
guys you’d ever want to meet, she said.) A few years ago, Haig wrote
a memoir about Wall Street and his job with Drexel Lambert. It was
a terrific book and he named names. He had no plans to publish the
book because no publisher could hire enough lawyers, he laughed.

Now he’s written another book, this time an Armenian cookbook with
lots of stories. In order to have recipes in the book, there were
some caveats: All the recipes had to come from the Casparian/Hovsepian
family and had to be recipes that are made regularly.

His recipe for Armenian salad, using no lettuces, may have been my
favorite dish at Easter dinner. And that’s saying something, since
we shared a leg of lamb with rosemary, baked ham and pork tenderloin,
rice pilaf, scalloped potatoes, corn pudding, sweet potatoes, roasted
potatoes, roasted carrots, and two kinds of asparagus. Oh, and around
eight desserts…

You can’t buy Haig’s cookbook, but I am sharing his salad recipe. I
made it the next day. It’s easy and delicious, low in calories, and
high in nutrition. I have written down how much of each ingredient
to use, but all of this is "to taste." You can use a little vinegar;
I had some pomegranate balsamic vinegar and used it sparingly. And
this is the time to use a mandoline, if you have one.

Haig’s Armenian Salad

Adapted from Cooking with Haig and Family

Serves 6 to 8

2 large hot-house cucumbers cut thin and small (English cucumbers
would be great)

5 to 6 of the best tomatoes (I used more than a pint of grape tomatoes
halved or quartered)

1/2 to 1 white onion, sliced very thin

Freshly squeezed lemon juice (Haig uses 4 lemons for 4 tomatoes)

Half a bunch of fresh Italian parsley, minced

A bunch of fresh dill, fronds chopped

Excellent extra-virgin olive oil

Small amount of balsamic vinegar (optional)

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, place cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. In a small
bowl, squeeze lemons and remove seeds. (I roll the whole lemons
on my counter with the heel of my hand, and then toss them into the
microwave for maybe 30 seconds to get all the juice I can.) Pour lemon
juice over the vegetables and toss with hands. Add salt and pepper to
taste. Toss the parsley and fresh dill, some olive oil, and a little
bit of vinegar, if using. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

I let the salad rest on the counter for an hour and we had it with
dinner. I do think it would be even more luscious if it rested in
the refrigerator overnight.

Nibbles: A Recommendation by Lee

A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie Lyness asked us to have dinner at
Roy Ip’s Le Petit Café in Branford. We hadn’t visited in at least
two years, way too long to stay away from this lovely, food-heaven
restaurant. I think the prix fixe menu may be around $50 per person
(less tax, tip, and drinks), but when you can have a choice of
appetizers that include housemade pate; a perfect salad with warmed
goat cheese; entrees that include rack of lamb, pork tenderloin,
and swordfish; plus incredible desserts, Le Petit Café is a bargain.

Both Stephanie and I ordered poached pear–she got hers warm, and I
got mine cold. It was amazing that these two very same desserts could
be so different: Stephanie’s sauce was nearly brothy and would have
been a perfect choice on a cold night sitting next to a fireplace. My
sauce was almost syrupy, tasting rich, high-caloric. Of course, it
was the same sauce. I thought about that dessert for at least a week.

Le Petit Café 225 Montowese Street Branford 203-483-9791

Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer
for more than 25 years. You can e-mail her at Leeawhite@aol.com.