Wednesday, October 15. 2008
Roasted Yellow Tomato and Quince Sauce
We had a happy growing and gathering moment the other day. Erik and I found a quince tree on our property.
We had also harvested our tomatoes. The Seattle tomatoes did relatively nothing on the vine. Some had been volunteers (they tasted terrible) others were simply under ripe. The cherry and yellow plum tomatoes did the best.
Our Eastern Washington garden produced tons of stewing tomatoes and a few white heirloom tomatoes. In the end, with our travel schedule, we had to stew, puree, strain and freeze everything.
So this is what happened:
Half an onion
Two pounds of yellow tomatoes
A whole quince, cut in two
Some salt
Olive oil to coat
Roast at 350° until soft (about and hour)
Puree.
Strain.
Taste.
Should be tart and bright and perfect over an artichoke heart dressing or over roasted leg of lamb.
We had also harvested our tomatoes. The Seattle tomatoes did relatively nothing on the vine. Some had been volunteers (they tasted terrible) others were simply under ripe. The cherry and yellow plum tomatoes did the best.
Our Eastern Washington garden produced tons of stewing tomatoes and a few white heirloom tomatoes. In the end, with our travel schedule, we had to stew, puree, strain and freeze everything.
So this is what happened:
Half an onion
Two pounds of yellow tomatoes
A whole quince, cut in two
Some salt
Olive oil to coat
Roast at 350° until soft (about and hour)
Puree.
Strain.
Taste.
Should be tart and bright and perfect over an artichoke heart dressing or over roasted leg of lamb.
Monday, August 18. 2008
Margarita Cornish Game Hens
The other evening we had dinner with some friends in their apple orchard. We cooked game hen marinated in lime, orange and smoked paprika and served them over the black beans and rice.
We cooked the suckers over a raging apple wood fire made in a weber grill.
Keep the Weber away from the house.
Serious issues arise if you don't.
Marinate the hens for at least a day. Add garlic for that extra something or brown some as a garnish for the rice.
We cooked the suckers over a raging apple wood fire made in a weber grill.
Keep the Weber away from the house.
Serious issues arise if you don't.
Marinate the hens for at least a day. Add garlic for that extra something or brown some as a garnish for the rice.
Sunday, April 20. 2008
Gravlax – start your own church
Note: this entry is the first of a series of three. Look for Miniature Potato Cakes (for your gravlax) and Slicing Gravlax, which will be coming as soon as the potato cakes are made and the gravlax is ready to be sliced.
Erik’s gravlax has a cult following.
A customer of his even took out a URL so that Erik would make it available to buy online. It's his most popular hors d'oeuvre. We're making a gravlax salad for a food event in Davis, California. It's freak'n everywhere.
Over the years, Erik has made a sturgeon gravlax, a halibut gravlax, a salmon gravlax and, most recently, a steelhead gravlax. Sturgeon is a little cost prohibitive these days but if you can afford it, try it. But steelhead seems to be the second favorite. Down in Napa, under the direction of Chef Rick Warkel, we’ve made potato pancakes with gravlax topped with crème fraiche and caviar. Napa Valley eats to its own budget.
The steelhead takes a gravlax cure well. The texture of the final product is easy to slice, fold and manipulate onto tiny toasts and pancakes.
The salt, sweet and spice elements of this cure allow room for the fish flavor to take a subtle lead. We’ve put gravlax on pumpernickel (my favorite flavor), rye toasts (from Trader Joe’s), and miniature fennel and potato pancakes. A horseradish crème fraiche makes an intriguing garnish.
Once you start making your own Gravlax, you'll find that others will follow you around waiting for your next batch. Be prepared.
Gravlax Recipe: A recipe sans exact measurements. Erik throws his ingredients in and leaves it up to the spices to decide amongst themselves who is going to do what and when. The result is a nice example of cooperation. I’ve noticed that the gravlax has a shove of herbaceous-ness when Erik adds a little more brown sugar.
The timeline: Six to Seven days.
The fish: You need a tail-to-neck Steelhead (sans head), cleaned, boned out and scaled but with skin.
Wet Cure (make a total of half a cup):
A sprig of fresh dill
Equal parts:
Hard booze (aquaveet is traditional)
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Dry Cure (make a cup total):
Brown Sugar
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Allspice
The Process:
Brush each half of the inside of the fish down with the wet cure. Rub the flesh with the dry cure. Make sure to rub less on the tail more on the head.
Wrap the fish in cheesecloth.
Place it on cooling rack with a drip pan underneath.
Put a weight on the fish: a ceramic casserole dish with a box of inept chicken broth works well.
Turn the fish over every 24 hours for 6 days.
The fish will be ready after 6 days.
Wipe off the dry rub.
Slice. (Tips on that coming soon.)
Erik’s gravlax has a cult following.
A customer of his even took out a URL so that Erik would make it available to buy online. It's his most popular hors d'oeuvre. We're making a gravlax salad for a food event in Davis, California. It's freak'n everywhere.
Over the years, Erik has made a sturgeon gravlax, a halibut gravlax, a salmon gravlax and, most recently, a steelhead gravlax. Sturgeon is a little cost prohibitive these days but if you can afford it, try it. But steelhead seems to be the second favorite. Down in Napa, under the direction of Chef Rick Warkel, we’ve made potato pancakes with gravlax topped with crème fraiche and caviar. Napa Valley eats to its own budget.
The steelhead takes a gravlax cure well. The texture of the final product is easy to slice, fold and manipulate onto tiny toasts and pancakes.
The salt, sweet and spice elements of this cure allow room for the fish flavor to take a subtle lead. We’ve put gravlax on pumpernickel (my favorite flavor), rye toasts (from Trader Joe’s), and miniature fennel and potato pancakes. A horseradish crème fraiche makes an intriguing garnish.
Once you start making your own Gravlax, you'll find that others will follow you around waiting for your next batch. Be prepared.
Gravlax Recipe: A recipe sans exact measurements. Erik throws his ingredients in and leaves it up to the spices to decide amongst themselves who is going to do what and when. The result is a nice example of cooperation. I’ve noticed that the gravlax has a shove of herbaceous-ness when Erik adds a little more brown sugar.
The timeline: Six to Seven days.
The fish: You need a tail-to-neck Steelhead (sans head), cleaned, boned out and scaled but with skin.
Wet Cure (make a total of half a cup):
A sprig of fresh dill
Equal parts:
Hard booze (aquaveet is traditional)
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Dry Cure (make a cup total):
Brown Sugar
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Allspice
The Process:
Brush each half of the inside of the fish down with the wet cure. Rub the flesh with the dry cure. Make sure to rub less on the tail more on the head.
Wrap the fish in cheesecloth.
Place it on cooling rack with a drip pan underneath.
Put a weight on the fish: a ceramic casserole dish with a box of inept chicken broth works well.
Turn the fish over every 24 hours for 6 days.
The fish will be ready after 6 days.
Wipe off the dry rub.
Slice. (Tips on that coming soon.)
Friday, April 18. 2008
Bouillabaisse that I refuse to call Fish Stew
Not quite bouillabaisse, but don't call it fish stew. Makes a wonderful breakfast over rice with green onions.
After a bit, she pulls out the fish, arranges them on the platter and ladles out the broth into a bowl. The camera pans lustily over the table and follows her as she sits down. The frame cocks a little– like a begging dog– she bids the audience farewell and the credits roll. What we don’t see, but what I have myself convinced happens next, is the studio crew fighting for seats around the table.
A little too often than I would like to admit, I think of the composer Erik Satie. The Satie would dine every Friday at the house of his friend from Marseille. Satie's friend would receive, every week, a package of fish from her family and she made bouillabaisse. Satie, being a man of habit, must have sat at the same seat, wearing the same suit ready to eat the same piece of fish every Friday for months. When I think of bouillabaisse, I think of Satie at the Friday dinner table, his little spectacles translucent with steam, his face pressed close to the regal display of fish scraps. His compositions remind me of Bouillabaisse– a jumble of melodies played at no specific time –a lilt and heft of notes based on the interpretation of hand making them.
What we make, Erik and I, is not bouillabaisse. What we make is fish soup. Save for the fact that I won't call it fish soup, it's fish soup. The words fish soup denote a Wagner opera. I hate Wagner.
Bouillabaisse means something rich and wonderful and elegant and humble – just like Erik’s cooking.
The recipe below is not true bouillabaisse. It is our Friday tradition and it is simpler than its namesake.
We buy fish, whatever it is, on sale. Erik doesn’t buy oily fish for this recipe, but makes a point to buy whatever fish is the cheapest. The scraps don’t have to be pretty. We happen to have access to inexpensive shellfish so we use cheap shellfish.
The method:
Heat stock pot.
Add olive oil.
Sear shrimp and remove the shrimp.
Saute onion, garlic and celery in oil and add a pinch of saffron, chili flakes and orange zest.
Deglaze pot with white wine.
Add Stock and bring to a simmer. Add cubed potatoes. Cook until potatoes are tender.
Check seasonings (as the potatoes, gluttons that they are, will suck up some of your seasonings).
Add mussels and fish (2” pieces) and simmer. When mussels start to open, return the shrimp and remove from heat.
Garnish, for a bright flavor, with flat parsley.
Serve with bread and salad.
Shopping list:
Fish. Fish. Fish. (Avoid the oily stuff: Salmon, Mackerel, sardines)
Potatoes (2 lbs cubed)
Onion (one)
Garlic (two cloves)
Celery (two stalks)
Saffron (pinch, unless you have a glut of old saffron, it that case a three finger pinch)
Chili Flakes
Orange for Zest
White wine.