Christmas Time for the Jews

Here are some great holiday treats for everyone looking to celebrate the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is a great time to share food with friends and family, and I have received dozens of e-mails asking for some great recipes, so here you go. I should tell you, the potato pancakes are so good that posting this recipe alone is a mitzvah of the highest order. Bubbelah, you should always trust me with this stuff. The chopped liver is the version I have been making for years and have named it after my grandmother who always made me a to-die-for chopped-liver dish every holiday.

Sephardic Eggplant Salad

3 large eggplants at 2–1/2 lbs.
2 T. olive oil
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 c. flat parsley leaves
2 t. dried oregano
4 chopped scallions
2 T. lemon juice
2 large garlic cloves
2 T. salt packed capers, refreshed and drained
2 ripe, diced, skinless, seedless tomatoes
6 pita bread discs cut in 1/8s and toasted

Brush the eggplant with the tablespoons of olive oil, and broil on a baking sheet for 25–30 minutes, turning often until skin blackens and eggplant is cooked.

Let it cool. Peel and chop meats, and reserve to a colander to drip off the excess liquids.

Place the oregano, scallions, garlic, and half the parsley in a food processor, and pulse until well processed. Fold into the drained eggplant, season with the oil, lemon, and vinegar.

Add the tomatoes.

Chop the remaining parsley and capers, and fold into the salad.

Season with salt and pepper, and serve with toasted or grilled pita.

Henriette’s Chopped Chicken Liver

2 lbs. fresh chicken livers
1/4 c. rendered chicken fat (schmaltz)
1 t. minced parsley
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 large yellow onion, minced
1 box matzo

Drain, and pat dry the livers.

Sauté onions in 1 T. schmaltz over medium heat until lightly caramelized (just past beige). Reserve.

Fry livers to medium (pink) in 1 T. schmaltz in the same pan over medium high heat.
Reserve livers.

Grind the liver and onions through a food mill by hand, or pulse in a food processor.
Add the parsley, grate the eggs, and fold in those as well. Add remaining schmaltz, or more, to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Chill the chopped livers.

Serve with the matzo.

Potato Pancakes

3 large russet (Idaho-style, baking) potatoes
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cooked, and diced
2 eggs, beaten
2 t. sea salt
1/2 t. ground white pepper
1/2 c. matzo meal
1 large yellow onion, grated
2 c. applesauce
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. crème fraiche
1/2 lb. sliced, smoked salmon (I like the Ducktrap line.)
Oil for frying

Peel and grate the Russet potatoes. Rinse with cold water, and drain, gently pressing to relieve excess moisture. Mix half the potatoes with the mashed potatoes. Pulse the other half of the grated potatoes with the onions in the work bowl or food processor to form a paste. Do not over work.

Combine the two mixtures; season with the salt, pepper, eggs, and matzo meal.
Heat enough vegetable oil, in a large skillet over medium heat, to come up the sides of the pan 1/4 an inch.

When oil is 350 degrees, or a small pinch of batter instantly sizzles when dropped in, fry small 2- to 3-inch sized patties in batches until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towel.

Serve as a side dish or as a snack or appetizer. I think it is great to serve them with applesauce, sour cream, smoked salmon, and other treats on the side.

Noodle Kugel

1 lb. extra-wide egg noodles
4 c. cottage cheese
3 c. milk
2/3 c. melted butter
1 T. cinnamon
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
6 eggs
2 t. salt
1–1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. minced, dried apricots
1/2 c. sliced almonds

Cook, drain, and cool noodles.

Combine all the ingredients, reserving the almonds, brown sugar, and 1 t. of the cinnamon for sprinkling on the top of the casserole.
Butter a large pan or 2 small brownie pans.

Sprinkle kugel with the reserved ingredients, and bake at 350 degrees for 50–60 minutes until set and golden brown. Serves10–12

Stuffed Cabbage with Veal, Currants, and Pistachios

The Filling
3 lbs. ground veal
2 eggs
1–1/2 c. matzo meal or bread crumbs
1/2 c. currants
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. minced parsley
2 T. ground cumin
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/3 c. toasted pine nuts
1 minced onion
1 lb. cooked, chopped spinach, drained very, very well
3 large heads Savoy cabbage, cleaned, leaves blanched and cooled

Combine all the ingredients except the cabbage. Roll 3 oz. of this stuffing mixture into the cabbage leaves, burrito style. Place all of the rolls 1/2 inch apart into 2 ovenproof dishes. Reserve.

The Sauce
24 oz. diced tomatoes in juice
4 T. minced, preserved lemons
2 minced cloves of garlic
1 t. saffron
1 c. white wine
2 minced shallots
6 leaves basil
2 diced carrots
2 pinches of chili flakes
1/2 c. orange juice
1 T. ground celery seed
1/2 c. toasted pistachios
2 T. butter

Place the butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the shallots, lemon, garlic, carrots, and saffron, and sauté until glassy. Add the wine, and simmer to reduce by half. Add the herbs, spices, and tomato with the juices. Simmer for 15–20 minutes until almost dry.

Divide over the cabbage rolls, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Uncover, and bake for 10 more minutes.

Something Stinks, and It’s Not Your Do-ahead Gravy

In last Wednesday’s Star Tribune, Kevin Diaz reported on Hormel and Cargill CEOs testifying about the modified atmosphere packaging that allows for storing meat and other foods in an oxygen-depleted environment, then pumping the meat with carbon monoxide, making it shelf stable for up to twenty days, and it retains all it’s original bright red color. I have all the respect in the world for many of the local politicians on all sides of this issue, but if you take the position that the process preserves freshness and minimizes contamination as Cargill and Hormel do, and if you really believe this is a positive step for food safety as they do, then the least you could do is stick a BIG FAT LABEL on the meat that tells everyone how old the stuff is. I happen to think the practice is deceptive and is a scarily, but weakly, disguised attempt to get us to relieve the giant food companies of old meat that otherwise ends up in the garbage. You can say as many times as you like that it’s about preserving freshness, but it is simply a matter of baiting consumers into buying old meat that looks fresh and keeping meat shelf stable without freezing it. Why not simply sell fresh meat as fresh meat; then freeze the stuff before throwing it away in the supermarkets and sell that at a discount? And if you believe in the product and the new science so much, why not simply label it as “CO gassed” with large “made-on” dates? Hormel and Cargill have offered to label the product with a “color is not an accurate indicator of freshness” warning. Why create a process like this and then label it as such? Isn’t this an obvious mea culpa? Thoughts?

Speaking of freshness . . . for those looking to make do-ahead gravy for the holidays:

Do-Ahead Gravy
3 lb. poultry wings and backs
2 c. chopped onion and celery
4 c. chicken or turkey stock
3 T. flour
3 T. butter
1/2 c. cream (if you like)
salt and pepper to taste
herb sprig as needed

Chop the onion and celery, and place in a large brownie pan. Roast the poultry wings and backs on top of the chopped onion and celery. Season and cook at 350 degrees for 75 minutes. Remove from stove, pour off any accumulated liquid/fat, and return to oven for 10 minutes. Onions under the bird bits should be golden brown around edges, and poultry should be crisp-gold. Skim fat from liquid and discard, returning the liquid to pan along with the chicken or turkey stock. Simmer on a stove top for 10 minutes to loosen the sticky bits, pour contents of the pan into a small pot, and simmer covered for 50 minutes. You can add an herb sprig here if you like. Uncover, strain well, discard solids, and reduce liquid to 2-1/2 cups.

Set aside, and place the flour and butter in a saucepan, and cook for a few minutes over medium heat. Add the hot gravy liquid in thirds, whisking, and bring to a slow boil. Cook for 3–5 minutes, add cream, if you like, or season with salt and pepper, and serve as is. I do mine ahead to make life easy on Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving.

Bobo's Remembered

Insiders on all sides of the fence e-mailed me over the weekend to say that J. D. Fratzke, longtime chef at Muffuletta—the Parasole group’s heritage restaurant in St. Anthony Park—has been made a managing partner and will also assume chef duties at The Strip Club, the new Tim Niver/Aaron Johnson restaurant on Mound and Maria in St. Paul. Niver and Johnson are the duo behind the smash hit eatery on Lake Street, the Town Talk Diner. Fratzke assumes his new duties in December.

Now on to the recipe at hand . . .

My wife loves lettuce cups and so does our son, and when I was in China last month I was reminded that they are just as popular there. All great food is about contrasts—hot-cold, salt-sweet, crunchy-sweet—and this dish has it all. The first time I ate this dish I was five years old with my Dad at Bobo’s in NYC’s Chinatown, a restaurant that closed about a year ago after a ninety-year run. This is a recipe that I spent years perfecting, trying to get it to the point where it would be indistinguishable from the original I had tasted there. It works.

Minced ‘Dragon and Phoenix’ in Lettuce Cups
2 whipped egg whites
2 T. corn starch
4 T. Chinese rice wine
2 T. soy sauce
1 lb. boneless and skinless chicken thigh, minced fine by hand
1 lb. shrimp, cleaned and finely diced
4 c. peanut oil
2 T. hot chili paste
1 t. sugar
1 T. plus 1 t. Toban Djan . . . Lee Kum Kee brand is best (Toban Djan is
     fermented bean paste that is seasoned with chiles and garlic).
1 T. minced ginger
1 T. minced garlic
1 dried hot chile
1/4 c. minced scallion
1/2 c. minced red pepper
1/2 c. minced celery
1/2 c. diced fresh water chestnuts
3 heads Boston lettuce or iceberg lettuce

Place the egg, corn starch, half the rice wine, the chili paste, and half the soy in a large Ziploc bag. Add the meat and let marinate for 12 hours.

Remove meat from marinade. Heat oil in a wok to 375 degrees. Fry the meat until cooked through in batches. Using a spider wand, reserve to a plate. When finished, pour off the oil through a strainer and refrigerate for another use. Do not wipe the wok. There will be oil remaining behind in the pan. This is intended.

Return the wok to high heat. When smoking, add the ginger, sugar, garlic, and the dried chili. Stir fry for a moment and add the vegetables. Stir fry for another moment and add the meats back to the wok. Add the remaining rice wine, Toban Djan, remaining soy sauce and cook, stirring until sauce is reduced to proper consistency.

Serve with the lettuce, allowing the guests to spoon a few morsels of meat mixture into the lettuce leaves at the table. Serves 4–6 people as a small course.

Shanks a Lot

This is one of the dishes I first turn to whenever the cool weather hits us. These fabulous braised veal shanks are perfect for family dinners or entertaining. Be sure to keep some small forks or espresso spoons handy for extracting the delicate marrow from the bones. The fennel and orange flavors marry beautifully, as does the vinegar, which cuts through the fatty richness of the veal shanks.

Braised Veal Shanks with Orange and Fennel
8 osso buco veal shanks . . . please select meaty, center-cut pieces,
     approximately 14–16 oz. a piece
Kosher salt and pepper
Flour for dredging
4 T. olive oil
2/3 c. sherry wine vinegar
3 c. homemade veal or beef stock
2 medium-sized fennel bulbs, trimmed
3 c. peeled and sliced carrots
1 c. fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 c. cooked and cooled peas (or frozen)
1 orange, peeled and segmented, freed of all connective tissue and
     filament

Preheat oven to 375. Season the veal shanks with the salt and pepper and dredge with the flour. Place the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and brown the veal. Reserve to a platter. Discard the fat from the pan.

Add the vinegar, scraping the pan, and reduce by half. Add the stock and reduce by a third. Return the veal to the pan, cover, and braise in the oven for an hour.

Slice the fennel lengthwise into sixths. Uncover the veal, then add the carrots, fennel, and orange juice. Raise temperature to 400 and cook uncovered for another 45 minutes, basting as you go.

Skim the sauce. Reserve the meat (it should be fork-tender) and vegetables to a platter, then return the pan to medium heat on your stovetop and reduce liquids to sauce consistency. Stir in the peas, then season and serve over the shanks.

Garnish with the orange sections. Serves 6.

Time For Soup

I love soup, and this one is a home run. Best of all, it freezes well. I like to make this soup once it gets cold and rainy, and of course, it’s a great way to use up those carrots that I know are always sitting in the bottom of your vegetable bin.

Carrot Soup with Ginger and Curry
3 lbs. peeled and chopped carrots
1 lb. carrots, juiced
3 c. chicken stock
2 T. vegetable oil
1/4 c. minced shallots
4 Kaffir lime leaves
2 T. Madras curry powder
1 t. blanchan (shrimp paste)
1/4 c. minced ginger
2 sliced garlic cloves
2 red Thai chile peppers
1 T. toasted coriander seeds
12 oz. coconut milk
Lime juice and cilantro leaves for garnish

Place oil in a large pot over high heat. When aromatic, add the ginger, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, curry, sambal, coriander seeds, and lime leaves. Cook briefly. When aromatic, add the stock, juice, and carrots. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Puree well, strain well, and bring to a simmer again, adding the coco milk. Simmer until soup has a rich, full-bodied consistency, then season with sea salt and white pepper. Add the lime juice and cilantro at the table. Serves 6–8.

Loafing Around

Everyone has their go-to version of meat loaf, and everyone thinks theirs is the best. I'm no different. But in case you are still looking for yours, this is the answer to your prayers. I love to make sure I have some of this for leftover meat loaf sandwiches that I serve on toast with Heinz chile sauce.

The Real Deal Meat loaf
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground veal
1 lb. ground pork
3 T. butter
1 large onion minced
3 ribs minced celery
1 c. blanched and drained spinach . . . frozen is OK, but be sure that it is squeezed well to remove excess moisture.
2 pinches fresh grated nutmeg
1 c. chopped tomatoes . . . canned is OK.
2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. sherry
1/3 c. heavy cream
2 eggs, beaten
4 T. tomato paste, softened in a few teaspoons of water
2 slices bacon

Place the butter into a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the onion, spinach, celery, nutmeg, and tomato. Cook until soft and glassy.

Add the sherry and cook until dry. Cool, then pulse for 4 or 5 seconds in a food processor. You don't want to purée it, but you want to be sure there are no big chunks. Place into a bowl and add the cream, bread crumbs, eggs, and meats. Combine well and season with salt and pepper.

Place one slice of bacon inside a large rectangular loaf pan. Add the meat mixture all at once and spread tomato paste mixture over the top of the meatloaf. Place a piece of bacon over the top of the paste. Put the loaf pan into a 325-degree oven for about 2 hours.

Remove and cool for 15 minutes before unmolding, slicing, and serving.

Grits

So I had lunch with my son at Brasa last week—what a fabulous joint that little place is. Anyway, it made me get out my favorite grits recipe after I ate Alex's version. Here it is. I serve it either with roasted, whole corned beef glazed with maple-bourbon-mustard sauce or under grilled quail. (For the latter, take 12 semi-boneless quail and marinate overnight in 2 c. of fresh orange juice. Grill over high, direct heat and brush with apricot preserves thinned with a little cider vinegar and brown mustard.) These grits also are fabulous with roasted ham . . . I'm making myself hungry.

Cheddar Cheese Grits
4 c. milk
1-1/2 c. quick-cooking grits . . . Quaker Oats brand work great.
1/4 lb. plus 4 T. butter
2 t. butter for the baking dish
2 t. salt
1 dash hot pepper sauce
12 oz. of grated, sharp farmhouse cheddar cheese . . . Grafton works
     well.
3 eggs, well-beaten
Butter for frying

Butter a long, rectangular baking dish—Le Creuset works great, as does Pyrex. Preheat oven to 375. In a large sauce pan, bring the milk and 2 c. water to boil over high heat. Pour in the grits, and stir well.

Pull from heat and stir in all the seasonings, cheese, 1/4 lb. butter, and the eggs, stirring well. Pour into the prepared baking dish and place in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Let cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

Duck a l'Orange

October is here. Who cares what the temperature gauge says or how the local teams did over the weekend? Who cares how much time a dish takes to cook now that the season has turned? I am getting ready for hibernation, so break out the cream and butter and dust-off the kettle . . .  or if you like, blow the cobwebs from a French classic and get cooking. This recipe reminds me why great food is timeless. I cut the back bones out of the ducks when they have rested for 20 minutes after cooking, serving the duck in quarters. Two servings is half a duckling—a large portion per diner, but I rarely serve it any other way.

Duck a l’Orange
2 large Pekin (Long Island) ducklings, about 5–6 lbs. each
5 c. fresh orange juice
4 buds star anise, ground or crushed

The Sauce
4 c. rich duck stock or veal stock
1 c. fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 c. Grand Marnier
6 cloves
Zest of 1 orange
1 shallot, minced
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 c. sugar
1 t. lemon juice

Prick the ducks with a sharp fork and wriggle the skin to loosen. Marinate the ducks for 24–36 hours in the orange juice and ground star anise. I use the super-sized Ziploc bags.

Remove ducks from marinade, discard marinade, and place ducks on a rack in your refrigerator. Dry for 12 hours refrigerated and then 2 hours at room temperature.

Rack the ducks over a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper, and stuff the cavities with rosemary and sliced oranges. Preheat the oven to 350 and roast ducks for 2 hours, turning and basting with the fat, pricking the skin occasionally when the leg joint wriggles in its socket.

Place the sugar and lemon juice in a high-sided saucepan over low-medium heat and slowly let it caramelize without stirring. When golden light brown, pull from heat and stir in the shallots, orange zest, and spices. Add the stock (it will bubble a lot—keep stirring), then the cup of orange juice and Grand Marnier, stirring. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a simmer, and reduce to sauce consistency. Season with sherry wine vinegar, salt, and orange zest. Strain and keep warm.

Serve the duck with the sauce. Serves 4–6.

Berkshire Pork

So I know that it feels like summer, but this recipe is sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting for the first cool night. The combination of apples, pork, and rosemary is fantastic. I also make this dish with a rack of veal, but I let it roast to about 150–155-degree interior temperature, and that takes a tad longer than the pork rack. Pork racks are typically eight bones long, so this recipe easily feeds six, with a leftover chop or two for lunch the next day.

FYI, look for local black-trumpet mushrooms to hit the market any day now. This last year was a phenomenal mushroom year, and if you don't know any foragers, head up to the northern third of the state over the next week or so and seek them out yourself.

Roasted Prime Rack of Berkshire Pork with Calvados and Rosemary
1 rack of prime species-specific pork . . . Local Berkshire pork is
     plentiful these days. Be sure the chine bone is removed and
     the bones are Frenched for easy serving.
1 T. ground pepper
2 T. minced rosemary
1 T. sea salt
3 T. flour
3 T. vegetable oil
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 c. Calvados or Applejack
1 c. apple cider
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
4 T. minced shallots
1 c. julienne of peeled and cored Haralson or Cortland apple
1/3 c. currants
1 c. rich veal or chicken stock
1/2 c. heavy cream

Bring rack to room temperature. Combine salt, pepper, flour, and rosemary. Rub aggressively on the rack of pork.

Heat oil in large roasting pan. Brown pork and reserve to a platter.

Wipe out the pan and place a roasting rack in it. Place pork on rack and roast at 400 degrees for 45–55 minutes until internal temperature is 155–160 degrees.

Let pork rest on a platter and deglaze the roasting pan over medium heat with the shallots, rosemary sprig, and apples. When shallots are glassy, add the cider, vinegar, Calvados, and stock. Reduce at a medium boil until 75% reduced, then add the cream and currants. Cook for several more minutes until slightly thickened.

Season and serve with the pork. Serves 6–8.

Squashed

These days, hard squash are all I am thinking about. You should be thinking about them too. I make these recipes several times each fall, and I am sure you will love them. Be sure to make a double batch of the Bolognese—it’s that good.

Spaghetti Squash Crumble
2 medium sized spaghetti squash
4 T. minced parsley
1 T. fresh thyme leaves
1 c. fresh bread crumbs
8 oz. melted butter
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground allspice
1 t. ground ginger
1/4 c. minced shallots
3 minced garlic cloves
1 c. diced tomato, drained
2/3 c. ground Pecorino Romano . . .Get a good one—not some cheap supermarket wannabe.
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. thinly sliced almonds, lightly toasted

Split, butter, season, and roast the halved spaghetti squash in a large shallow baking dish for 90 minutes at 325 degrees or until tender.

Cool and scrape the flesh into a large mixing bowl.

Sauté the shallots and garlic in 2 T. of the butter until translucent. Add to the squash. Then add all the herbs and spices, the tomato, and half of the remaining butter. Fold together. Season and reserve.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the remaining butter, the bread crumbs, the cheese, the nuts, and the brown sugar. Place the squash mixture in a large oval or rectangular baking dish and sprinkle the ‘crumble’ over the top. Cover loosely in aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 325.

Remove the foil and raise temperature to 375. Cook until ‘crumble’ is crispy, then serve.

Pasta Bolognese with Veal and Butternut Squash
2 lbs. cubed fresh veal shoulder or veal leg*
4 T. olive oil
4 slices Nueskes Bacon, minced
32 oz. canned chopped tomatoes
4 c. dry red wine
1 qt. beef stock or rich chicken stock
Bouquet garni of fresh sage, parsley, and bay
1 T. dried oregano
1 T. dried basil
1/2 t. dried red chili flakes
1 c. minced carrots
1 c. minced celery
3 T. sliced garlic cloves
1 c. minced onions
1 c. heavy cream, plus some more in reserve
2 c. quarter-inch diced butternut squash or other hard squash varietal

Place the olive oil and the bacon in a large pot over medium heat. When bacon is crisped and rendered, add the veal. Brown veal and add the herbs, celery, onion, carrot, and garlic. Sauté for 4–5 minutes and add the wine.

Reduce by half at a simmer. Add the tomatoes and reduce liquids by half again. Add the stock and, simmering, cook for 10–15 minutes.

Add the squash pieces and continue simmering for 20–25 minutes

Add the cream, bring to a strong simmer, and continue cooking until sauce has thickened.

Season and taste for ‘cream richness.’ If you like, add some more. Be sure the squash is fork-tender as well. Remove bouquet garni and discard. Serve over your favorite sturdy pasta, such as rigatoni, ziti, or penne.

*I love making this dish a little lustier by making it with 4-lb. osso buco (portioned veal shank with marrow bone attached) instead of cubed veal. Just increase your cooking time to tenderize the osso buco and increase your stock so you are not boiling away too much liquid.

Hail Caesar

For years, I worked in restaurants. One year, I worked at Leslie Revsin’s One Fifth Avenue, where I was the garde manger. I had to teach the waiters to execute a tableside Caesar salad the original way it was done in Mexico and southern California eighty-plus years ago when the Caesar craze began at Los Angeles’s Brown Derby restaurant. I love this salad, and it’s even better than the emulsified-dressing version served all over town today. Use the freshest eggs in the world, and don’t serve raw ones to any kids or seniors . . . .

Caesar Salad
2 large heads romaine lettuce
3 T. minced anchovies
1 T. mustard
1 T. Worcestershire sauce, or more to taste
1/3 c. grated Reggiano parmesan . . . or even better, peeled curls of the
     good stuff.
2 egg yolks, beaten slightly
1/2 c. olive oil or more to taste
Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced super-fine
1/4 stick butter
4 T. minced parsley
3 c. cubed artisanal bread, roughly the size of gaming dice.

Trim and clean romaine. Cut, wash, and dry lettuce. It needs to be bone dry!

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then add the minced parsley and half of the garlic. Toss with the bread cubes, then toast them in a 325-degree oven until nicely browned. Reserve.

Place the remaining garlic, mustard, and egg yolks in a large salad bowl. Add the lettuce and toss to coat. Add the anchovy, Worcestershire, and olive oil. Depending on the size of your heads of lettuce, you may not use all the oil. Toss well and season to taste with the lemon juice. Garnish with the cheese and croutons, then serve. Serves 4 as a large lunch salad.

Fish Shtick

Now is the time, my friends . . . the dog days still upon us, the markets still teaming with local produce, the fish season on the coasts still in full swing. I make the vegetables ahead of time, and the sauce can also be made ahead and kept in a thermos (dinner party trick of the day!) if you are cooking for a crowd. You’ll love to make this bass recipe again and again once you go through the recipe the first time.

For this dish, I look to use wild striped bass, a full-flavored, white, flakey fish that is sturdy enough to stand up to the sauce and the vegetables, but still relatively light enough to qualify as a summertime treat. The sauce is worth the work, and these days, who doesn’t yearn for a sturdy, creamy shellfish jus after three months of olive oil drizzles and lemon juice spritzes?

Pan Seared Bass on Provencale-Style Vegetables with Shrimp Sauce
4 8-oz. boneless, skin-on filets of line-caught striped bass or sea bass
1 c. Wondra flour
3 T. butter, clarified works best
Sea salt and white pepper for seasoning

Score the skin and season fish aggressively, on the skin side. Dredge fish in the flour. Knock off any excess.

Preheat pan over medium heat, adding the butter, and sauté the fish, cooking mostly skin-side down, turning to finish the fish. Do not overcook, but this fish should not be served medium rare! Plate the fish on top of spoonfuls of the vegetables, drizzling the sauce around the fish. Serves 4.

The Vegetables
3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 minced anchovies
4 basil leaves, julienned
2 minced shallots
1/4 c. nicoise olives
1/2 c. finely diced green zuchinni
1/2 c. yellow squash, diced fine
1 c. finely diced eggplant
2 T. minced parsley
1 clove minced garlic
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. white wine

Place the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, eggplant, and shallots and cook for several minutes to cook through.

Add the anchovies and cook for another minute.

Add the zuchinni, squash, parsley, basil, and olives. Add the wine and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the tomato. Saute for another minute or so, then pull from heat, stirring. Season and serve warm under the fish. 

Shellfish Cream
1/4 c. brandy
2 T. Pernod
3 c. shellfish stock or fish stock (made from the bones of the bass,
     ideally!)
1 lb. fresh shrimp in the shell, chopped coarsely, shells and all . . . I use
     ocean-caught Ecuadorean or Mexican shrimp.
1 T. tomato paste
2 sprigs tarragon
1 minced shallot
1 minced carrot
1 rib minced celery
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. heavy cream

Place a large saute pan over high heat. Add the oil and, when it’s rippling, add the shrimp. Toss, scorching the shells. Toss-in the tomato paste, tarragon, and vegetables. When cooked down and aromatic, add the brandy and Pernod, then cook for a minute or so. Add the stock and simmer, covered, for 15–20 minutes.

Remove cover and reduce by two-thirds at a simmer. Strain, pressing down on the solids. Add the cream. Discard solids. Simmer until sauce consistency is reached.

Season with sea salt, white pepper, and a touch of lemon. Foam the sauce, if you like, before serving, drizzling the sauce around the fish and vegetables.

Clamtastic

Not everyone loves big fat Atlantic surf clams. Salty, chewy, and briny in the extreme, there is nothing better eaten raw, though very few are sold for that purpose in this part of the country. I like to take fresh large cherrystone clams about 2 inches high and about 3 inches across and shuck them, serving them on the half shell with buttered toast and a sturdy cocktail sauce, a big pile of sliced lemons at my elbow. I use smaller clams for pasta (the smaller size are called littlenecks) and every once in a while I crave a good stuffie. Stuffies are what New Englanders call these fabulous baked clams that are the end result of the recipe below. Heaven.

Baked Clams

Clams
3 T. minced garlic
2 T. minced parsley
1/4 c. minced shallots
3 T. olive oil
1 c. white wine
36 large cherrystone clams, scrubbed and cleaned

Sweat garlic, parsley, and shallots in oil, add wine and, when boiling, add clams. Steam to open in the white wine court bouillon. Strain and reserve liquid, then discard top shells of clams and set aside clams in their ‘bottom’ shells. Serves 4-6 as an appetizer or small dinner course.

Stuffing
1/4 c. olive oil
1 t. Spanish paprika
2 T. minced garlic
2 T. minced parsley
1 T. fresh thyme
4 T. minced bacon
1/2 c. each minced red pepper, onion, celery
1/4 c. fresh clam juice (reserved juices from above work great)
1/2 c. fresh breadcrumbs, or more as needed
2 T. melted butter
2 T. lemon juice

Place oil in a large pan over high heat and add herbs, spices, seasonings, bacon, and vegetables. Sauté until cooked through and add fresh clam juice. Cook until pan is nearly dry. Toss vegetable mix with breadcrumbs, butter, and lemon juice. Stuff on top of clams and bake/broil until crispy. Serve.

Tomato Heads 101, Part Two

My mother went to college in San Francisco, and her first college boyfriend turned her on to cioppino back in the 1940s. Growing up, summertime meant cioppino time. Friday night was reserved for black-and-blue grilled sirloin, corn, and tomato salad. Saturday was either striped bass grilled over an open fire on the beach or a cioppino dinner. I love the simplicity of this recipe. The other dish is a tad complex with quite a few moving parts, but it is awesome and relatively easy once you make your way through it the first time. Also, plenty of the pieces can be done ahead of time. Essentially, it is a more highly evolved version of poached shrimp, served over cold tomato gazpacho, and worth every minute spent on it.

San Francisco Lobster and Clam Cioppino
1 c. dry white wine
1 qt. fresh tomato sauce (remember last week's recipe?)
1/2 c. diced shallots
1/4 t. red chile flakes
1 sprig fresh basil
1/2 t. dried oregano, or more to taste . . . I find a little goes a long way.
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 c. olive oil
2 small lobsters, each weighing roughly 1-1/4 lbs.
3 dozen cherrystone clams, scrubbed and rinsed

Place the olive oil in a large pot over high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and herbs. Cook briefly and add the white wine. It will begin boiling almost right away. Count to 30 and add the tomato sauce.

Kill the lobsters by plunging a knife through their carapace 1 inch behind their eyes. Split them lengthwise, reserving the roe or tomalley if it falls out of the shell.

When sauce is boiling again add the clams, lobsters, and lobster bits. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or so, tossing the pot once to promote even cookery. Serve when the clams are open. If you like, you can add mussels, calamari, crab, or fin fish pieces about halfway through, but I like the lobster and clam version on its own.

Sprinkle with a hefty amount of chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper and serve in wide, low bowls with plenty of crusty bread

Fresh Tomato Cocktails with Soused Shrimp and Iced Aquavit

Make the shrimp ahead of time, then make the tomato puree and refrigerate briefly before composing the cocktails.

The Cocktails
3 lbs. green zebra tomatoes
1 t. sea salt
1 t. Crystal hot sauce
2 t. Worcester sauce
1 t. ground cumin
1 T. lemon juice

Peel and gently seed the tomatoes. Pulse in a food processor, or put through a food mill, and season with the remaining ingredients.

Divide into 4 or 6 large, wide glasses, rimmed with seasoned caraway salt, then add a few of the shrimp and serve, drizzling with iced aquavit if you care to.

The Shrimp
2 lbs. medium sized shrimp (about 15 per pound)
1 bay leaf
1 T. crushed peppercorns
1 lemon in quarters
3 ears sweet corn kernels, cut from the cob
1 c. shaved scallions
1 lemon thinly sliced
2 fresh hot green chiles, split
5 sprigs fresh marjoram

The Sauce
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
3 T. minced dill
3 T. white vinegar
2 T. sugar
1/2 c. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan, place the shrimp in just enough water to cover. Add the bay leaf, peppercorns, and the quartered lemon, squeezed. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add the corn, marjoram, chile and stir once. Remove from heat. Drain and turn into a serving bowl. Remove the lemon and bay leaf. Fold in the scallions and lemon slices. Pour the vinaigrette over the corn/shrimp. Let stand for 20 minutes, tossing occasionally, and it’s ready to go.

Tomato Heads 101, Part One

Tomatoes are flooding into markets, so the next few weeks, I’ll try to focus on this, my favorite of all foods, fresh tomatoes. It’s a big honkin’ food-writing cliché to wax poetic and drone on and on about the glories of sliced, fresh tomatoes on thin toast with mayonnaise, or tomatoes from the garden drizzled with olive oil, or tomatoes eaten out-of-hand like an apple . . . but they are all true. I had a version of the dish below (roasted cherry tomatoes with lobster salad and tarragon) at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants a few months ago, and I was reminded to dig out my fave tomato salad, incorporating small roasted tomatoes still on the vine. The idea is to roast them slowly enough so that they shrivel and intensify with flavor, but stay on the stems. It is a beautiful-looking dish, and the oven does all the work for you. The other recipe is for a wonderful and simple home-style tomato sauce that can be a master recipe for inclusion in any dish. Next week, I’ll dig up something for you to use it with.

Hot and Cold Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella Salad
1 lb. mozzarella di buffalo (or a bit more, if you have a hankerin’)
4 pints Sweet 100 or cherry tomatoes . . . Yellow, red, and gold ones make a great plate, but you’ll want some of them to be ‘stem on.’ If you are using stem-on tomatoes, it’s hard to measure pints, so just use what you would feel comfy eating.
2 T. olive oil
6 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. minced shallots
2 T. red wine vinegar
Basil chiffonade (thinly cut ribbons) to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 275. Toss half the tomatoes in the olive oil to barely coat, then season and place on a baking sheet fitted with a no-stick liner or baking paper. Roast until blistered and shriveled. This will take a few hours depending on the size of the tomatoes, and it can be done in advance. My tomatoes take about 3–4 hours, just keep an eye on yours. You can also do this at 500 degrees for 7–10 minutes but you have to be more mindful of exploding tomatoes.

Cut the remaining raw tomatoes in half. Cool the cooked ones, and arrange both the cooked and raw tomatoes on thin slices of the cheese, divided onto 6 plates. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar, then sprinkle with the basil, salt, and pepper.

Season and serve. Serves 4–6 as a first course.

Perfect Tomato Sauce for Anything
10–12 lbs. mixed red tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
1/4 c. minced yellow onion
3 sprigs basil
2 sprigs oregano
2 sprigs parsley
2 t. sea salt
4 oz. extra virgin olive oil
6 oz. dry white wine

Peel and seed the tomatoes, then crush them in a food mill.

Place half the oil in a large, wide, well-insulated, non-reactive pot over low-medium heat. Add the garlic, onions, salt, and the herb sprigs tied together. Cook until aromatic and onions are translucent. Do not let the garlic burn.

Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the tomatoes. Bring to a slow boil and lower heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook for about an hour or until the watery liquids have for the most part cooked off. You do not want a watery sauce.

Discard the herb bouquet. Add the balance of the oil. Simmer for another 5 minutes and cool. Adjust seasoning.

Use as needed or freeze. Makes roughly 3 quarts.

Fried Green Tomatoes

4 large green tomatoes, cut into 1/8-inch slices
1/2 c. fresh goat cheese (chevre)
2 T. minced scallions
1 c. dry bread crumbs
2 beaten eggs
1 c. all-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
Vegetable oil for frying 

Combine the cheese and scallions. Use your hands to roll the cheese into several large, tablespoon-size clumps. With your palm heel or fingertips, roll one clump at a time into a thin layer between two pieces of wax paper. Place these flattened layers onto half of the tomatoes, then cover each cheese-covered slice with another slice, making little thin sandwiches, pressing down gently.

Dredge tomatoes in flour, then the beaten egg, then the bread crumbs.

On the stove top, heat oil, at a depth of roughly 1/2-inch, to 360 degrees in an electric skillet or deep-sided fry pan. Fry the green tomatoes until browned on both sides. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve with the sauce below.

Garden Dipping Sauce
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. sour cream
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. minced parsley
1 t. ground white pepper
2 T. minced chives
1 t. Spice Islands Beau Monde seasoning (a killer celery spice blend)

Combine all ingredients and serve with the tomatoes.

Stinking Rose 101

So I am drinking gazpacho the other day out of the fridge, daydreaming about the perfect garlic bread for dunking in my soup or eating with leftover grilled chicken, and I then drift into thoughts about 112 Eatery’s pressed chicken. Then I say, "Let’s press garlic bread!" and it works. It's faster and easier, and it results in a dense-chewy-crisp version that I love. Then I figure out a fun way to use the rest of the garlic oil, and voila!

Flattened Garlic Bread
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 T. parsley, minced
2 pinches red chile flakes
1 shallot, minced
1 t. sea salt
3 pinches ground white pepper
1 baguette, cut in half lengthwise and then in half again so you have 4
     pieces

Place the garlic, oil, shallot, salt, pepper, and chile flakes in a blender and pulse to puree. Add the parsley and pulse again for a few seconds. Rub and spoon some of the mixture on the cut sides of the bread, then refrigerate.

Take remaining oil and whisk in 2 T. lemon juice and 2 T. Dijon mustard, then marinate a cut-up chicken or some veal chops in the mixture for 8 hours. Grill the chicken or veal over hardwood charcoal.

When it is done and resting, cook up some asparagus, make a fresh tomato salad, preheat a 12-inch iron skillet, and add the bread, cut-side down, into the pan. Place a heavy plate or bacon press or a brick on the bread and, pressing gently, brown the bread on both sides, roughly 3 minutes or so a side.

Can’t Stop Now

Once you catch the Southern-cooking grill bug, it’s hard to stop grilling. These recipes—along with some good cornbread, a few other tasty treats, and a pitcher of sweet tea—will make your week. The best news is that the prep and the ingredient list on these recipes is minimal, making them great choices for weekday entertaining.

Summer Tomato and Onion Salad with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing
6 ripe heirloom tomatoes, sliced thin
1 red onion, sliced paper-thin
2 T. minced chives
12 shallots, sliced
1 c. flour, seasoned with paprika, salt, pepper, etc.
1 c. milk

Arrange tomato and red onion on a platter. Pop the rings out of the shallots, then soak in milk for 20 minutes.

Drain shallots and toss with the flour, kicking off excess by dumping the rings in a mesh strainer. Fry in a quart of 350-degree oil (heated in a 4-quart pot) until crisp, then drain on paper towels.

Arrange shallots on platter, garnish with the chives, and serve with the dressing on the side. Serves 6.

BBC Dressing
6 oz. Maytag blue cheese
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 t. ground black pepper
1 T. Worcestshire sauce
1/4 c. cream
1/4 c. sour cream
1 T. minced dill
2 scallions, whites only
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 c. buttermilk

Combine all the ingredients in the blender, pulsing to prevent overmixing. Garnish the salad with the dressing or pass at the table.

Grilled Quail with Hot Pepper, Apricot, and Mustard Glaze
12 boneless quail
1/2 c. brown mustard
3/4 c. apricot jam, jelly, or conserve
3 T. cider vinegar
1 T. ground coriander seed
1 t. sea salt
1 t. freshly ground white pepper
2 seranno chiles, minced fine, seeds and all

Combine all ingredients except quail. Add quail, toss, and place in a Ziploc bag. Let marinate overnight.

Discard marinade. Grill quail on medium, direct heat for 5 minutes per side, turning frequently. Serve at a pinkish medium. Combine a few tablespoons of apricot conserve and vinegar as a mop for the quail.

This dish is great with cole slaw and cornbread. Serves 4.

Happy Fourth!

OK, here’s a bonus recipe-set for the Great American Grill-Out. You can serve this as a meal, then add some slaw and sweet corn, perhaps some potato salad, and you’re done. Easy. This is a great meal for 6–8 people—just convince someone else to bring the other sides and let your crazy aunt clean up the mess.

I am a nut for grizzled onions, and this salad is a killer. The pork is my fave version of the classic BBQ dish, the granita is without peer, and the peach cobbler (though you may have to make it without Colorado peaches now) you’ll soon be making twice a week.

Happy Fourth!

Grilled Sweet Onion and Arugula Salad with Shaved Grana Padano
4 large Vidalia or 10–15 sweet onions
3 T. olive oil
12 oz. farm-stand, fresh, small-leaf, young arugula or other peppery
     cress or green
1 pt. cherry tomatoes
4 oz. block of Grana Padano or Reggiano parmesan cheese, shaved into
      elegant curls

Cut the onions in half at the waist and peel off the skins. Brush with the olive oil, season with sea salt and ground white pepper, and grill over medium direct heat, cut-side down until the onions are almost blackened. Finish cooking the onions for 10 minutes on the cooler edges of the grill to remove any offensive raw flavors.

Pop the ‘rings’ of the onion out and arrange over the washed and dried arugula on 8 plates. Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange them around the greens. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve. Serves 6–8.

Shallot and Red Wine Vinaigrette
4 T. minced shallots
1 T. minced parsley
3 T. red wine vinegar
1 t. sugar
1 t. minced garlic
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. brown mustard

Place a small sauté pan over high heat and add 2 T. of the oil. Add the shallots, garlic, and sugar. Swirl pan briefly—you are only cooking for 30 seconds after you hear any sizzle at all. Promptly scrape the pan’s ingredients into a work bowl and whisk in the mustard followed by the vinegar, parsley and remaining oil. Season with sea salt, ground white pepper, and fresh lemon juice. Serve with the salad.

Barbecued Pulled Pork
1 bone-in pork shoulder, about 5 lb. in weight

The Rub
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. paprika
3 T. ground black pepper
3 T. kosher salt
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. onion powder
1 T. celery seeds
1 t. cayenne pepper

The Basting Sauce
1 c. cider vinegar
1 small onion minced
1 t. hot chile flakes
1 T. kosher salt
1 T. brown sugar
1 t. ground black pepper

The BBQ Sauce
2 c. cider vinegar
2 T. molasses
2 T. dark corn syrup
1/4 c. Heinz ketchup
1/3 c. Heinz chile sauce
3 T. brown sugar
4 t. kosher salt
2 T. Crystal hot sauce
2 t. red chile flakes, or more to taste
2 t. ground black pepper

Combine the rub ingredients, or use your favorite store-bought rub.

Combine the basting sauce ingredients, whisking until sugar and salt are dissolved, then set aside.

Combine BBQ sauce ingredients over medium heat in a small pot. When simmering, pull from heat and let cool. Refrigerate for later use. The longer you simmer the thicker your sauce will be.

Massage pork shoulder with the rub and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

‘Grill’ the shoulder over indirect medium-low heat, using smoking chips, if desired, to establish a smoke flavor. Remember, a little goes a long way. You will want to keep adding wood or charcoal every 40 minutes or so to maintain a medium-low heat of roughly 300 degrees. For gas grills you want to maintain a temperature of roughly 275–300 degrees. Baste every hour with the basting sauce.

Pork is done when the meat is fork tender, usually by this time the meat has an internal temperature of 175. Let pork cool for 30 minutes, shred meat, and discard the bones.

Toss meat with the some of the BBQ sauce, mound on toasted rolls and serve with cole slaw.

Strawberry Granita with Balsamic Vinegar
3 pt. quartered, cleaned strawberries
1-1/2 c. sugar
3 c. of the best rose champagne you can get your hands on . . . don’t
     use pink champagne, but do drink what remains while granita sets up
1 T. lemon juice or more to taste

Combine half the berries, the sugar, and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar. Transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the reserved berries, and process until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, stir in the champagne and lemon juice. Scrape mixture into a shallow metal baking pan (8 or 9 inches is fine) and freeze.

Every 20 minutes, stir and scrape the granite. After 3–4 hours the granite will be ready to serve, "shaley" and roughly frozen.

You can also freeze completely and pulse the frozen granite in a food processor. Or you can scrape the granite with a spoon instead of processing it. Serve granita with fresh berries and pass drops of 50-year-old balsamic vinegar . . . .

Peach Cobbler
10 ripe, free-stone Colorado peaches, peeled, stoned, and quartered
5 t. corn starch
2 t. fresh grated ginger
1/2 c. sugar

Toss, place in a buttered baking dish, cover with cobbler topping, and bake for 45–50 minutes at 350 until hot and bubbly with a browned top. Serve warm. Serves 6–8.

Cobbler Topping
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
Pinch salt
3-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. sliced toasted almonds
1/4 c. sweet almond paste

Mix the dry ingredients and reserve. Beat the butter, almond paste, and sugar until well-blended. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. While stirring, add the nuts until just combined. Crumble/dollop over the cobbler.

Tuna Time

Some of the best tuna in the world is available in local markets these days, and I encourage you to purchase fresh giant bluefin tuna, eschewing the cheap hot-pink junk that is gassed to retain it’s fresh color. This recipe is a food lover's dream, and it requires some extra steps and some assembly at the end, but if cooking is your passion, you’ll want to try this dish that is sure to impress your guests at your next dinner party. The crisp potato and the earthy and acidic tapenade are perfect foils for the fish.

Grilled Tuna on Potato Crisps with Black Olive Tapenade
The Tuna
3 lb. center-cut giant bluefin tuna, trimmed and cut into 6 cubed portions,
     sinew and skin discarded . . . ask your fishmonger to do this for you,
     if you like.
2 T. herbes de Provence
2 T. olive oil
salt and pepper
1 T. canola oil

Season the tuna with the olive oil, herbs, salt, and pepper. Brush the canola oil on your grill surface. Grill the tuna on all 6 sides for about 45 seconds to 1 minute on each side over high, direct heat. Do not overcook. Let rest for 2 minutes, slice in half at an angle, perch the tuna on top of the potato crisps on the plates, and garnish with dollops of the tapenade. Serves 6.

The Potato Crisps
Peel and slice 2 lb. of Idaho baking potatoes into the thinnest discs possible on a vegetable slicer. Rinse in cool water to prevent oxidizing and place a large no-stick pan over high heat. Drain and dry potato slices and add some clarified butter to the pan. Arrange slices in small, 4-inch circles, overlapping the slices and  working outward from the middle of the circle. You should be able to do a few at a time if you use a large pancake griddle or flat-top pan. When bottoms of the crisps are browned and crispy, flip them over and brown the other side. Keep warm as you cook the rest. Season and place on the plates for serving.

The Tapenade
6 oz. pitted kalamata olives
3 steamed and cooled new potatoes, sliced
1 T. lemon juice
6 basil leaves
1 T. fresh tarragon leaves
1 garlic clove
1/2 c. oven-dried tomatoes . . . Use 12 roma tomatoes, halved, then
     brushed with oil, pepper, and salt. Place cut-side up on a cookie tray
     and roast for about 8 hours at 225 until crinkly, leathery, and "dried."
1/3 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree. Season and reserve for garnishing the tuna.

Dad’s Day

The GrillMe contest has gone extremely well, and there are only a few hundred votes separating the top twenty bloggers so far. You can see the current results at the standings page. The big news in the event is that they have decided to give all readers a "Father's Day" present and let them enter for a second time in the drawing for the trip to Napa's COPIA cooking class—doubling their chances,so to speak.

In doing so, everyone who voted in the first six days of the contest for their favorite blogger(s) will also now get to give second vote(s) in the contest.  All they have to do is go back the GrillMe page, and it will automatically enter them a second time and then give them a chance to "double" their votes for their favorite blogger(s). The contest and voting ends this Thursday at midnight.

My dad is a culinary force of nature, and this recipe is one of his favorites, given to him by the Ugelisch family in New Orleans many years ago. This recipe was cooked in their small little restaurant that sat on the edge of the downtown district as it begins to bleed into the Garden District, a restaurant that served the best oysters in the Crescent City and that sadly closed a few years ago. The preparation sounds weird, but it is one of the best dishes of it’s type I have ever found.

Shrimp Uggie
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. ketchup
3 T. Crystal brand hot sauce (or in a pinch Frank's will do, but do not
     use Tabasco)
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. hot red chile flakes
1 t. sweet paprika
1 green bell pepper, seeded, cored, and diced
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 red onion, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
6 red new potatoes, steamed, cooled, and sliced
2 lb. ocean-caught shrimp, peeled and deveined, tail-shell left on . . .
     I like U-15 count shrimp best for this application
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper for seasoning
Lemon slices and finely minced chives for garnish

Combine the oil, ketchup, hot sauce, lemon, celery, onion, pepper, parsley, paprika, and chile flakes. Season with salt and pepper. Let mixture rest for 2–3 days in the refrigerator.

Allow mixture to come to room temperature. Skim off any oil on the top. Place the mixture in a skillet and add shrimp over medium heat. Cook the shrimp for a few minutes, turning them often, then add the potatoes. Cook shrimp until it and potatoes are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper, divide shrimp and sauce onto 4 plates, and garnish with the lemon and chives. Serve with plenty of white rice and grilled andouille sausage.

Shore Lunch

Now that the freezer or the live well is filling up with some regularity, I thought it best to be sure that you all had a recipe worthy of the summer€’s bounty from lakes and streams. This recipe works well with any fish, but it always tastes best when it’€™s a fish you hauled into the boat yourself.

Fried Walleye with Cole Slaw and Tartar Sauce
The Walleye
4 walleye filets, trimmed and cut into several small pieces, roughly 3 to 4
     oz. each
3 eggs beaten
1 c. flour
3 T. Old Bay seasoning
2 c. Panko bread crumbs
1 qt. vegetable oil

Heat your oil to 375 degrees in a large pan over an open fire or on your stove. Combine the flour with the Old Bay.

Dredge the fish in the flour mixture, then dip the pieces into the egg and dredge them into the bread crumbs.

Fry the fish pieces in small batches, being careful not to overcrowd your pan until golden brown. Season with sea salt and serve with the cole slaw and tartar sauce. Serves 4–6.

The Cole Slaw
About 6 c. thinly shaved head cabbage (about one large head)
3 T. minced parsley
2 carrots in thin julienne
2 minced shallots
1 t. ground caraway seed
1 t. dry mustard
3 T. kosher salt
1/2 c. mayonnaise (or more to taste)
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. white vinegar
2 T. sugar

Combine the cabbage and salt, tossing well. Place in a colander and let sit/drain in your fridge for 4 hours.

Gently squeeze and discard the liquid. Combine cabbage with all the other ingredients. Refrigerate for 6 hours and serve.

The Tartar Sauce
3 egg yolks
1 T. white vinegar
1 c. olive oil
1 c. canola oil
1 t. Dijon mustard
3 T. minced parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
3 T. minced capers
3 T. sweet pickle relish
2 T. minced tarragon

Add the yolks, mustard, and vinegar to a food processor and pulse. In a thin stream, emulsify the canola oil into this mixture with the processor running. Add the olive oil in a thin stream until incorporated into the emulsion. Add all the remaining ingredients and pulse 2 or 3 times for just a second. Refrigerate and serve as needed.

Wham Bam Vietnam

Vietnamese street foods are legendary, and rightfully so. These days, especially in the newly burgeoning restaurant scene in Hanoi, small little beef rolls wrapped in lot leaves have found their way onto menus everywhere, especially in fancy restaurants. Even chefs like Didier Corlou and Bobby Chinn serve versions of this dish in their restaurants on occasion. I started playing around with recipes when I was in Hanoi last week, and I found these pork and shrimp versions to be a big hit.

Vietnamese Pork and Shrimp Rolls with Nuoc Cham
36 grape leaves . . . the jarred ones in the grocery store are fine
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp
2 T. fresh lemongrass, chopped
2 T. chopped Thai basil
2 T. chopped cilantro leaves
2 t. brown sugar
2 T. tomato paste
1 T. minced garlic
1 T. minced ginger
2 T. oyster sauce
2 heads butter lettuce (Boston or Bibb)
2 T. crushed toasted peanuts
Mint sprigs

Combine the shrimp, lemongrass, basil, cilantro, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a food processor and pulse to combine. Grind to a chunky paste.

In a large work bowl, combine this mixture with the pork, oyster sauce, tomato paste, a few pinches of salt, and ground white pepper.

Working one at a time, roll a hefty tablespoon of filling into each grape leaf, from the stem-end working up to the point, burrito-style, folding in the ends. Snip the stems off the leaves if there are any before you begin. Grill rolls for 4–5 minutes over medium direct heat until firm and just cooked through.

Serve with the Nuoc Cham sauce, garnished with some crushed toasted peanuts, mint sprigs, and butter lettuce leaves for wrapping the rolls in. Makes 36 bite-sized rolls

Nuoc Cham
1/2 c. fish sauce
3 T. sugar (or more to taste)
2 T. lime juice
1 fresh Thai chile, minced
1 t. grated ginger
2 t. grated carrot
2 T. minced shallot

Combine and serve.

Salmon Season

As the best salmon of the year starts flooding into our market, look into cooking different types of salmon in different ways.

Larger, fattier filets from bigger Yukon and Copper River salmon can be portioned and grilled, and smaller filets can be kept whole, trimmed, and then cured—a process that is sure to thrill the bagel and bialy lover in all of you. Once you have a cured piece of salmon in your house, it can be sliced and served in the morning with scrambled eggs and crème fraîche, as a sandwich stalwart, in a salad, as part of a warm-weather "cold" dinner, or out on a buffet for friends to nosh on.

Gravlax . . . Juniper-and Dill–Cured Salmon
3-1/2 lb. side of fresh salmon . . . Get the freshest product you can find.
   Have pin bones removed and trim off the last 3 in. of the tail and about
   1 in. of the belly piece to create a uniformly thick 3 lb. filet.
10 T. sea salt
7 T. brown sugar
1 T. crushed juniper
Zest of 1 lemon
1 crushed, dried red chile
1 T. crushed coriander seed
1/4 c. minced, fresh shallot
2/3 c. minced, fresh dill
1/2 c. minced, fresh parsley
2 oz. gin

Combine all the ingredients except the salmon and set aside.

Lay the salmon skin-down in a nonreactive pan and cover with the herb paste, patting it on evenly over the entire length of the fish. Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and place on a level shelf in the fridge for 48 hours.

Remove salmon from the pan, discard any liquids that have accumulated, gently wipe the paste from the fish with a damp rag, and discard the paste. Wrap salmon in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours to “rest."

Unwrap fish and slice on a 45-degree angle in thin slices, then serve with herbed crème fraîche, lemon wedges, and buttered toast.

 

Lambrosia

Lamb is what spring is all about to me (along with soft crabs, asparagus, peas, ramps . . .). Pair this dish with some asparagus and peas, tossed in butter and mint, and you will be sooooooooo happy.

Roasted Herb- and Garlic-Rubbed Lamb with Avgolemono Sauce
Leg of young spring lamb, no more than 6 lb., leg bone in, but aitch bone
   removed
Several sprigs rosemary
12 garlic cloves
1 c. chicken stock
1 T. lemon juice
12 sprigs fresh dill
4 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. white wine
3 leeks, chopped
4 T. olive oil

Season the lamb with herbs and garlic, studding it with paring knife punctures and pushing the rosemary sprigs, dill, and garlic into the pockets. Season with salt and pepper and place in a 400-degree oven for 90 minutes or until the internal temperature of the lamb is 145–150 degrees.

Take lamb out of oven to rest on a warm platter. Tip fat out of the roasting pan and discard it, then add the vegetables. Cook briefly over medium heat and deglaze pan with the wine, lemon juice, and stock. Simmer, then pour the contents of the roasting pan into a sauce pot and cook for 20 minutes.

Remove vegetables and place around the lamb. Simmer sauce until reduced to 1 c. before setting aside.

Beat 2 eggs with 2 T. lemon juice. Place in a saucepan over low heat. Beat the stock reduction into the egg mixture and continue cooking and stirring until sauce is thick. For safety (or beginners) you can thicken the reduction with a cornstarch slurry and then add the eggs, etc. Season with salt and more fresh dill, then serve with the lamb.

Wok, Don't Run

I make this dish all the time with soft shell crabs, and now is the season, my friends. For the crab version, I skip the salt rub and simply cut my crabs in half before dipping in the egg white. The sauce came to me from my pal Vikram, who uses it all the time on all manners of fried seafood in his house in Bangalore. Whether you make this recipe with shrimp or soft shells, you’ll love it.

Wok-Tossed, Twice-Cooked, Crispy Salt and Pepper Prawns . . . Fu Xian Style
2 lb. U–15 shrimp . . . I buy ocean-caught Mexican or Ecuadorean
3 T. kosher salt
3 egg whites
1 c. corn starch, seasoned with sea salt and white pepper
4 c. peanut oil
2 T. oil reserved from the 4 c.
12 scallions, cut in 2-inch lengths
1 T. sea salt
1 t. black pepper
2 T. sugar
5 dried red chiles

Peel and butterfly shrimp, leaving tail attached. Toss with salt and let sit for 15 minutes. Press in a dry towel to remove moisture.

Heat peanut oil to 375 over high heat in a wok. Dip shrimp in egg whites, then dredge in corn starch. Fry to crisp in 2 batches.

Tip off the oil, leaving 2 T. behind, and increase the heat. When smoking, add the scallions, chiles, and shrimp. Toss to coat, adding the salt, pepper, and sugar as you rotate the food across the wok surface.

Toss and serve . . . the sauces below makes nice partners. Serves 4–6 persons.

Fu-Xian Dipping Sauce for Fried Seafood
1/2 c. thinly shaved shallots
1/4 c. thinly sliced red and green hot chiles . . . I like to use 2 red
   jalapenos, 4 serranos, and a piece of a habanero to round out the
   heat. You can also use small red and green Thai chiles.
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. chicken stock
3 T. Chinese rice wine or sake
3 T. sugar
2 T. minced ginger
3 thinly sliced garlic cloves

Combine and use immediately.

Get Skewered

Here are two more reasons to break out the grill and get cooking. Use a nice fatty piece of sirloin and try them both. Whichever recipe you choose, you will want to use the peanut sauce, which I use most often when I grill ginger-and-garlic–marinated chicken at home, but I LOVE with the beef skewers. Make lots of sauce—you’ll end up using it on everything, trust me.

Beef and Lemongrass Skewers
2 lb. boneless beef sirloin
2 peeled and minced garlic cloves
2 stalks lemongrass
1 T. coriander seeds
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. fish sauce
1/4 c. crushed dry roasted peanuts for garnish
Slice beef into long thin strips, 1/8 inch by 1 inch by 5 inches long.

Weave onto 24 skewers, soaked in water if using bamboo ones. Combine the garlic, lemongrass, coriander, sugar, and fish sauce in a mortar and pestle until mixture is a paste. Use a blender or food processor if you have to. Drizzle over beef and marinate for 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.

Grill to taste over high direct heat and serve, garnishing with the nuts.

Beef Skewers #2
For every 2 lb. of boneless beef sirloin or tenderloin, marinate for 24 hours only in . . .

2 T. minced garlic
3 T. ground cumin
1 T. chili powder
2 T. ground coriander seed
3 T. curry powder
1 c. coconut milk
3 T. brown sugar
2 T. lime juice
2 T. fish sauce

Remove from marinade and cook in one fashion or another. Skewer and broil.

Serve 7–9 skewers mounted onto a pineapple wedge.

Hunan Peanut Dipping Sauce
1/4 c. roasted ground peanuts
1 T. peanut oil
2 minced garlic cloves
2 t. chili paste
2 T. tomato paste
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/2 t. sugar
1 T. peanut butter
1/4 c. hoisin sauce
1 fresh red chili, seeded and thinly sliced

Heat the oil in a small pan and add the garlic, chili paste, and tomato paste. Fry until the garlic turns light brown. Add the broth, peanut butter, hoisin, and sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes. Cool and add the peanuts and chiles.

Kasu-per Duper

OK, as promised, the dish that changed the world. I love this dish, and don’t let the mail order ingredient stop you. You will be ordering a kilo of the kasu. When it comes, simply divide and freeze the remainder, or store in your fridge. Trust me, you will be making this at least twice a month once you try it.

Broiled Kasu-Marinated Black Cod (Sable Fish)
1 qt. plus 1 c. water
2 T. kosher salt
3 lb. black cod (sable fish) cut into 8 portions. You can also use snapper, sea bass, halibut, etc.
12 oz. kasu, fermented sake lees (sediment from rice wine
   production) . . . available from Mutual Fish (206-322-4368)
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 T. miso
1/4 c. mirin

Combine the quart of water and the salt. Add the cod and soak in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Remove fish, discard water, and dry the fish gently. In a work bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add the fish and marinate, covered in the fridge for 2 days.

Preheat broiler and remove fish from marinade. Place the fish on a no-stick broiler tray and cook for 10 minutes for every inch of thickness. Turn once carefully, or leave it to cook through on one side only. Do not burn the fish.

Serve with minced scallions as garnish, some rice, and perhaps a spoon or two of the sauce from last Monday’s recipe.

Here Comes Spring

In a little while, the salmon will be everywhere, and you’ll need a new way to cook it. This is a recipe that will delight you for years to come. The sauce is awesome on fish or beef, plus it keeps in the fridge and reheats well. I cannot tell you how simple and elegant this dish is—you have to see for yourself.

Grilled Salmon Miso Yaki

SALMON
4 salmon filets, each about 6–7 ounces . . . I use skin-on fish
   and score it.
3 T. miso paste
1/3 c. sake
1/4 c. mirin
2 T. sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight.

Take salmon from marinade, season with sea salt, and grill to medium rare.

Serve it over sautéed greens (spinach works well) and a dollop of the miso-yaki sauce on top. I serve rice on the side and usually some grilled eggplant with soy, radish, and lemon or a cucumber salad. Serves 4.

MISO YAKI SAUCE
2/3 c. miso paste . . . Use a good one. I get mine at
    United Noodles.
2 egg yolks
1/2 c. sake
6 T. sugar
4 T. dashi, Japanese bonito stock . . . I keep some on-hand in
     the freezer, but feel free to use some instant hon-dashi if you
     like. It works fine. I have also made this dish in a speed
     competition and used 1/4 t. of the hon-dashi powder in
     straight form, right out of the jar, without rehydrating it,
     and it worked great.

Combine in a double boiler over low boil, whisking until eggs have set and sauce is thick. Cool and serve warm. You will have leftover sauce—I love it on hard-scrambled eggs (very foo yong-esque) and on grilled beef the next night for dinner.

Farm Fresh

Is there a better meal than baked grits and bourbon-glazed corned beef?

I think not. Christopher Idone, an amazing cook and accomplished cookbook author, cofounded Glorious Food in New York. I interned in his office when he was writing Glorious American Food almost twenty-five years ago, and I learned to cook the recipes below from him before the book was published. Over the years, I have tweaked and adapted them.

Grits with Butter and Grated Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese
4 c. milk
1 1/2 c. quick cooking grits . . . Quaker Oats work great.
1/4 lb. plus 4 T. butter
2 t. butter for the baking dish
2 t. salt
1 dash hot pepper sauce
12 oz. grated sharp farmhouse cheddar . . . Carr Valley
   three- or five-year-old cheddar or Widmer's cheddar work
   great
3 eggs, well-beaten
butter for frying

Butter a long rectangular baking dish. Preheat oven to 375.

In a large sauce pan, bring the milk and 2 c. water to boil over high heat. Pour in the grits and stir well.

Pull from heat and stir in all the seasonings, cheese, 1/4 lb. butter, and the eggs, stirring well.

Pour into the prepared baking dish and place in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Let cool for 10 minutes and cut into diamond shapes. Serve. Or . . . cool completely and serve by pan-frying in the remaining butter in a non-stick pan until golden.

Glazed Corned Beef with Root Vegetables

BEEF
1 uncooked corned brisket of beef, 4 to 5 lb.
2 bay leaves
8 peppercorns
2 allspice berries
1 small cinnamon stick
1 t. mustard seed
Beef (or chicken) stock to cover 

GLAZE
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. dry mustard
1/4 c. molasses
1/2 c. bourbon

VEGETABLES
8 small beets
12 new potatoes
6 small leeks, trimmed
12 small carrots, peeled
12 white radishes, peeled
2 parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise
1 pt. Brussels sprouts, trimmed
1 small head savoy cabbage, cored and cut in 1-inch slices

Wash the brisket of the brine. Place in large kettle with the spices and cover with the stock. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer over low heat for 35–40 minutes per lb. or until tender. Reserve the cooking liquid.

Make the glaze by mixing the 4 ingredients and letting rest for 45 minutes.

Cook the beets in salted water for 12 minutes. Drain and slip the skins off under running water. Return to the pot to keep warm.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the cooked corned beef brisket in a roasting pan with 1/2 c. of the cooking liquid. Cover with enough glaze to coat.

Bring remaining beef-poaching liquid to boil and simmer the vegetables until just cooked through in batches. Finish by reheating the beets.