So I’m back in Ann Arbor and have promised my friends I will cook dinner on New Years Eve. I wake up and where do I go? The farmers market and (especially at this time of year) Monahan’s Seafood Market. When I see langoustines (known as scampi in Italy) and giant head-on prawns, I know immediately what I am making for the main course this evening.

Appetizer: Tonno in Saor (Marinated Tuna Belly):

My cookbook noted that it would be very Istrian to serve the langoustine main with a cold fish appetizer such as Tonno in Saor. Great, this is the kind of stuff I love – let’s be very Istrian! (If you’re wondering, Istria is a peninsula in Croatia just south of Friuli). I could not find tuna belly, but I consulted with the encyclopedic La Cucina cookbook and found that one could make this dish using albacore tuna loin. This was very good; a quick and easy far superior version of canned tuna. Served with toasted bread. Notes: Be careful not to burn the garlic. Be on the lookout for other recipes (even in other books or regions) that use canned tuna in which the leftovers of this meal may be employed.

Main: Scampi alla Busara (Langoustines in Tomato Sauce):

Monahan’s only had about 3/4 lbs of langoustines, so I added another 3/4 lbs of giant head-on prawns. Upon inspection, the langoustines were pretty bright orange and I worried that they may have been precooked, although looking at pictures of them raw online, this worry may have been misplaced. I was also worried about the raw prawn heads decomposing as I carted them around throughout the afternoon as they are said to degrade rapidly.

It turned out there was no need to worry. The resulting tomato sauce had a lovely and strong seafood flavor (someone at the table compared it to a really good puttanesca). I was very glad I included the prawns as they were big and juicy (they averaged around 4 oz. each). The langoustine meat was hard to get at and a bit flakier. Also, some of the prawns (guessing the females) had a particularly large amount of green slime along the vein; I’m guessing this was roe. I recommend being very careful to remove all of this as we noticed some of these shrimp with roe had an intense fishy flavor that wasn’t exactly pleasant to us. Again, served with toasted bread.

Dessert: Polenta Cake:

I selected this dish because I liked the idea of an herb-heavy baked dessert from Friuli. I later realized that this was not a traditional dish of the region, but the author’s take on what might fit in well with the local cuisine. Nonetheless, this dish was a hit. Everyone loved it! The large amount of rosemary was particularly nice alongside the salty hazelnut and corn. (There is actually more hazelnut meal than corn in the batter.) I made the berry-sage coulis with all raspberries. I would strongly recommend at least doubling the amount of coulis you make as it runs out too quickly. Also, when serving (even leftover), don’t forget to garnish with a sage leaf! The smell is important and delightful! Yogurt made a fine substitute for the buttermilk ice cream. One more tip for serving this the next day: it can get kind of crumbly, but this can be helped by leaving the cake open to the air for a couple hours for it to dry out a bit before attempting to cut and serve it.

Joe’s Rating: 6/6.5/7 (Tuna / Langoustines / Polenta Cake)

Difficulty: 3/4/4.5

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas when I heard that my grandfather had shot a gigantic buck and would be giving me the loins! My imagination set in motion with thoughts of hosting a 12-person dinner party in Cambridge with this lovely loot. When the loin arrived, I saw I was allotted a single loin (and neither tenderloin) – my grandfather had judiciously decided to save these cuts for his table. So, instead, I set out to cook a simpler dinner for 6 my immediate family in Hummelstown, PA. Note that this loin was still huge in proportions, weighing in at 38 oz. The deer was older than most that produce venison that would be acquired at a restaurant, so I was also anticipating some strong, almost smoky and gamey flavors in the dish.

I chose a Friuli dish because it could be made with relative ease compared to some preparations (see the excellent venison dish in Nopi). It was also particularly striking in terms of presentation and color on the table. Overall, the flavor was not quite as gamey as I was expecting, and the dish was not the knockout that some of the other preparations I made have been. My family in particular remembers a venison preparation from “Everyone Eats Well in Belgium” as one of the best meals I’ve ever made for them. The pears and onions caramelized in venison juices were a favorite part of mine. The zuf (polenta with squash) turned out pretty, if a bit less luxurious that I would ideally pair with a deer loin.

Cooking Notes: make sure you get very coarse polenta. It will improve the dish. Don’t under-season the zuf. Use butternut squash instead of pumpkin next time (I needed to add butter and brown sugar when I blended it to get it up to snuff, a practice I’d recommend for this dish.) I wrapped the roast carefully with butchers twine – just ask the butcher at the supermarket for a favor of a yard or two of twine. Take care not to overcook the venison. For this 38oz loin, I had to finish it in the oven for the last 10 minutes (35 minutes total), but this came out a bit over (I rescued it by slicing before it rested, so it probably ended up less juicy than it otherwise would have.) Pull it out when the center averages around 125F. I had to hold up one end of the loin with tongs for most of the 20 minutes on the stove to get it to cook evenly, which worked! Those fresh chives are important; don’t substitute dried or anything.

Joe’s Rating: 6.5
Difficulty: 5