07.17.08
Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Eggs, Fish, Leftovers, Seafood, Sides at 6:07 pm by julie
So it’s salmon season in the Pacific Northwest, and we are starting to see whole wild salmons appearing in the supermarket. Last week when we were at the grocery store, I talked Jeremy out of getting one, just for sheer size. But a few days later, he made a trip to Costco, and somehow a 3.5lb wild sockeye (sans head) jumped into the car and followed him home.
I roasted it pretty simply seasoned in a foil pouch, on a bed of parsley and dill and stuffed with dill, lemon, and spring onions. I also poured in some clam juice and fresh lemon juice, then sealed it all up and cooked it at 375F for about 40 minutes. It came out flaky and very flavorful, with that firm meaty flesh you just don’t get from farmed Atlantic salmon. Jeremy performed filleting duties while I made my favorite quick sauce for fish, based on this recipe: green onion sliced thin and sauteed until tender in a tablespoon of butter, then simmered in white wine until it has nearly boiled off.
To go with the fish, I made lemon-scallion rice in the rice cooker, according to Simply Ming
: Just add a few sliced scallions and some fresh lemon juice and zest to your rice and water before starting the cooker, and hit Start. I think the lemon juice gave the rice an extra-sticky texture, but it had good flavor, and married nicely with the lemony fish.
Needless to say, we had leftover salmon coming out our ears. I’ve already done salmon croquettes, and it is definitely too warm right now for chowder. So I found a few new recipes to add to my arsenal, a simple salmon frittata with corn, peppers and Gruyere, and a dilly salmon-potato hash with shiitake mushrooms.
For the frittata, I used the general recipe here, using frozen corn and diced frozen peppers, and subbing scallions for onions and of course leftover salmon for canned. It was very tasty, but I think if I make it again with salmon, I’ll use lots of red peppers and forget the corn.
The hash worked out nicely because I just happened to have a small bag of shiitakes that needed to be eaten before they dried out. I didn’t have any sour cream, though, so I took the chance and used some Greek yogurt instead. We couldn’t tell the difference. Nolan woke up just as I was finishing it, so the pic was taken one-handed, and I forgot I had meant to top the hash with some fried or poached eggs, but it stood alone just fine.
Salmon Hash
6 T olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 C shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and quartered
1 tsp garlic, one clove peeled and finely chopped
3 C potatoes, cooked and peeled
1-1/4 lb salmon, cooked or smoked, skinned, boned and flaked
1/2 C Greek yogurt, full-fat
1 T lemon juice
2 T fresh dill, chopped
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Place 1/2 of the oil in a heavy skillet over high heat, and when hot, add the onion and saute until slightly crunchy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the mushroom, and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Remove to a mixing bowl and set aside.
In the same skillet, add the remaining oil, bring to medium heat, and add the potatoes. Cook until the edges are just crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix with the reserved onions, and add salmon, yogurt, lemon juice, and dill. Season to taste with the salt and pepper, and mix well, but do not pack the mixture.
Return the mixture to a skillet, and cook over medium heat, tossing to prevent the hash from sticking. Remove to a warm plate, and serve. Garnish the hash with anything you like best, from sour cream to poached eggs.
Source: Adapted from The Buffet Book, by Carole Peck (available online here)
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07.07.08
Posted in Fish, Seafood, Soups at 11:04 am by julie
All of my complaints about our cool summer weather must have been heard, because—as I mentioned in my Danish braid post for the Daring Bakers—the heat caught up with us last weekend. And what better way to celebrate the start of the summer weather than by making fish soup? Well, maybe hot soup and hot weather don’t go so well together, but at least these two meals were light on fat and prep time, and didn’t require the use of the oven.
The first version I tried out owes another little nod to Emeril, who introduced me to the idea of fish cooked in court bouillion a few weeks back. (Court bouillion—seemingly pronounced coo boo-yone—is a light vegetable broth usually containing a mirepoix and an acid element, like white wine or lemon juice.) I chose a recipe from Epicurious and made the broth during one of Nolan’s naps, using my last half-onion and some use-it-or-lose-it leeks. It percolated on low heat until Jeremy was ready for dinner, at which point I dropped in my chunks of wild halibut fillet. Nolan chose this moment to wake up screaming, of course, so I ended up eating my dinner at top speed while trying vainly not to burn my tongue. I may not have been able to give it a fair shake, but the flavors were really too subtle for me (read: bland) and I ended up adding quite a good pinch of salt to my plate to make it more palatable. Jeremy seemed to like it, mostly on the above-stated grounds of lightness.
The next night, after watching an oddly serendipitous episode of Good Eats that featured fish poached in court bouillion, I decided to transform our leftover halibut and broth into a simple chowder. Using a slotted spoon, I removed the fish and most of the vegetables from the broth, the latter going in a saucepan to simmer with two small cubed potatoes. When the potato was tender, I again employed the slotted spoon to rescue some of the potatoes for texture before pureeing the soup with my hand blender. The reserved potatoes, veggies and halibut (broken into bite-sized chunks) went back into this thickened soup base to warm through, along with a sprinkle of Old Bay seasoning. We ended up with a completely different soup than what we started with—hearty but very light, and still virtually fat-free. And just to round out that whole Food Network/halibut soup thread, the episode of The Middleman I put on over dinner turned out to feature none other than the Chairman from Iron Chef America!
Halibut au Court Bouillion/ Halibut Chowder
For court bouillion:
1/4 C dry white wine
5 C water
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 small leeks, chopped, white and pale green parts only
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp black pepper
a pinch ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 T olive oil
12 oz halibut fillet, cut into portion-sized pieces
Cooked rice
For chowder:
2 medium red- or yellow-skinned potatoes, cubed
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning (optional)
For court bouillion: In a 4- to 6-quart heavy saucepan bring wine and water to a boil with onion, carrot, leek, spices and salt and simmer 20 minutes. Add oil and halibut and poach fish at a bare simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Place some rice into shallow bowls; transfer fish with a slotted spoon onto rice, and spoon court bouillon over fish. Sprinkle fish with fresh coriander and garnish with lemon wedges, if desired.
For chowder: From leftover court bouillion, strain the fish and most of the vegetables out of the liquid, and reserve in a bowl. Place the broth and remaining vegetables over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the potatoes and simmer until they are cooked, then remove half of them to the bowl with the fish. Use a stick blender to puree the potatoes, broth and vegetables in the saucepan, then return to the heat and add the reserved potatoes, veggies and halibut (flake the latter into bite-sized chunks) to warm through. Season to taste, with Old Bay if desired.
Source: Adapted from Epicurious.
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06.21.08
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Seafood, Veggies at 11:40 am by julie
Like many picky eaters, I really struggled with vegetables as a child, but for some reason crucifers were always high on my list. Cauliflower is one of my favorites, particularly since I discovered the technique of roasting them to bring out their nutty depths. Really, the only problem I have with cauliflowers is their pale complexion, since I already have a tendency to cook with a palette of brown and white. Enter this little guy:
(If you look closely enough, you might be able to see the bug hitchhiker I washed off the cauliflower right after taking this shot…)
I couldn’t resist snatching up this purple cauliflower at Lifesource the other day, then did a little research to decide how best to go about cooking it. As good for you as the ordinary white brand of cauliflower is, the purple kind is even better: its color comes from anthocyanin, a flavanoid jam-packed with antioxidants. The catch is that anthocyanin is water-soluble, so boiling or steaming the vegetable would cause a portion of those benefits to end up down the drain, quite literally.
Fortunately, my new favorite method for cooking cauliflower is entirely water-free. I’ve been using Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for skillet cauliflower to get that roasty caramelized flavor on the stovetop, and the only water in it comes from salting and covering the cauliflower as they cook: moisture is released from the vegetables themselves, so they steam just enough to soften up before browning. It was the perfect technique to seal in that beautiful amethyst color, and I served it alongside some pan-cooked tilapia simply seasoned with smoked paprika and garlic.
Skillet Cauliflower
1 large cauliflower (white, purple or orange)
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
4 plump garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
Tear off the outer leaves of the cauliflower and core it, separating it into florets. Next, cut the florets into slices roughly 1/2″ thick.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or saute pan over medium-low heat. Scatter the garlic slices and pepper flakes into the oil, and cover them with the cauliflower; sprinkle the salt over the florets, toss everything together well, and cover. Let the cauliflower sweat for about 4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, then toss thoroughly with a spoon. Cover, allow to cook for another 3 minutes or so, and toss again. The edges of the cauliflower should be starting to brown; if not, turn up the heat a little. Continue cooking in this fashion until the cauliflower is tender and beautifully caramelized, about 12-15 minutes total time.
Source: Lidia’s Family Table, by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (p. 268-269)
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06.14.08
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Lamb, Meats, Seafood at 9:11 am by julie
I’ve had an exceptionally busy week—which I’ll tell you about sometime soon over garlic scape pesto—so I fell behind in my posts this week. These two was my response to a huge fillet of farmed Atlantic salmon Jeremy brought home last week: two meals that punched up the somewhat lackluster flavor of the fish while requiring very little prep time. The first was salmon baked with a pastrami spice rub. The chunk of salmon I dedicated to this was somewhat smaller than called for, but I used the whole recipe of spice rub and it was pretty darn strong. I ended up scraping a bit of it off the cooked fish and still found it a little much for myself, but Jeremy liked it a lot. It’s worth making again, just with a slightly lighter hand on the rub.
Pastrami-Style Salmon
1 T dark brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 (1 1/2-pound) center-cut salmon fillet
1/2 tsp olive oil
Combine first 7 ingredients. Place salmon fillet, skin side down, on a cutting board or work surface; brush evenly with olive oil. Sprinkle spice mixture evenly over salmon; gently rub mixture into fish. Cover lightly with plastic wrap, and chill 15 minutes.
Place fish, skin side down, on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. (Or bake at 400F for 12 minutes.)
Source: Cooking Light
For the next night’s dinner, I marinated my remaining salmon in a soy-dijon marinade from Simply Ming. If you aren’t familiar with the book, it employs large master recipes for spice blends, marinades, sauces and the like to make a variety of meals. I cut the marinade recipe I used in half and still had enough of it for three separate meals; it keeps nicely in the fridge for up to two weeks. The salmon itself had an hour-long bath in the marinade, then went in the oven with a simple crumb crust. It was really fantastic and will definitely go in our rotation—the most time-consuming part of the whole thing was mincing garlic, which could be avoided by purchasing a prepared jar.
Soy-Dijon Salmon
Marinade:
1 T coarsely ground pepper
Kosher salt to taste
1/2 C red wine
1/4 C soy sauce
3/4 C Dijon mustard
1 T dried thyme
1/4 C minced garlic
1 1/4 C canola oil
Put the pepper in a small skillet and heat over medium-high heat until it becomes fragrant and just begins to smoke. Place it in a medium bowl and add salt, wine, soy sauce, Dijon, thyme, and garlic; whisk until thoroughly blended. In a slow steady stream, whisk in the canola oil until the marinade is emulsified. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks if not using right away. Makes 3 cups.
Salmon:
1 lb salmon fillet
1 C soy-dijon marinade
1/2 C coarse bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Place the salmon in a ziploc bag and add the marinade; gently massage to coat the salmon and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat oven to 400F. Remove the fillet from the marinade and place in a roasting pan or casserole of an appropriate size; discard marinade. Press bread crumbs on surface of fish; season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork and breadcrumbs are lightly browned. Serve over rice.
Source: Adapted from Simply Ming, by Ming Tsai
Update 6/7/08: I include this photo because I also used the soy-dijon marinade overnight on some lamb loin chops, and then grilled them up until the largest ones temped out at medium rare for Jeremy and the smaller ones were closer to my preference of medium. The last of the marinade will go on pork chops or chicken breasts.
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03.13.08
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Nuts, Grains & Legumes, Seafood at 11:09 pm by julie
At long last we were able to track down some decent wild salmon, and I took advantage of our returning wintry (cold, windy, rainy) weather to make a meal I’ve had my eye on for some time: salmon with lentils and bacon. An unusual combination, to be sure, but it really sounded like it could work. My only adjustment to the recipe was the method I used to cook the salmon: rather than pan-searing it and finishing it off in the oven, I simply roasted it skin-side up at 450F until it flaked. I’ve cooked much of my salmon in this fashion since trying a broiled miso-citrus salmon dish from my Simply Ming cookbook, although I save myself the aggravation of attempting to use my oven’s faulty broiler anymore. The skin protects the fish and keeps everything nice and moist, and since my husband and I don’t eat the skin, we like the fact that it peels off easily when served.
So the salmon tasted great, and hit the spot since I’ve been wanting some for what seemed like weeks. The lentils were simmered with bacon and garlic and all sorts of good stuff, and we could tell just by the smell that they were going to be delicious. And they were. I’m just not sure how well the two elements combined for my taste. Every time I took a bite of lentils, I wished we were eating it with kielbasa or something instead of the salmon; and every time I ate a bite of salmon, I wished I had made some sort of rice or quinoa or pasta. The lentils were so savory that they made the salmon taste extra-fishy or something, and it just wasn’t working for me in combination.
It wasn’t a failed meal by any means, however. The lentils really were delicious, and I’ll use that recipe again, just not with salmon. I’m very tempted to mix the leftovers together with some stock and tomatoes and have a little makeshift lentil soup for lunch.
Roasted Salmon with Lentils and Bacon
4 strips bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small onion, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 carrot, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 rib celery, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/4 C lentils
2 1/4 C canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1/2 C canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (I used diced tomatoes and half-pureed them with my stick blender)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
1 3/4 lb skinless center-cut salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
1 T cooking oil, more if needed
In a medium saucepan, cook the bacon until browned. Pour off and reserve all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until golden, about 5 minutes.
Add the lentils, broth, tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, the thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, until the lentils are just tender, about 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and stir in the bacon bits and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450°F. Sprinkle the salmon with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and rub with some of the reserved bacon grease. Place the fish, skinned-side up in a roasting pan, and roast in the oven until it flakes when pierced with a fork, or to desired doneness, 6-10 minutes depending on thickness. Put the lentils on plates and top with the salmon.
Source: Food and Wine
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01.29.08
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, Italian, Seafood, Soups at 9:42 am by julie
As alluded to in a previous post, I had a big (over 2 pounds) packet of fresh Pacific cod fillets to work with last week. I had been hoping for salmon, but we’re salmon snobs, and only the pink farmed stuff was available; needless to say, I adjusted my plans. Cod isn’t my favorite, but this was firm, versatile fish and we got two excellent meals from it, so I guess there will be more cod in my future.
The first recipe, Baked Fish and Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic, was from Marcella Says…, reprinted on Epicurious here. Since Marcella has never yet steered me wrong, I felt pretty confident about this one, and sure enough, it was delicious: simply roasted potatoes and crumb-topped fish all scented with fresh rosemary. I used fingerling potatoes and added in some carrots (for color, I will readily admit!), and topped the fish with fresh-frozen breadcrumbs rather than fine, dry ones. The fillets were too long for the baking dish I used, and a bit unevenly shaped, so I trimmed them to fit, and saved the excess fish (around 3/4 lb) for another meal.
That would be cod chowder with saffron and more fingerling potatoes. Despite the fact that I had to use Better Than Bouillion Clam Base in place of bottled clam juice, this soup came out nicely, very warming. I adapted it a bit from an Epicurious recipe, of which numerous reviewers claimed blandness; I consequently did a lot of tasting and adjusting, and ended up with a subtle, almost buttery broth that served the cod and potatoes well. Since my husband always wants some sort of bread to dip in his soup, I made some very quick garlic toast, and that provided an extra hit of flavor.
(Oh, and the post’s title? Whenever I see cod in the store, I start thinking about Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Can’t help it!)
Cod Chowder with Saffron and Fingerling Potatoes
2 thick-cut slices applewood bacon, diced
1 1/2 cups chopped leeks (or 2 large leeks), white and pale green parts only
3 C clam juice
1 lb fingerling or baby Dutch yellow potatoes, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
1/2 C celery, diced (2 short stalks)
1/2 C water
1/2 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
2 bay leaves
1/2 C milk
1/2 C creme fraiche
1/4 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
3/4 lb cod fillets, cut into 1″ chunks
Cook bacon in heavy large pot over medium heat until crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Add leeks to same pot. Sprinkle with salt, stir, and cook until leeks are very tender, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes. Add clam juice, potatoes, 1/2 cup water, saffron, and bay. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and cover. Simmer until potatoes are just tender, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. (Mine simmered slowly over low heat for quite a while longer due to a phone call.)
Stir in milk, creme fraiche, and paprika. Stir in cod chunks; cover and cook until cod is opaque in center, about 10 minutes. Return reserved bacon to the pot; season chowder to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with rolls or garlic toast for dipping.
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12.28.07
Posted in Beef, Breakfast, Dinner, Fish, Meats, Seafood, Sides, Veggies at 1:10 pm by julie
We had a lovely quiet Christmas holiday with my parents this year. Freyja, our persnickety puppy, was just in heaven to have company, and made fast friends with my mom. We also had a 3D/4D ultrasound done on the 22nd so my parents could have their first look at our little gourmet in the making. In the absence of more interesting things to eat, he seemed to spend the entire session nibbling on his hands and feet and umbilical cord; unfortunately, that doesn’t allow the best photo opportunities, but I decided to share one here anyway.
For our meals, braising turned out to be the watchword. I made braised wild monkfish from a Mario Batali recipe on Christmas Eve. My mom isn’t a big fan of fish, but since monkfish is sometimes considered to be “the poor man’s lobster,” I thought that perhaps she wouldn’t object too much. I adapted the recipe slightly and served it over quinoa. Everyone actually did seem to like it—except me. I found the texture difficult to eat, and the flavor not worth the trouble. The one thing I did find really amusing about it was the fact that right after we finished eating, we watched an episode of Planet Earth that we’d never seen before about the “Ocean Deep,” and it featured a live monkfish doing its thing. Not a pretty character, so it’s a good thing we weren’t watching while we ate. 
Christmas dinner was braised beef short ribs. I wanted to do osso buco, but Whole Foods was fresh out of veal shanks for the job, so we made a last-minute change of plans. I usually like to make lots of extra short ribs because they reheat so well, but we were barely able to purchase enough for the four of us. Does everyone really cook standing rib roasts for Christmas? They had an awfully large selection of those.
I used my standard short rib recipe, adapted from Suzanne Goin. We got it going in a low oven, and on my birdwatching dad’s suggestion, drove out to Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in what ended up being a mix of rain and SNOW. It didn’t stick, of course, but it still counts as a white Christmas for Oregon in my book! We mostly ended up sitting in the car with binoculars because of the cold and wet and wind, but saw a surprising number of species: Northern pintails, canvasbacks, cormorants, ruddy ducks, Canada geese and mallards, great egrets and a great blue heron, tundra swans, a kestrel, two hovering harriers that caused quite a ruckus among the ducks, and even a bald eagle.
Getting back to the ribs, I served them with mashed potatoes and the cream-braised Brussels sprouts from All About Braising. You can find a version of this recipe at Orangette here. I only had about 3/4 C of cream left and quite possibly more than a pound of sprouts, so I supplemented the braising liquid with some chicken stock, and it did just fine. More than fine, actually, since everyone raved about them. I had noted with surprise my father’s reluctance when I started sorting through the sprouts at Fred Meyer; my mom said they were one of his favorite vegetables, so I thought they were a gimme. Afterwards—while eating the last few sprouts straight from the saute pan as we washed dishes—he explained that he had been worried because Brussels sprouts are so easy to cook into tasteless mush. I’d say the key is to choose nice tight sprouts of the same size, which allows for even cooking. The smaller ones cook faster and are less bitter. Needless to say, this recipe will be going in my permanent rotation.
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09.29.07
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, Italian, Lamb, Meats, Pastas, Pork and Ham, Seafood at 9:51 am by julie
I’ve been busy cooking this week, but I’m not really sure what to say about most of the meals that resulted. After the salt-baked snapper on Sunday, we had to quickly use our fresh sardines also, so I found a Mario Batali recipe that involved sardines stuffed with a bread crumb-almond-orange zest mixture and baked over lemon slices and a sweet and sour pepperonata.
It was really a gorgeous, photogenic meal, but I couldn’t eat it. I’ve never had sardines before, fresh or canned, and the flavor was just too strongly fishy to me, not to mention all the bony bits and the heads and tails thing. I didn’t like the pepperonata, which was pretty sour and kind of spicy, and I didn’t even like the bread crumb filling because it was both fishy and orangey. We served it with farfalle drizzled with olive oil, and I had the foresight to strategically place my sardines and pepperonata around the edges of the pasta instead of on top, so at least I had something to eat. Jeremy thought it was pretty tasty, but he told me he used to eat canned sardines on toast as a kid, so there’s no accounting for taste.
We also had a gigantic bone-in leg of lamb, which Jeremy wanted for braising. I went with the 7-hour lamb recipe that I’ve made once before, which allowed me to get the meal started at lunchtime (not the best idea in retrospect, since braises are pretty front-loaded operations, and I ran out of time). But since my cut of meat was the sort actually called for in the recipe, I used the method called for in the book: browining by broiling in the oven and braising in a large roasting pan. Unfortunately for me, our oven is really pitiful when it comes to broiling, so this part took at least twice as long as it should have, and I still didn’t get the color I was looking for. Then I realized that we had somehow run out of tomatoes, which is almost unthinkable; I substituted some tomato paste and my last 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped up. We foil-wrapped the roasting pan as securely as we could and left, hoping that the braising liquid wouldn’t all steam off. But we needn’t have worried about that, because in fact the lamb and vegetables produced so much extra liquid that it overflowed our rather shallow roasting pan and all over the bottom of the oven. Lovely. But the lamb tasted just as good as last time, even if it wasn’t quite as spoonable.
On Thursday I made pork chops. The original plan was to have them with some porcini risotto, but I decided I wanted something a bit faster, so I made spaetzle instead, with a side of buttered peas. The pork chops were a Bruce Aidells recipe, and it made for juicy, flavorful chops even though I let their internal temps get a bit high while working on the spaetzle. Since it also calls for ingredients I typically have on hand, I think this is a method we’ll be using again, such as it is. And it meant I didn’t need to use my lamb jus-anointed oven.
Pork Chops with Garlic-Cream Pan Sauce
4 thick center-cut pork loin chops (1 ¼ to 1 ½-inches thick; 2 to 3 lb total)
1 tsp each chopped fresh thyme and sage
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled
½ C chicken stock
½ C dry white wine
1 tsp coarse-grain mustard
2 T heavy cream
Trim the excess fat from the edge of the chops. In a bowl, combine the thyme, sage, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle the herb mixture on both sides of the chops. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes; alternatively, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
In a heavy skillet large enough to hold all the chops in one layer, over medium-high heat, heat the oil. When it is hot, brown the chops for 1 to 2 minutes on a side. Adjust the heat if the pan seems too hot. Lower the heat so the chops still sizzle. Cover the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes more or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 140 to 145 degrees.
Transfer the chops to a warm platter (set the skillet aside), cover chops loosely with foil, and let them rest for 5 minutes. The internal temperature will rise to 145 to 150 degrees.
Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a microwaveable container, combine the garlic and stock. Heat on the highest setting for 2 minutes or until the garlic is soft enough to mash. Pour off and reserve the stock. Mash the garlic with a fork.
Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet, leaving the sediment behind. Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by half. Stir in the stock, garlic, mustard, cream, and any juices on the bottom of the pork platter. Stir until smooth and thickened slightly. Taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper, if you like.
Return the chops to the pan. Turn them several times in the sauce to reheat. Serve at once.
Source: Bruce Aidells, Boston Globe
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09.24.07
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, Italian, Seafood at 2:17 pm by julie
We had quite a busy weekend! Saturday was a big shopping day because we decided to drive up to the new Ikea by PDX to try and find a new bookshelf for our literary overflow. We’d never been in an Ikea before, and it was quite an experience, almost like a ride, a little overwhelming. In the end, we did find some bookshelves (though—of course—we ended up bringing home the wrong size, so we’ll have to go back again) and a shoe shelf to put next to the front door, and I only refrained from buying elderflower soda and cloudberry preserves and Daim candies because of how much we had just spent on furniture. We did get some glass mason jars for grain and legume storage, though.
After that adventure, we had just enough space in the car to stop by Whole Foods for some groceries. We loaded up on yogurt and produce, and made some very profitable stops by the meat counter and the fish counter, so you should be seeing some more interesting meals appearing on the blog to make up for the recent blandness. With no further ado, I present to you… Whole Snapper Roasted in a Salt Crust.
This is a crimson snapper. We’ve gotten whole silk snapper from Whole Foods before, and I cooked it very successfully in a parchment packet. That was initially the plan when we picked out this guy, but once we got back home and I started flipping through my copy of Molto Italiano, I changed gears and broke out the rock salt instead.
I’ve cooked whole fish a few times before, as I said, so I’m feeling a little more confident about it now, but I’m not much less squeamish. The very helpful woman at the fish counter offered to scale the snapper for us, and I gratefully took her up on it. But I still had to deal with the fins and tail on my own, and after watching The Evil Dead and the first part of Dead Alive on the Monsters HD channel, I was very nearly feeling too grossed out to cook something that was staring back at me.
Somehow I got through it, though I’m quite sure I made some gruesome faces during the preparation. Once the fish was buried in salt and roasting, Jeremy made some jasmine rice while I worked on a skilletful of broccoli a la Lidia to go with the fish.
The salt crust hardened up nicely. What it didn’t do so nicely was break into two whole pieces so we could remove the fish. There must be some special technique to cracking it open. We ended up having to crumble the salt crust up and sift the fish out of it, but Jeremy used a light touch and it emerged, still whole, without much damage.
Jeremy did a beautiful job of filleting the fish, and we got it all plated up. It tasted delicious, very flavorful but not fishy, and absolutely tender and succulent. Between avoiding the stray bones and chunks of rock salt, though, actually extracting bites of fish to eat was a picky eater’s nightmare, though. It was certainly fun to try, and I might attempt a salt crust again with a different type of meat, but my belief in the parchment packet as the ideal vehicle for cooking whole fish is totally reaffirmed.
Whole Fish Baked in a Salt Crust (Pesce al Sale)
1 4-5 lb whole snapper or salmon, cleaned (gutted, scaled, fins and tail removed)
4 lb coarse or kosher salt
2 egg whites
Lemon wedges and olive oil, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 475F. In a large bowl, mix the egg whites into the salt until it is uniformly moistened. Spread about a third of the salt on the bottom of a large rectangular or oval baking dish, place the fish on top, and cover it completely with the rest of the salt mixture, covering it completely.
Place the dish in the oven, turn the heat down to 400F, and roast for 20-30 minutes (or about 10 minutes for every inch of thickness at the fish’s widest part). Remove from the oven, use a hammer or the handle of a knfe to crack open the salt crust, and remove the fish to fillet it. Serve garnished with lemon and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.
Source: Adapted slightly from Molto Italiano, by Mario Batali.
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08.10.07
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Leftovers, Seafood at 9:27 am by julie
Since it’s just the two of us, the pesto salmon recipe left with at least a pound of excellent baked fish, much too nice to go to waste. I have never really been able to get excited about the very Pacific Northwest combination of salmon and scrambled eggs, so I decided to look for other inspiration. My first thought was a salmon chowder, but Jeremy isn’t a huge soup fan, and I didn’t really want to eat chowder all week either. I decided on salmon croquettes, and they did an admirable job of using up all that leftover fish. My recipe was based on one from New York Magazine, but adapted for use with fresh salmon rather than canned. I also added a bit of chopped red pepper, and since I needed to roast peppers for white bean dip anyway, I whipped up a little roasted red pepper aioli to accompany the croquettes. Jeremy seemed satisfied with the croquettes, but commented several times on how good the aioli was.
Salmon Croquettes
1 lb leftover wild salmon, cut into small chunks
4 tsp unsalted butter
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, finely diced
4 tsp all-purpose flour plus 1/2 cup for dredging
1 1/2 C milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 T mayonnaise
2 C fresh bread crumbs
3 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
Place the salmon in a large bowl. Heat the butter in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat, add the onion, garlic, and pepper, and sauté until soft. Stir in the 4 teaspoons flour using a wooden spoon; when the flour and butter are combined, slowly add 1/2 cup milk, stirring to prevent lumps from forming. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until thickened. Pour the sauce over the salmon and stir until all the ingredients are combined. Season to taste with salt, pepper, Old Bay, and Worcestershire. Stir in the mayonnaise and about half a cup of bread crumbs, cover the bowl, and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
With the palms of your hands, form the salmon mixture into small patties, about 1-2 inches in diameter. Beat the eggs in a bowl, put the remaining milk in another bowl, sprinkle 1/2 cup flour on a plate, and spread the remaining bread crumbs on a cookie sheet. Quickly dip each croquette first in the milk, then in the flour, then in beaten egg, and finally coat with bread crumbs, making sure each croquette is completely covered with bread crumbs; set on a tray. It will be less messy if you use one hand for touching the dry dredges and one hand for the wet.
Heat the oil in a 10″ cast iron skillet over medium heat; there should be enough to cover the bottom of the pan around 1/4″ deep. When the oil is hot, place 6 or 7 of the croquettes in the pan and sauté for about 3 minutes on each side, or until bread crumbs turn golden. (Make sure the oil does not smoke and discolor or the bread crumbs will burn.) Place the croquettes on paper towels to drain; sprinkle with kosher salt while hot. Serve warm with roasted red pepper aioli.
Source: Adapted from New York Magazine.
Roasted Red Pepper Aioli
About 1/2 C freshly roasted red bell pepper, skin removed
1/3 C mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a bowl, combine the peppers, garlic and mayo; use a stick blender to puree until almost smooth. Season the aioli, to taste, with salt and pepper. This can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Giada recommends this on garlic buschetta with a seafood boil.
Source: Adapted from Everyday Italian, with Giada de Laurentiis.
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