i know… more seafood. but really, there’s just never too much seafood – at least not in my life. especially when it’s supremely fresh.

you know what i mean, the good stuff… the kind of fish that gets sent to the best restaurants. because this product isn’t coming to me from a middle man via atlanta – it’s coming direct from the source. and you can taste it.

so here i go once more – and not only is it seafood i’m preparing, but it’s once again from these guys. and the recipe? you guessed it. it’s from my latest chef crush, efisio farris. i’m concerned that perhaps i’m becoming predictable. and i know you expect more from me than that. but give me a brand new inspiring book and a great ingredient source to go with it, and well, i’m all over those seafood recipes. it’s the next best thing to being in sardinia.

plus i get to have MORE BOTTARGA. and when has that ever been a bad thing?

(enter: the lobsters)

these living, breathing, moving, feeling creatures were in the box along with the fish. and it did NOT go well. i tried to do the whole knife in the brain thing…

and I FUCKING MISSED.

by probably about 1/2 inch.
and i couldn’t get the knife out.
and it was still moving.
and i was shrieking like a little girl.
just awful.
horrifically gruesome
i even considered vegetarianism…

and then i got over it. but damn. JUST DAMN. i was traumatized.

so the lobsters got thrown into a pot of rolling boiling water for about 3 minutes to partially cook the tails so i could then remove the meat from the shells and prepare them for an olive oil poaching bath. poaching lobster tails in olive oil or butter is truly a must do. it has to be experienced. the meat becomes surprisingly tender. the taste, exquisite. it’s a bonafide wow.

the sea bass was skinned, deboned and then carefully sliced and pounded thin between dampened plastic wrap. then i combined the following:

saffron, chives, lemon zest, lime zest, salt and pepper

this gets sprinkled evenly all over the fish. then lemon and lime juice combined with olive oil is drizzled onto the seasoned fish, coating evenly and thoroughly. you cover this with plastic wrap making sure to remove all the air bubbles and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

plate with greens and lobster medallions and drizzle the remaining marinade along with some of your good olive oil.

then invite over some friends.

get them to being the wine…

the scallops arrived at my door on a dreary winter’s morning, overnighted from catalina seafood in san diego. they were the huge dry diver scallops – 6 to a lb. and just as beautiful as i’d ever seen. i had decided upon another sardinian recipe by my new bff chef efisio farris (i’m currently on a roll). you see, i’ve been in a bit of a scallop rut. i buy them. i sear them. and then usually just throw them on top of a salad. if i’m feeling semi ambitious i might puree a well steamed head of cauliflower with some fresh thyme and olive oil and plop a few scallops on that. because to me, scallops usually mean a cook-free, no fuss dinner. they are just SO EASY. and the best ones are perfectly delicious with just a good sear.

but this recipe spoke to me. i had both fregola, a small toasted pasta and some saffron in the cupboard along with some freshly made chicken stock in the fridge, so all i had to do was make a quick produce run.

if you want to know how to perfectly sear a scallop, the secret is to begin with some of these beauties… never frozen, firm and plump and HUGE. just get the pan very hot, add some butter or olive oil – or both, and sear away until nicely caramelized. if they look white as snow and ooze liquid, chances are they’ve been soaked in phosphates making it nearly impossible for them to brown without overcooking. they’ll also shrink up and not have much flavor. something to perhaps ask your fishmonger before you buy. of course here in nashville the closest thing we have to a fishmonger is the guy behind the counter at whole foods. oh, the cost of living landlocked…

it’s a beautiful presentation. the sear of the scallops with the saffron and bits of tomato and arugula. pretty food. but the sweetness of the honey against the salt of the scallops and the peppery arugula are what will make you fall…

pan-seared scallops with fregula and roasted vegetables
adapted from sweet myrtle and bitter honey by efisio farris

1 cup chicken stock
1 cup fregola (you could substitute israeli couscous if you had to)
1 bay leaf
1 pinch saffron
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 pinches sea salt
2 green onions, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 roma tomato, seeded and diced
12 diver scallops
1 bunch of arugula, chopped
1 tablespoon abbamele (i used honey)

 in a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. add fregula, bay leaf, saffron, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. cook covered for 8 to 10 minutes. all liquid should be absorbed by the fregula.

heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. saute green onions, shallot and celery for 2 to 3 minutes. add zucchini, squash and tomato and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. combine fregula and vegetables and cook on low heat for another minute. add additional stock or hot water if it seems too dry.

in another skillet heat remaing 2 tablesppons of oil and cook scallops until golden and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. turn and brown the other side.

divide fregola mixture among 4 plates and top with the arugula, or you can use the arugula as a bed for the fregula. top each with 3 scallops.

finish by drizzling honey and some good olive oil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

again, it’s the ingredients. everything that went into this dish was at its best. the scallops from catalina ocean products were truly beyond wonderful.

and you see? it’s a 20 minute dinner. just add some good bread and a bottle of wine, and you’re amazing!

but i knew that already… 

sea urchin. i’m enamored. and i have been for quite some time although it’s usually called uni and served to me over a slab of rice. well ok, not necessarily – at least not anymore. not since i had it served on a piece of lightly toasted bread, draped with the thinnest, barely warmed slice of lardo at marea in nyc. thank you chef michael white. because that right there was a most memorable bite, one that set the tone for one of my top 3 meals of ’09.

and sure, there have been a few pastas with sea urchin ordered at various restaurants (a voce, esca and marea come to mind…). and then there was that whole bourdain/ripert food porn spectacle at le bernardin… i watched that and yearned… deeply… (for both tony and the taglietelle.)

but just 3 days ago i was lucky enough to find myself in possession of two 80 gram trays of the freshest most lovely sea urchin that one might ever come across – overnighted via fedex from san diego. i nearly made that eric ripert version which is pretty much a butter sauce fortified with pureed sea urchin and then embellished with chives, espelette, parmigiano and a touch of lemon – not to mention the generous dollop of osetra… but it just seemed TOO rich. TOO heavy. not that i’m knocking it. i’m quite sure that it’s an experience unto itself and one that i plan on having at some point, but right now i’m trying to keep it light – so i begrudgingly shied away from that.

and then i found it. right in the ny times. the perfect dish…

a close up for you of one of the most wonderful things i’ve made perhaps ever… but then again i’d not eaten any pasta for nearly a solid month so it’s hard to know. regardless, i highly – but highly recommend this dish.

it blew me away.

spicy spaghettini with sea urchin and tomatoes
adapted from chef beatrice tosti of il posto accanto in nyc

makes 4 small plates

8 ounces dry spaghettini
sea salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
6 cloves garlic, peeled
a scant 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
12 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, preferably organic, halved
about 2 1/2 ounces sea urchin – one standard tray
freshly grated zest of an organic lemon
small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, freshly chopped.

bring a medium pot of well salted water to a boil over high heat. meanwhile, in a skillet large enough to later hold all the pasta, heat the olive oil over medium heat. add garlic, reduce heat to low, and slowly cook on all sides, turning often, until cloves are lightly browned and caramelized, about 10 minutes.

raise heat under skillet to medium, add chili flakes and cook, stirring, until toasted, about 2 minutes. add tomatoes and cook, turning gently, just until wilted.

when water boils, add the pasta. stir well. when pasta is cooked through but still firm, drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.

turn heat under skillet to low. add about 3/4 of the sea urchin to skillet with a splash of pasta cooking water. add pasta to skillet and toss thoroughly but gently over low heat, adding pasta cooking water and more oil to taste if mixture is dry. taste for salt and toss in lemon zest and parsley.

serve hot, decorating each serving with remaining sea urchin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a huge shout out to catalina offshore products for supplying me with this incredible seafood. they dive for the sea urchin when the weather permits and then ship it directly to your door. it was just excellent and as fresh as it gets.

it arrives in this small, slim box surrounded by ice packs

and this right here is the beautiful golden sea urchin.
which by the way is not actually roe, they’re the gonads of both the males and females..

as in testicles and ovaries.

and dear readers after all we’ve meant to each other
i wouldn’t kid you about a thing like this…

heirloom tomato, zucchini, grilled louisiana shrimp, guanciale and torn basil with sauteed arugula

global cooling. or at least it feels that way. the weather here in nashville is struggling to hit 80, and that pretty much means that it’s just plain glorious. temperate and sunny, this including the days just past and the rest of the week to come. since on any other given year it could easily be 90+, this is what you wish – no, pray for – to the god of all things good.

and even though it’s the last days of august here in the deep south, the tomatoes are still extraordinary – and the zucchini is as overly prolific as usual. so i threw together a simple summer dinner using gulf shrimp and just a touch of la quercia guanciale, because i am a very enthusiastic fan of the jowl, choosing it over pancetta time and time again. it’s just well, porkier. AND WHEN HAS THAT EVER BEEN A BAD THING?

but there was a crisis… a culinary disaster of the very worst kind…

you know how when you decide to sprinkle a touch of red crushed chile peppers from the bottle and you’re talking to your friends and not paying close attention to what you’re doing and you unscrew the cap and shake… AND THE ENTIRE CONTENTS EMPTIES INTO YOUR PAN? well, i did that. but thankfully, my friend rick heard me scream and came flying to the rescue and was on it. we quickly removed as much of the pepper as we could. he carefully rinsed off the dangerously smothered zucchini and tomatoes while i chopped more vegetables to try and spread out the heat a bit… and really? perhaps in the end it was slightly warmer than i’d have wished for – but it wasn’t too bad at all – it was even kinda verydamngood. plus it was a cool evening, so, PERFECT!

i got lucky.

this is my kind of cooking. just winging it, using the best of what’s available. i thought about adding roasted peppers but it was just one more flavor that although would have worked, was unnecessary and i believe in the end would have detracted from the dish.

and so i am forever learning this… that if you have what is already perfect, do the least amount to it and then appreciate it for what it is. for awhile now the food i enjoy the most is an interesting combination of a small number of high quality ingredients.

amen.

because that’s what was in my pantry – and fridge – and freezer. friends were coming by on short notice and i needed to shop from my ever abundant kitchen. anything to appease some of the guilt from being perpetually overstocked and avoid a trip to the market. so although this was pretty much a throw together kind of dinner, there was a lot of to choose from. i try and do better in this regard, but i am a serial food buyer – forever curious.

it may soon be time for another month or so of "eating down the house". it could use happening…

but i had a box of beautiful saffron pasta that had been waiting patiently to be used, and some pinky orangey skinned snapper fillets that had been bought on a whim and thrown in the freezer nearly too long ago, plus the tail end of a bag of medium frozen shrimp bought for my sweet old kitty and used as treats. he’s been gone 4 months now and it was time to finish them up. pancetta is always a staple in my freezer, and i had an onion, some garlic, the remains of a still fresh bunch of parsley, a bottle of pinot grigio and a little glass vial of saffron that i’d been hanging on to…

there’s not much here in the way of a recipe. i could get specific but it’s really unnecessary and quite frankly, i couldn’t even begin to remember. feel free to use shallots instead of onions. for the pork – you can use chorizo, bacon or italian sausage instead of pancetta. or try some dry vermouth instead of white wine. add mussels, lobster, clams… it’s all going to work together – and it’s going to be delicious.

the onion gets cooked for a few minutes in olive oil, then add some diced pancetta, followed by a few minced garlic cloves. next the wine – i used about half a bottle, then add the saffron. throw the pasta into the water and add it into the pan when it’s just barely done – al dente to the max. i cooked the fish in a smoking hot cast iron skillet, crisping the skin really well. the shrimp were thrown in at some point but i can’t recall exactly when.

regarding the saffron, i used a full half gram of hand harvested d.o. from la mancha.. a big fat pinch. i’m a more is more kinda gal. and it was wonderful. and i’d do it again. and soon.

like many of you, this is the way i cook nearly all the time. i wing it. i change things. i substitute. i was inspired by a post i saw a few weeks back and it got me thinking.

and that’s really all it ever takes…

in less than three weeks i take off for nyc for the tri-annual mommy visit, haircut and restaurant go around. therefore all socializing over food has now come to a screeching halt and my already compromised caloric intake needs to come down even further in preparation for what inevitably becomes quite the food-centric getaway. until then i am TRYING VERY HARD to figure out a way to order light and not feel the need to eat everything. or drink too much wine. and still have dessert. but not over do it.

in other words i am going to attempt to not be me.
wish me luck with that…

but the other night, overall, i thought i did quite well. there were 6 of us for dinner and i was in my kitchen and in control of the menu. beforehand i had boldly told my friends. no nibbles or appetizers, no salad – or dessert. i’m serving one thing. and a loaf of crusty bread, which for the record i personally abstained from – as well as the impressive wines that my friends brought over, because i am not only disciplined and strong (albeit in small spurts), but obviously also a masochist.

under these circumstances, i knew whatever i made had to be pretty striking. i also knew i was going to do a seafood dish but couldn’t face the selection at nashville’s ‘whole foods’. i considered a few cioppino recipes and even glanced at julia’s bouillabaisse. but then i wandered over to suzanne goin’s ‘sunday suppers at lucques‘ and i spotted "the dish". page 268-9. mussels and clams with vermouth, cannellini beans and cavolo nero. reading through it, i was captivated by the ingredient list. this was so very my kind of food. for those of you that haven’t been paying attention, i gravitate towards simple italian food, stressing the quality of the ingredients – ad nauseam.

i called d’artagnen to ask who they considered to be their seafood equivalent and they reminded me of browne trading. the way i see that is: if it’s good enough for eric ripert and daniel boulud, then i’m in. so i ordered my fish from them, which turned out to be a good move on my part. after speaking to nick for awhile about what was freshest and best, that’s about when i i decided to veer from the recipe, if only by upping the seafood ante. goin called for using clams and mussels, and to that i added 3 small lobsters, scallops, haddock and the last of the wonderful maine sweet shrimp, which was to be used as a garnish due to its inability to take much heat. i also doubled the recipe. because you just can’t have too much of a good thing…

and that, dear readers? is the very philosophy that gets me into trouble…

the largest serving vessel in my home is my 16" wok. i rarely use it because, well, it’s just huge. but this was the perfect thing for this dish and i was grateful that i had it around.

everything was piled into the wok which filled it to the brim – and somehow our italian seafood dinner looked quite at home, all nestled in the unfamiliar asian skillet. i wish i’d been more ‘on it’ with my photo’s, but once that seafood was ready to rock and roll, i had other things on my mind. so cary, being the good boyfriend, grabbed the camera and took some shots.

the recipe is both straight forward and detailed  – a testament to goin’s book which leaves very little room for any error with a lot of very helpful techniques and explanations… go and buy this book. seriously. it’s a great one…

the beans were of course from rancho gordo. they were soaked for a few hours, although goin throws hers in dry. the bean component was made the night before and i’ve got to tell you, it is beyond truly outstanding.

here’s how it works: toast 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds until brown and then pound them roughly in a mortar. in a medium pot heat 1/4 cup of olive oil and when hot, add to that a sprig of rosemary and a crumbled chili de arbol. sizzle for a minute and then add the fennel seed and a cup or so of diced onion along with a tablespoon of thyme leaves. sauté until the onion is wilted. add the beans and coat them for about a minute and then add water to 3" above the beans. bring to a boil and the reduce heat. place a paper towel over the beans to keep them submerged and add 2 teaspoons kosher salt after about 30 minutes (mine took longer to soften) and then cook adding water as necessary. you want to have a good amount of bean liquid that is starchy and rich. because this is THE STUFF that makes the final dish sing. there’s no fish stock used in this recipe.

and even if you don’t make this dish then just make these beans. and serve them with roast chicken. or with a poached egg and broccoli rabe. the beans themselves will knock you over. you will make them and then you will love me because i will have opened your eyes to greatness. they way i see it, it’s the very least i could do...

i also must tell you that these little sweet maine shrimp are very delicious little suckers, but you have to treat them with the utmost respect. too much heat and they turn to a mealy mush. after the dish was done and off the heat, these were placed on top of the rest of the shellfish and the residual warmth was all that was needed.

a perfect 1990 barbera sits beside a grassy tuscan olive oil. one bowl to eat from, and another for the shells…

a precarious balance – a profoundly visual metaphor for life…

the kale gets blanched in salted water and wrung out and cut into ribbons. olive oil goes into a (wide not tall) hot pot followed by diced red onion, a bulb of chopped fennel, tons of sliced garlic, chiles, rosemary, thyme and salt and pepper. then the greens for about 10 minutes until they break down – and then the beans along with the liquid. after a few minutes add the clams and then a couple of minutes later the vermouth and then the mussels. let it all steam until the shells open and then stir in a few tablespoons of butter. i forgot to taste for seasoning but i lucked out. it was just right.

when i make this again, and i will, i think i’ll keep it less busy. the lobster was wonderful but extraneous, the haddock got knocked around by the shells and shredded – making for a heartier broth, but really in the end was unnecessary. the browne trading’s scallops were fresh and phenomenal, as was all the seafood. they’d be a do-over for sure, if only because cary loves them best.

goin’s ‘sunday suppers’ is a seasonal book – from market to table. this recipe was listed for fall, which although we’re completely faced in the other direction, it still felt right on a cool and rainy friday evening. we talked, they drank, and we laughed our asses off for 4 hours. everyone chipped in on the seafood tab which eased the $ load and we couldn’t have had a better seafood dinner anywhere in nashville.

and i’ll venture to guess that no one missed dessert in the least…

back in the days of no car and a 12 lb puppy (also known as early march ’09), i was home watching martha stewart. which honestly, i hardly ever do. but let’s face it, she gets the best guests. chef after chef they make the pilgrimage to the martha from a wide array of great restaurants, shooting the breeze with the quintessential homemaker – who is perhaps the worst interviewer/conversationalist on tv – while they cook up rather remarkable food. and i am here to tell you, it can totally draw you into the martha vortex. you, meaning me. or us – if you’d like to join in.

anyway i was younger then – and it was raining. and on that day the shows theme was ‘atlanta’, which although only a 4 hour drive from nashville, is one i rarely take. but i hear the atlanta restaurant scene is damn fine, which then naturally conjures up all kinds of longing. envy. gluttonous thoughts. you name a deadly sin and i’ve conjured it.

so, the chef from ‘repast‘ was on martha, doing an interesting version of crab cakes. and i just happened to have a pound of jumbo lump meat sitting in my refrigerator along with nearly every other ingredient – except the lemongrass and the raw shrimp which were easy purchases.

mostly easy because chris picked them up on his way over. i literally willed the ingredients to my door.

cooking with chris is truly wonderful because for the most part he does everything. and i like that in a sous chef. plus he’s way better with a knife than i will ever be. and he also cleans up really nicely. and i mean – my kitchen.

crab cakes tend to be bound with varying amounts of breadcrumbs and i loved the fact that these are held together with a shrimp mousse. but what initially sparked my interest was quite simply that the overall ingredient list screams huge flavor burst. and i am nothing if not a fan of the flavor burst. actually perhaps i am a slave to the flavor burst.  i’ll need to contemplate which of those rings more true and i’ll be sure to report back.

1 cup heavy cream (i used half and half)
1-inch piece lemongrass, crushed
1-inch piece ginger, crushed
1 star anise
1 dried birdseye chile, crushed
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon Tabasco
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 pound fresh medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 large egg
1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked
zest of 2 lemons
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon canola oil

come on… does that not sound just lovely? but listen, i had to lean it down a bit by making a different dairy decision. half and half is about as much fat as i can bear. i think using cream would be the way to go if only i lived in an alternate universe and wanted that fattier mouthfeel – but not for me. not that day. maybe not ever. although it could happen. tomorrow. because the flesh, it is weak in the face of fat grams…

so then:

place cream, lemongrass, ginger, star anise, and chile in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. remove from heat and let cool; strain, discarding solids. stir in fish sauce and tabasco; set aside.

heat sesame oil and olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. add scallions and cook until soft, 1 to 2 minutes. remove from heat; let cool.

place shrimp and egg in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. with the machine running, slowly add cream mixture; process until well combined.
In a large bowl, mix together crabmeat, lemon zest, and cooled scallions. gently fold in shrimp mixture.

line a baking sheet with parchment paper (i used a silpat) and sprinkle with cornmeal. place a 1-inch high round cutter about 2 1/2-inches in diameter on baking sheet. fill cutter with crabmeat mixture, packing down slightly. repeat process until all crabmeat has been used, about 8 times. transfer to refrigerator to chill, 6 to 8 hours.

preheat oven to 350 degrees. heat butter and canola oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. place crab cakes, cornmeal-side down in skillet and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. turn crab cakes and transfer skillet to oven (i never did this) until cornmeal side is golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. serve immediately with butter sauce.

and we’re talking yuzu caper butter sauce. ok, so i am down with a little butter sauce. afterall, it’s just a. little. butter sauce. but no. chef joe truex’s recipe is using well over a pound of butter for 4 people. after using a cup of heavy cream in the cakes. sorry chef. no can do. so we improvised and used about 1/3 of that, cut into some yuzu juice, capers and shallots. and it was more than plenty. crazy freakin’ chefs… they are trying to kill us. i swear… so unnecessary.

all in all it was a good dish although i’m not running to make it again. the shrimp mousse was a fine idea and good for future reference. it would translate well to any number of seafood related cakes or stuffings. i suppose my biggest issue was that i didn’t pick up much of the spice infusion flavoring in the finished product, and that was somewhat disappointing. so next time i’d hit it a bit harder to get the flavors more pronounced.

but it was different. and interesting. and it brought me and martha closer together and quite frankly, we needed that.

and well, chris cleaned up so very nicely. it was almost like it never happened…

the literal translation of bagna cauda means warm bath. but in my world bagna cauda is a truly delectable warm and sexy mixture of anchovy, garlic, butter and olive oil in which to dip vegetables, bread and really whatever else you deem appropriate. because dear readers, i am not here to judge you and you certainly don’t need to report back to me…. but just so you know, i personally settled upon baking more of the wine infused batali pizza dough, this batch completely unadorned and fortified with a cup of ‘white whole wheat’ flour, along with simply grilled tiger shrimp, raw celery stalks, chunks of red and yellow bell peppers, radicchio and endive. sadly, there were no cardoons in sight. had there been i would’ve been even happier than i already was – if that could have been possible.

i finally bought a can of "real" anchovies, unlike that unrealized inferior product that comes in little tins and jars. this is the industrial sized can from italy. the kind that real chefs use. because although i am a hack, i still want my food to be as good as i can make it. and since i’m only willing to go so far, i wind up relying heavily on the best ingredients i can get my hands on. you can pretty much fool all of the people all of the time with this method of cooking. take that, abe.

so let’s talk about this whole anchovy business, shall we?

this is a very large and empty can that once housed a school of sicilian anchovies weighing in at one kilo.

i forgot to take a shot of the full can, if only so i could show you the salt packed anchovies all neatly crisscrossed in rows. i only used about 8 of the little fish and the rest quickly went into a container and were covered with olive oil to keep them relatively oxygen free and ready for action at my beck and call – for the next 2 years – which is about how long it’ll take me to go through them. AND by the way you have to chop off the tails and remove their guts and backbone. i was not aware of this prior to my $28 purchase. but if i had it all to do over again, i’d snap up a can of this fishy goodness in a ny minute. they are barely comparable to what i’ve used in the past…. and if mario were god, and if god were in heaven – he’d be smiling down at me. as it stands now he has no real idea that i exist which – funny enough, is how i feel about god…

but i digress…

so i made the bread. and then i made the bagna cauda. after that i chopped up the peppers and grilled the shrimp. the spread got laid out on my table along with the lettuces and a damn fine bottle of barbera (2006 agostino pavia & figli barbera d’asti ‘blina’) that at $16 just thrilled me. and it was uncorked. and then we ate. and it perhaps wasn’t a gorgeous spread, inappropriate for even a novice photo shoot such as this – but it was incredibly good to eat. of this much i can assure you.

naturally, the calories were relatively high but i had eaten sparsely (again) that day, and once again reigning it way back the next. but it felt like clean food. i felt really good after i ate. and after weighing myself yesterday i’m down about 11 lbs in 6 weeks… so in 4 months i should be me again. and i will have done it without torturing myself. torture is bad. when it comes to myself i have a total no torture policy, though i make no guarantees what i am capable of doing to you.

and back by popular demand: grace, the amazing growing puppy - at 14 weeks.

(she’s all mine and you can’t have her…)

and they’re completely unrelated. but i thought i’d give you two for the price of one. because i believe that you deserve two – if only because i am the slacker of all food bloggers and have miserably fallen down on my posting. and because neither dish photographed all that well. and perhaps mostly because time somehow disappears and i’ve no idea where it goes…

today is a completely lovely day in middle tennessee and well, i sold my car by accident and the new one’s not here yet (or even close) so i am housebound with the ‘amazing growing puppy’ and two pissed off cats. meaning, i need to write, if only as a diversion to my current state of affairs. and ummm, if any one wants to come to my house and take me shopping, that would be super.

so anyway, these are for you and really, they were both excellent.

below we have my adaptation of a gordon ramsey recipe from his book ‘healthy appetite’ which i dearly love due to the fact that the recipes are interesting AND light. so even if his own personal goose is getting cooked right now, i’m still a fan. he is without a doubt a great chef. but gordon? perhaps you shoulda killed ‘em with some kindness afterall, as your karma might be messing with you…

regardless, the scallops were wonderful. peas and lima beans (both frozen) with a lot of mint and a hint of butter, the perfect bed to rest 3 scallops upon, seared with fresh thyme. gordon called for fava beans, not lima’s – and fresh shelled peas. but i don’t have to fear ‘the ramsey’ getting all up in my face, so the executive bean decision was – lima.

fyi – the scallops were NOT burned they were just deeply colored rendering them unattractive yet delicious

and this is a staple around here. greens (turnip this time although usually lacinato kale) and beans (rancho gordo – cannellini’s) with a dose of good red wine vinegar and olive oil, accompanied by copious amounts of rosemary and garlic – topped with a poached egg. and this is really just very, very damn good.

fyi – this totally tasted so much better than it looks here…

lately my food has been simple. even more so than usual. we’re eating things like whole wheat pasta with my own tomato sauce. the current blend is made with heirlooms grown in canadian hot houses, thrown in a blender and then added to a saute of olive oil with garlic, an anchovy, capers and red chile flakes with just a touch of sugar for balance and a few black kalamata olives. 5 big shrimp thrown on top work quite nicely. and then i have most certainly become a vegetable roasting fool. the last batch was portabella’s with eggplant, fennel and red bell peppers – served up with a grilled bison steak. so this is what i’ve eaten lately. not terribly exciting. but really good and wholesome. there is no cheese to speak of, no cream, minimal butter or (sob) bacon, no real desserts – and portions are definitely on the smaller side. yet somehow i am surviving. and i feel better already.

and THEN there are my guilty pleasures because i am ONLY HUMAN and i thought i would tell you what fills in the blanks these days:

(in no particular order)

• laughing cow low fat cheese wedges – 35 processed calories = a hunk of creamy spreadable cheese
• acai juice – 1/2 cup per day. which tastes almost like someone got funky chocolate on my funky raspberries
• diet dr. pepper – one a day. my fave besides dr. browns diet cream soda
• very lightly buttered toast with marmite and a cup of tea – i love this…
• sparsely spread peanut butter with june taylor’s blood orange marmalade
• amy’s frozen dinners – especially their ‘veggie loaf’ and ‘rice macaroni and cheese’ and well, i’ve been eating these for a long time…
• imagine’s boxed soups – butternut squash and creamy tomato (not proud)
• very little pieces of good dark chocolate with an espresso

for the record, my 1000 calories a day is looking much more like 1150. when i can stay at 1000 i am pleased with myself – but yes, it’s a tough number to adhere to. i’m on week 4 and i’m down about 6 lbs. i won’t lose much more than 1.5 a week (age and lack of exercise) but as long as i stay the course, i’ll be fine before too long. it’s still about 4 more solid months of me being ON IT. then i can loosen up a bit.

(i keep eyeing my spring clothes tucked away in the corner of my closet. one very pretty little pale overpriced grey dress in particular…)

yes yes, scallops again. and again and again. have i mentioned how we love them over here? and have you seen the scallops that have been available lately? i’m not sure i even want to know how exactly it is that they are getting so huge, but i bought one yesterday that was like a small tenderloin, weighing in at 5.5 ounces.

but hey, i like them big because then it is ever so easy to sear the wholly hell out of them and still have them be good and rare in the middle. because that right there is what it’s all about in the world of scallop cooking. achieving the perfect crusty deep golden exterior that is basically pure umami – while not rendering the meat inside to a hard puck-like substance.

this dish was totally ripped off from a local restaurant here in town called 360 bistro. chef john david crow makes a dish like this that i absolutely love and so i decided to try my hand at replicating my last dinner there – or at the very least, come close. chef crow is a friend and i almost called him to get some pointers, but then i just got to cooking and well, i am telling you – 20 minutes from start to finish and we were eating a damn fine plate of food. which is once again proof positive that cooking does not have to be a long, drawn out laborious process. this was truly quick and painless with a huge payoff.

both the apple and the cauliflower were roughly chopped and thrown into separate pans with some water, covered and left to steam about 10 minutes. the cauliflower was then thrown into the food processor minced garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. while it pureed i drizzled in about 1/4 cup of my best olive oil. when i stopped the processor and spooned a bit of the cauliflower into my mouth i smiled. it was absolutely exquisite. dear readers, mashed potatoes have nothing on this. i am telling you. trust me. i care about you. all of you. this cauliflower puree? a winner… and yes, go butter or cream it up if you feel you must, but after this, i was giving the ol’ arteries a break. and really, a very good buttery spanish olive fit the bill wonderfully.

by this time the apple was soft and it got thrown into the chinoise sans water, and strained down to a very fine consistency. the sauce then went back on the stove to reduce down a bit more with some sugar and a pinch of salt.

the scallops got a good deep sear and were plated atop the cauliflower and then drizzled with the apple reduction. the parsley was ‘just because’ it was a rather drab and colorless dish – but regardless of its pallor, i am telling you… this was phenomenal. and on the healthy scale it ranked pretty high.

except we ate the entire head of cauliflower. the 2 of us. and as good as it was in the moment, it was A LOT of food.

an aside: i went through a raw phase once where nearly eveything got pureed. nuts, seeds and vegetables make delicious pates but the quantities get skewed when it’s all in a slice or a ball. i’d make chocolate cakes with nothing but nuts, avocado, coconut oil, agave and raw cocoa powder and the fat/calorie count was high as a kite. also raw macadamias are dangerously good when pureed with nothing but salt and onion…

the scallop thing? we’ve got it bad. and being the versatile little buggers that they are, it’s fun to dress them up according to what’s happening in your refrigerator, the season, or just your mood…

scallops, it’s what’s for dinner…

scallops are often seen being prepared in my kitchen – so much so, that most of the time i don’t even mention it in my postings as you might begin to wonder about my obsession. so it’s always nice to discover new ways to dress them up a little differently, if just for kicks. i like to think of these distinctive tasting meaty discs as my barbie dolls of seafood.  so why not join me in envisioning this dish as japanese barbie meets new england barbie, while rendezvousing in spain? 

doesn’t the internet make it such a small, small world?  i rest my case.

so, i took about 2 tablespoons of both white miso and pure maple syrup, along with about 2/3 cup of sherry vinegar and reduced it down to a syrupy consistency.  this got spooned over a succotash of peas, corn and red onion that was pan fried in the fat leftover from the browned pancetta. i got the idea for this dish from the culinary sherpas who suggested edamame (in keeping with the asian fusion theme), but i only had the unshelled kind and i, quite frankly just wasn’t in the mood to steam up a batch and pop them from their pods.  i hope you understand because grabbing the peas seemed like a much better idea at the time.  true, if i had it to do all over again… but i don’t now, do i?  because you only get ONE chance to make a FIRST impressions and well, i hope i’ve not blown my credibility with you.

this dish was fast and easy and i was able to use up the last of half a red onion, some week old farmers market corn, frozen peas and a bit of random pancetta that was tucked away in my freezer. 

it was wonderful. 

and much prettier in person.

 

after 6 weeks of being away from my kitchen, i finally got to throw a dinner together.  something simple and quick – something light and fresh.  scallops are a favorite and a red pepper sauce pairing makes an effortless and classic dish. 

into the vita-mix went:

a roasted red pepper – blackened, peeled, seeded
small clove of garlic
smoked salt
cayenne pepper
balsamic syrup
lemon infused extra virgin olive oil

searing scallops is a favorite culinary task of mine.  i fought with them for awhile, trying to achieve the perfect caramelization on both sides while still having a rare center.  i use cast iron, getting the pan super hot, adding the oil and/or butter and then placing the very dry scallops into the hot pan without overcrowding.  it’s all about moisture avoidance.  also, i choose to not season my scallops as they always seem to have the right amount of salt just as they are. 

they were served over a plate of fresh baby spinach leaves with halved grape tomatoes and some pea shoot tendrils scattered about, just because.  the sauce acted as the dressing and really, it was satisfying as could be on a hot summer night. 

tonight i made broiled halibut, lightly salted and peppered with some olive oil.  i took no photos and just enjoyed the simplicity of the fish over the same spinach leaves and tomatoes – along with some of ‘karen’s hot giardiniera’, given to me by a friend who had discovered it in vermont, quite by accident.  you need to buy the 4 jars.  so just do it and then thank me.  these jars of spicy olivey goodness make amazing gifts and will be much better received than yet another bottle of oaky $14 chardonnay.  not that you’d ever show up with that…

i bring up my humble dinner tonight to not only let you in on the secret of this amazing olive spread that absolutely blew me away – but to also tell you that i am a fan of eric ripert, and because of his new blog ‘avec eric’ (thank you michael ruhlman – again) where the cuisinart brick convection toaster oven (brk-200) is flaunted as the one essential you must never ever live without… i slapped down my credit card quicksmart paying (a discounted) $200 (in turn receiving a whole 220 frequent flying miles) and i must say, not only is it a handsome devil, not unlike both eric and michael, but it’s going to be extremely handy to have around.  for one frozen bagel.  grilled tomatoes.  fish for 2, roasted chicken, a tin of 6 muffins, a small homemade pizza – the endless possibilities boggle the mind… and eric’s blog keeps showing me the simplest, freshest, healthiest ideas – all while leaving a slightly smaller carbon footprint.  i own double convection gaggenau ovens, which are totally sexy looking (kind of like both eric and michael) and wonderful around the holidays (if you’re a woman, i’m thinking what you’re thinking), but 9/10 of the time, it’s small quantities around here.  and my new cuisinart mini-oven is working like a dream…

a week from tonight i’ll be dining at alinea and 3 nights from that at charlie trotter’s.  in nyc i ate at jean georges, babbo, blaue gans, bar americain and felidia.  this time around i’d have to say my favorite was felidia – ‘jg’ losing out only due to the fact that it’s high french and i am so partial to italian. and really, felidia was just very good.  i had pear and fresh pecorino ravioli and calves liver over farro and polenta.  joe (thank you joe, again and again) sent over a wonderful bottle of wine along with octopus done 2 ways.  i was very, very happy with this food. 

and as much as i both hate and hesitate to say this, babbo was somehow a huge let down. the lambs brain ’francobolli’ was plain bad.  the goose liver ravioli was just wrong.  the rabbit and duck were just ‘ok’ – nothing to remember.  the branzino, lambs tongue and sausage plate were all excellent as was a saffron panna cotta with rhubarb.  but ‘osteria mozza’ in LA kicked ’babbo’s’ culinary ass.  again i will say, our dinner at mozza was a full fledge knock-out.  but this is why you don’t review on one meal.  i know babbo is a great restaurant.  my dinner there 9 years ago still rolls around in the food archive section of my brain.  but this time, the chef de cuisine was off and it was a long holiday weekend… so next time i’m in ny – this autumn, i hope to go back. 

i had the pleasure of meeting the brilliant, warm and witty michelle from ‘thursday night smackdown’.  she dined with me and my mother at babbo.  you need to read her take on my mom.  as one might expect from michelle, it is classic and spot on and if you have to ask, you could never understand… 

my ‘jg’ dining partner was my friend amy from minimally invasive.  she is now forced to dine with me every time i come to nyc.  we agonize over where to go.  it took us about 20 emails to get both a date and a restaurant in ink.  we were excited about jg and ordered with abandon.  nothing like a little $300 lunch… and then, believe it or not – afterwards, we took a quick trip across the street to time-warner for a macaron at bouchon bakery.

so it’s been a stream of superior food and wonderful wine… and people.  it’s all about the people.  and there’s so much more to come.  i am truly grateful beyond measure and so incredibly fortunate.  yay.

oh and thanks for reading…

i’m a book buyer.  which doesn’t necessarily mean that i’m always a book reader.  of course each book is carefully chosen with varying degrees of hope, excitement and promise, and the contents of my cyber cart are always just one quick click away from being all mine…  but then the books arrive only to be relegated to any number of stacks or shelves throughout my home.  and from there the books taunt me, filling me with guilt, making me once again realize that they have yet to fulfill their destiny.  and destiny is big….

so yesterday morning the latest book hit my doorstep. i don’t recall how or even why i’d heard about this one, but i had, for some good reason, sought it out – and now here we were, together.  but this time, instead of adding it to the closest pile, i immediately opened to a random page and began to flip through, until my eyes rested upon what was to become – dinner.  smiling, i grabbed the scallops and bacon from the freezer and jotted down the word ‘watercress’ on my days shopping list.  this was going to be magically delicious and made in 15 minutes – tops.

the book is called ‘secret ingredients – the magical process of combining flavors’ by michael roberts.  and the more i read about mr. roberts, who died an untimely death 3 years ago, the more i like him.  in his ny times obituary he is noted as "a restaurateur and chef whose playful and astonishingly successful marriages of preposterous ingredients helped forge the California culinary revolution of the 1980′s".  he was a risk taker when it came to flavor.  and i happen to like that in a guy.  he writes of flavor marriages as in ‘sherry and brandy’ and ‘chili and curry’, and of flavor oppositions such as ‘apples and cheese’ and ‘salt and sugar’ or ‘sugar and vinegar’, and from there he discusses flavor juxtaposition – as in garlic masking the bitterness of rosemary but allowing the herbalness to come through. or cocktail sauce, unfolding in layers, first the tomato and then the horseradish – married by the lemon…

i haven’t read a novel in too long because lately, i just get lost in this kind of thing.  when i’m reading about food i am focused.  pennies drop.  i proverbially clap out loud and gasp and nod and moan and laugh.  food just entertains the hell outa me.  better than fast cars, heroin or sky diving, i suppose.

warm scallop and watercress salad with bacon vinaigrette
adapted from ‘secret ingredients’ by michael roberts

i opted to not leave the bacon fat in the dish and reflected this in my adaptation.  it just seemed so pointless, but it’s your life and you can drink bacon grease all day long.  choosing longevity, i decided to use more grapeseed oil and drain the pig fat.  i also upped the apple slices just because..

2 bunches of watercress
1 medium granny smith apple
lemon juice to keep the apple slices from oxidizing
1/2 cup salad oil (i like grapeseed for this)
3/4 lb bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb sea scallops
2 T finely minced shallots
2/3 cup sherry vinegar

mound the watercress leaves onto 4 plates
core the apple without peeling, cut into quarters and slice thin
sprinkle with the lemon juice
arrange the apples around the watercress – set aside
add bacon to a 9 or 10 inch cold skillet – sauté over medium heat 4 minutes
drain most of the bacon fat from the pan and add scallops, searing until brown on each side
be sure they stay rare in the center
add the shallots and vinegar and cook for a minute longer
remove from heat and add the oil
then drizzle with the remaining dressing in the pan
portion the scallops and bacon onto the plates
 

there is something so very sexy, even powerful about being able to whip out a solid dish with very little effort… especially when it’s this good.

i broke my mayonnaise.  but i am here to tell you that it is fixable.  i started mine in the vita-mix and well, it’s just not the way to go.  unless perhaps you’re making a very large quantity and then the whirly thingamajig will actually be able to blend what’s in there.  but one egg yolk, some lemon juice, mustard and salt just was not enough volume, even when i began to add the oil oh so very slowly… it just wasn’t happening for me.  it was actually teetering on ‘failure’ – and i had just dribbled away 6 ounces of my very favorite and very expensive spanish olive oil, so the thought of pouring it all down the drain was incredibly unappealing…

and then i googled "broken mayonnaise".  and lo and behold, the internet once again saved the day and all you do is whisk an egg yolk into a bowl and add the broken mayonnaise, bit by bit.  and then there it was.  my aioli, as smooth and silky one could ever hope for, i added some fresh lemon zest and pressed (yes pressed) garlic - and it was about as good as mayonnaise could ever be.  the buttery olive oil turned velvety rich by the yolks, dijon mustard and lemon juice and zest with just the right amount of garlic… i was really pleased. 

but when i cracked the king crab legs and tossed it all with arugula and a fistful of cilantro… well, then i was supremely happy.

so, i made my aioli, i broke my aioli, i fixed my aioli.  and now i know.  just use very fresh eggs, have everything at room temperature, some mustard to provide stability, and an acid – required for the emulsification process.  next time i’ll add the slightest pinch of cayenne or white pepper – just for some balance to brighten it up.  and i will only whisk.  by hand.  no electricity needed.

1 egg yolk (i used 2 due to the ‘broken’ aspect)
a big pinch of salt
1/2 t dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

pressed garlic
lemon zest

these are the kind of dinners i love the most.  one interesting element that was a learning experience, and the rest of it just 3 high quality fresh and simple ingredients,,,

that didn’t have to even try.

the people over at ‘serious eats’ may have their own version of this (and in multi-parts), which i do find amusing, but so you know, i simply can not STAND this woman - her food will never touch my culinary radar, the mere thought of possibly cooking any of her unappealing southern fat-bomb recipes repels me beyond belief – which unfortunately conjures up her tv persona, which then immediately throws me into apoplexy, causing me to try and scratch my eyes out…  but hey, that’s just me.

pd on crack while her followers drink the lard laced kool-aid

but back to reality.  thomas, i love.  especially after my ‘per se’ experience and watching both his charlierose interviews.  the man is a brilliant chef and well, i applaud everything he stands for.  and i am absolutely sure that tk is voting democratic – hoping for obama and that he’s a james taylor fan and loves puppies. 

but still as wonderful as i know keller must be, if you make his pasta with white clam sauce, you could possibly die of a heart attack – on the spot.  but dear readers, know this – you will die happy. and well, not everyone can say that. but then again, who could really gauge this, as you’d be having to poll dead people, and that right there would be seemingly one hell of an unpleasant task. 

for the record, i made this dish two nights in a row.  but i have long history with tempting fate…

awhile back i read french laundry at home’s post about this dish and i knew i’d be making this one recipe from that beautiful book - if only this one.  because if you follow carol’s cooking adventures you will plainly see that tk’s food is a 10 on the difficulty scale - and well,  i can’t do 10′s.  way too many pots and pans to clean up which goes against my personal at-home-cooking principles.  but carol promised me this was easy and i had 3 lbs of clams in my refrigerator because i had been to costco on a friday and it was their ‘SEAFOOD ROAD SHOW’ weekend which always, but always cracks me up – as costco’s ‘seafood road show’ is not much of a ‘show on the road’ at all, and more of a dead crustaceans on ice kinda thing.

so… back to the pasta.  and not just any pasta – but the king of all pastas… this pasta is to die from – i mean, for.  and it is quite simply – 8 ounces (1 3/4 cup) of flour, 1 egg, 6 yolks, 1 T milk, 1.5 t olive oil.  wait… what’s that you say?  7 egg yolks for 8 ounces of flour?  am i kidding, you ask?  well, thomas says so.  and thomas knows.  so stop asking questions and slowly incorporate your flour into the egg mixture, forming the dough into a ball, lightly flour your workspace - and then knead and knead some more – about 20 solid minutes worth.  then wrap the dough tightly in plastic and let it rest for an hour.  by the way, michael ruhlman suggests that you do this in a bowl – and so do i.  because then there is no worry of the inevitable "egg breaking through the flour dam" fiasco, with the entire sticky mess spilling out onto your black suede puma’s which would be a total drag.  anyway, i happen to have a big flat bottomed glass bowl and it is now for pasta making. 

and then just make your pasta.  see how i threw that out so flippantly?  here, let me say it again.  then just make your pasta.  cause hey, i now make pasta.  often.  and it is so fun.  so satisfying.  so beautiful and oh so very amazing and even more than any of that – it tastes freakin’ great.  it is so very worth the effort.  and you get to burn tens of calories kneading the dough.  so the first bite of whatever you’re making?  it doesn’t count.  and if you stop there, you will be even.  just one bite and then push away from the table.  that’s the secret,  you’re welcome.

this was for a double batch…

on my want list?  a pasta rack…

a tangle of yolky pasta goodness…

oh, and one small thing.  i bought the kitchen aid pasta rollers and they totally ROCK.  i refuse to clamp and crank and i am willing to shell out the bucks in the name of fresh pasta.  $135+ at your retail dealer - i paid $81 on ebay including shipping.  now i’ve got 3 options and 9 thicknesses (coincidentally, the same as the shimano gears on my bike), the sheets, spaghetti and fettuccine.  i am so loving my kitchen aid mixer these days more than ever…

and then you make the clam sauce.  if you like white clam sauce then all i can say is that this is the quintessential recipe.  throw away the others.  embrace the butter and have yourself a culinary orgasm.

spaghetti with white clam sauce
dared to be adapted from ‘the french laundry cookbook’ by thomas keller

keller makes this into pretty twirly things in a clam shell atop a bed of heated rock salt.  i, on the other hand, do not.  i double the recipe and then make a trough of it and you stick your face into the bowl and eat.  or… just serve in individual bowls and use a fork.  either way.  i am honestly not here to judge you…

1 head of garlic
2 t butter
a sprinkle of sea salt

36 little neck clams – soaked in water for several hours changing the water a few times
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled and slightly crushed
2 large shallots – roughly chopped
4 sprigs of thyme
4 bay leaves
1 cup of crisp dry white wine such as sauvignon blanc or muscadet

roasted garlic puree (from recipe above)
reserved clam broth (from recipe above)
24 T (12 oz) of butter cut into small pieces (fyi – i used 9 oz)
1 T of white wine vinegar

1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 T fresh thyme leaves
black pepper

heat your oven to 300 f.  take a sheet of tin foil and double it and place the butter on the bottom, flattening to act as a base for the garlic.  put the entire head of garlic unpeeled onto the butter and sprinkle with sea salt.  fold the foil into a tight bundle and bake for 90 minutes.

while that’s happening, put the clams, garlic, shallots, thyme, bay leaves and wine into a stainless pan that can hold the clams in one layer.  cover and bring to boil over medium heat, moving the clams around to ensure even cooking.  remove the clams as they open which should be within about 5 minutes.  discard any clams that do not open.  allow broth to cool slightly and strain through a chinois.  put the broth into a saucepan.

remove clams from their shells and set aside.

when the roasted garlic is out of the oven and has cooled, remove the garlic from it’s skin and puree. i got great results by using my garlic press.  it shot out the roasted garlic perfectly and i’d just throw out the skin and do it again until all the cloves were gone.  this left me with about 2 T of the most amazing roasted garlic…

with the clam broth on medium heat, whisk the roasted garlic into the broth and then whisk in the butter piece by piece, adding the next piece only when the last piece is incorporated.  season with the white vinegar and add clams back to the clam sauce.  check to see if it needs any salt.  (mine didn’t.)

if your pasta is freshly made, cook it for 2 or 3 minutes in boiling salted water.  drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water (just in case).  put the pasta in a big bowl and toss with the sauce adding the parsley and thyme leaves and black pepper.  toss and serve adding any pasta water if needed.

as carol said to me, "it’s a dish that’s sooo easy and makes me very happy and there is no way you can eat this and not smile with every bite". and that right there dear readers, is what really good food is all about.  

that and the fact that cooking this dish for your significant lover could totally get you laid…

i just wrote an entire post on this dish, hit publish and

IT WAS LOST FOREVER. 

and now i wanna literally cry because well, i’m tired.  and other stuff.  but i took a long time writing this post and i thought it was kinda good, and with a ton of links… but dear readers, i just can’t recreate it.  i don’t have it in me.   i need a big glass of water, my bed and the remote… asap…  a neck rub would be mighty splendid too…

basically i just wanted you to know that harissa is my new love.  and here it is on grilled shrimp with mario’s 3 hour polenta and slow roasted grape tomatoes with shallots and fresh thyme, sprinkled with guerande salt.

the end.

winners tba for the ‘IRON FORK’ contest tomorrow.

see you there…

as one might imagine, mostly i cook for others.  and so when it comes time to serve dinner i’m always having to say, ‘please, go ahead and start’, because i am usually behind a lens, tackling a tripod, trying to take a pic of whatever’s on my plate.  so sometimes i rush.  and this was most certainly one of those times.  and i just felt the need to try and explain, while pledging to try and do better – and with no real guarantees…

so, we all have cookbooks that we go to regularly, and while i’m quite partial to my collection – each book chosen with care, with those that disappointed either given away or banished from the kitchen – i have some serious favorites.  and honestly, i think i am most in love with chefs rose gray and ruth rogers, who comprise the dynamic duo team at ‘the river cafe’ in london.  their food is simple, with short ingredient lists that rarely outnumber your fingers.  and their inherent understanding of what works together never ceases to excite and inspire me.  it is rustic italian food – my kind of food, in its highest form.

i was to make a dinner for some new friends as a reciprocate gesture to a decadent meal served in their home one week ago. for the record they served five (5) different wines with dinner, from a champagne to a dessert wine with whites and reds inbetween that had years like 1997 on the bottles and set the table as though martha stewart was coming to dine. and so it was to be a tough act to follow.

with cary’s endlessly late hours at the office, my kitchen has become a revolving door of constant friends and food.  i’m put to task regularly and by choice – and i love it.  every now and then i’ll make something totally out of my comfort zone but pretty much the food i am cooking is ingredient driven, and simple.  kinda like this…

chickpea and shrimp 

italian easy recipes from the london river cafe by rose gray and ruth rogers

(this recipe is listed as a soup but i would think it to be more like a stew as there isn’t much liquid. i added about 1/2 cup of water to thin it out a bit.)

14 oz can of chickpeas
1 lb shelled shrimp
1 oz dried porcini
3 garlic cloves
2 dried chiles
2 T dried oregano
14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1/2 lemon
ciabatta loaf
ex. v. olive oil

soak the porcini in 1 cup hot water.

drain and rinse the chickpeas. peel and chop 2 garlic cloves, and crumble the chiles.

strain the porcini, keeping the liquid, and roughly chop.

heat a thick-bottomed pan with 2 T olive oil, add half the chopped garlic, the porcini, oregano, and chile and season.

cook for 4 minutes. add the tomatoes, and simmer for 20 minutes, adding the porcini water as the tomatoes reduce,

to keep the soup liquid. season. in a separate pan, heat 1 T olive oil and add the remaining chopped garlic.

add the shrimp and when colored, add the chickpeas and stir to warm through. season.

add the juice of the lemon. mix together with the tomato.

cut the bread in slices and grill on both sides, rub with remaining peeled garlic clove and place in bowls. pour the soup over and drizzle with olive oil.

and it was even better the next day.  but served with a shaved pear and fennel salad with crisped d’artagnan jambon de bayonne (aka french prosciutto), it was pretty damn fine the night before…

god bless italy

after seeing various versions of this relish, at the very least 3 times within a short span, i began devising a dish using ingredients along these lines.  ‘last night’s dinner‘ did a version over striped bass (btw – get a load of the first dish in this post of hers – a pasta to die for), ‘dolce & nutella‘ put her patricia wells inspired version over pasta, and laura from ‘ombi‘ paired hers with grilled haloumi cheese.  at first i envisioned a grilled shoulder of lamb but eventually settled on a shrimp and farro combo.

i bought some pitted large green olives from the local olive bar of ‘the fresh market’, a bunch of mint, some parsley, organic lemons for their rind, used my preserved meyer lemons, garlic, salt and pepper – all diced and mixed with my favorite spanish olive oil, l’estornell.

upon further investigation judy rogers of the famed ‘zuni cafe‘ does a version with chopped blanched almonds over pork or chicken.  so i’m thinking this combination is pretty versatile and a good one to keep filed away for future use with well, everything.

but mostly it’s the way i like to cook.  it’s rustic and easy.  and it’s all about the ingredients.  oh and don’t be tempted to spritz with the lemon itself.  just use the rind.  mine was a tad too lemony.  i still liked it – but next time i’ll show restraint.  it was just kind of hard not to use the naked lemons as i knew they’d be relegated into the egg cups on my fridge door only to get all hard and dried up and then tossed in a couple weeks time.  i need to squeeze them and then freeze the juice.  the old squeeze and freeze… again, next time.

it’s rainy and unseasonably warm in nashville right now. 

somehow this dish fit the mood.

a can of jumbo lump crap had been impatiently sitting in the fridge until the expiration date finally started to glare at me.  and the pasta, this exquisite squid ink pasta called “calamarata nero di seppia” had been taunting me from my pantry for a couple of months.  so one night while poking around in my kitchen for dinner, i figured i had a solid match and i proceeded forward.

i sauteed some onions and garlic in olive oil, added a can of crushed san marzano’s, a healthy glug of sherry vinegar and some dried tuna bottarga along with fresh marjoram.  i added the crab at the very end and it was finished with a long shot of my coveted and most favorite olive oil, l’estornell.

the overall dish was quite good but -

the visual was really working for me…

ok class.  after a brief hiatus we return with more ‘fun with bottarga’.  only this time, armed with our knowledge from the last course we are going to use the right kind of fish roe.  ok?  so did everyone bring their dried mullet sac with them?  good.  let us proceed. for those of you that read along you may recall my last stint with bottarga.  it was not a raging success to say the least.  i generously referred to that dish as ‘nice’ but even a lame description such as that was a total stretch.  quite honestly the whole experience left me somewhat confused as to  a) why anyone would want to pay $75 for a hunk of dried out cat food and  b) why anyone would want to eat dried out cat food at any price.  so i called market hall foods - bottarga supplier to the stars – to discuss the quandary and they were kind enough to ship me the mullet bottarga to replace the tuna bottarga in question.  and so my best bottarga buddies, from here on in to be referred to as ‘b3′, once again crossed the county line, showing up with a loaf of bread, a lemon, some parsley and a fine bottle of red – ready for whatever fate the bottarga gods had in store for us. first my b3 grated the bottarga and we added some australian olive oil – a 2006 yellingbo to the bowl. 

the roe absorbed most of the oil which deepened the color considerably.  note: reserve some bottarga and parsley for plating.

to the pan i added the oil saturated bottarga, fresh lemon juice, minced garlic and parsley.  nothing else.  the bottarga has a perfect salt balance on it’s own and the salted pasta water flavored the de cecco #7 linguini.  the bottarga was warmed gently, not cooked.  the drained pasta was then added to the pan and tossed with the bottarga.

.

as luck would have it, the bottarga gods smiled upon us that night.  i really loved this dish.  fishy, but rich – with depth.  the brightness of the lemon and hint of garlic were perfect against the roe.  and the quality of the oil melded these flavors into a winning combination.  now i get the whole bottarga hype.

and as an aside, i find pasta to be extremely photogenic. 

anyone else? 

we love scallops.  and i love truffled anything.  so i was wondering if the two could hang together in the same way that ‘fennel pollen and pork‘ seem to do so well.  the answer, i am happy to say is a big, luscious mouthful of yesssss.

‘whole foods‘ had the most beautiful scallops i’d seen in awhile.  huge as in 8 to a lb., and fresh to boot.  all in all, my kind of scallops as due to the sheer size it’s nearly impossible to overcook them while trying to get that somewhat evasive carmelization thing going on.  5 months ago my quest for browning scallops led me to google this culinary challenge which brought me to this post – which was the first blog i ever saw.  ever.  in my life.  i think.  but i do know for certain that it was definitely the moment that the whole blogging concept got through to me.  somehow the blogosphere had escaped me and just how this was even remotely possible with all the time i spend online, well how this happened i will truly never understand.

but here we are…

so i decided to base our dinner on this recipe from the italian culinary center in nyc.  i pinched a few potatoes from a friend, grabbed a couple of my csa zucchinis, substituted shallots for the red onion and found the shredder attachment to my food processor.  gone are the days of scraping knuckles - 1 minute and your potatoes, zucchini and shallots are perfectly grated.  so allow me right here and now to send a shout-out to electricity and small kitchen appliances!  woo-hooo and god bless ‘em.  seriously.  i live more grateful everyday…

all i added to the three vegetables was some flour, salt and pepper and then i pan fried the cakes in olive oil until they were golden.  then they were baked until done – about 10 minutes on 400.

the scallops got dropped into a very hot saute pan with some olive oil for about 2 minutes per side.  i removed the scallops from the pan and added a cup of white wine to deglaze along with a knob of vermont butter and cheese cultured butter.  i cooked the wine down to a bit less than half and then we were ready to plate. 

first, a couple of the cakes, then a few scallops, next some sauce got poured on top – and finally that drizzle of white truffle oil.

i wish i’d have remembered that there was parsley in the fridge - if only for your sake.

i make pad thai about every 6 weeks or so.  my last batch was documented here.  i take this ritual pretty seriously and i like to think that my version is by far the best and most authentic in town, which really under the circumstances of where i live is no huge accomplishment.

but tonight i had a very special request.  and pad thai it was going to be.  so luckily, and in keeping with ‘eating down the house‘ all i needed to pick up was cilantro, green onions, bean sprouts and a lime.  everything else was here… except the noodles.  i was running low.  so in the midst of an unusually demanding day where a trip to the international market would have been near impossible, i got a package of noodles from angela, my best friend who lives in the hood.  i did a quick drive-by between appointments and we did a hand-off worthy of a marathon relay race. 

i’m used to soaking my noodles for about 20/30 minutes in room temperature water so i didn’t bother to read the package.  i assumed that all rice sticks were created equal.  but this brand called for soaking in boiling water for 6 minutes… 

so my pad thai was al dente.  to say the very least. 

was i happy about this?  nooooo…  am i willing to let go of the fact that i totally screwed up?  um, yeah.  i guess.  between you and me, secretly i kinda liked it although this particular pad thai making event was just so not about me and my strangeness.

but the flavors were spot on.  tamarind, fish sauce, chili sauce, palm sugar, dried shrimp, salted dried radish, shallots, garlic, peanuts, peanut oil, eggs, bean sprouts, green onions, cilantro and lime.  and the best shrimp i know to buy around these parts.  take all of that and you’d be hard pressed to go too far wrong.

for dessert it was dulce de leche on a spoon with a shot of espresso. 

because you’ve just gotta keep ‘em guessing…

i buy food.  often.  esoteric ingredients are my game.  a real chef would love my pantry but i’m just a mere wannabe.  yet i continue to believe that if i own all these potential elements of a dish that i will be able to transform my meals into something extraordinary.  you see, when it comes to cooking, i’m not big on technique.  so instead i try to go big on the understanding of flavors – as in what works together.  i’m constantly on the quest for what exists out there in the culinary universe that will blow me away.  having said all that, i’ve come to the realization that my pantry is out of control. and i was thinking that if i didn’t shop for anything but obvious perishables for awhile that i would be forced to use what i already have.  why, i could make it a challenge…  i love a good challenge…  ok claudia, you’re on!

excellent!  who knew this would be so easy?

so to begin with, last night’s dinner was nothing more than a no-brainer exercise of what was going on in my fridge/freezer.  i defrosted a pound of ‘raw, peeled w/tail on’ tiger shrimp from plumgoodfood.com, consistently the best source of shrimp that i have found in this town.  i chopped up a bunch of mustard greens that still looked pretty damn good from last saturday’s csa haul.  and then i used my leftover cooked farro, chopped tomatoes and a healthy dollop of gremolata along with two of delvin’s beautiful chili peppers, finely minced.  one pan.  no mess.  no fuss.  and better yet, no guilt due to no waste.  (my grandmother used to kiss the stale bread before she threw it away, although i’m sure if it was challah it was french toast on sunday morning…)

this was not a to-die-for dinner that i’d have served at a gathering.  the mustard greens were actually a bit sharp and over-powering for this quasi – italian dish. but they existed in my immediate universe and i refused to run out for the more well matched rapini or spinach.  and in less than 15 minutes from start to finish we were eating pretty wholesome and healthy stuff.  and i, in my own grand way of thinking found myself saying out loud - this so doesn’t suck.

ok – so i’m into italian food and i can’t stop.  and why would i? 

tonight’s dinner was an off the cuff throw together in 30 minutes kinda thing.  i saw a post on ‘minimally invasive‘ for a roasted fennel dish and i knew that would be my jumping off point.  after using fennel tops for my shrimp pasta i now had the two bulbs sitting in my fridge.  i used pancetta instead of the prosciutto and added some dry breadcrumbs on top of the grated parmigiano.  i also used olive oil instead of butter.  after tuesday’s dinner i just couldn’t face any more butter… and usually i rarely touch the stuff.  but man, when you’re cooking to impress – it’s everywhere.  anthony bourdain mentions this in his book ‘kitchen confidential’ – chefs use it on everything.  and in copious amounts.  and why?  because it tastes so friggin good…  anyway, this dish was totally wonderful and i plan on making it again and again.

i bought some black truffle polenta awhile back and decided to break it out.  and then i had the audacity to go and use an organic boxed vegetable broth because the guy who sold it to me told me that it works just great. 

Mistake 

and i really should have known better.  really.

i mean, it wasn’t terrible. but it was wrong.  when your polenta has black truffles in it – respect them.  and next time i will.  of this you can be sure.

cary liked dinner.  he’s a scallop guy.  and a polenta guy.  and i thought it was ok.  but perhaps the roasted fennel was fighting a bit with the truffles.  i’m not exactly sure.  the combo wasn’t a do over although i will say that it totally seemed like the thing to do at the time.

live and learn.

party at my place.  a friend’s big birthday.  cooking for 10.  coming up with the right menu.  making sure things work together and that i’m not making too much.  too little.  too complicated. 

but before i go on i’ve just got to make a local mention.  because if anyone from nashville is reading, what’s VERY good news around here is ‘lazzaroli‘.  and i mean VERY good news.  nashville finally has a real live italian market stocked with real live italian made-on-the-premises fresh pastas in all shapes and flavors along with many interesting raviolis and great cheeses, oils, olives, vinegars, sausages, salamis and yes, even my beloved cannolis.  plus the owner is a real live italian american from: not-from-here.  and that right there, that totally matters bigtime.  the wannabes screw it all up…

i decided to go with one of my favorite italian dinners – the trio of pastas.  i’ve encountered this in italy on a few different occasions and it seemed like a fine idea for this gathering.  the inspiration was from a new book that arrived in my mail box last week.  i’d heard about ‘pasta fresca‘ by viana la place and evan kleiman, on some blog, somewhere, awhile back.  after reading through it this past weekend, i immediately ordered another copy for a friend.  (amazon used books – love it.)  it’s the kind of cookbook i can relate to and really use.  italian food needs to never be complicated.  few ingredients but the very best quality.  it’s so my kinda thing.

so last night when cary got home and before our friends arrived i said, “smell that?  that’s pure italian.”  the oregano, thyme, garlic, lemon, shrimp, veal – add some heat and the mix is absolutely intoxicating.  it’s like walking into your favorite restaurant and wanting to order whatever it is that’s wafting through the air.  but it’s not any one dish – it’s everything.

we started with some beautiful heirlooms, sliced and then rebuilt with basil leaves and buffalo mozarella placed inbetween the layers.  scattered around the three tomato towers were some chunked yellow heirlooms, jalepeno stuffed green olives, and a wonderful chianti sausage from ‘volpi‘ in st.louis that tom lazzaro recommended.  add to that a great bread and some olive oil and this alone would make a perfect dinner.

but it was a party and i was going for the bigger spread.  so now i had to choose my trio.  i suppose the whole idea is to have them be as different from each other as possible without a serious clash.  i decided upon 1/ a fresh fettucine in a lemon and black olive sauce, 2/ a rustic spaghettini from sicily with shrimp, garlic, oregano, chili peppers, breadcrumbs and fennel tops. and lastly, 3/ rotelle – or as we’d call them cartwheels – ground veal combined with onion, fresh thyme sprigs, and lemon zest in a tomato based cream sauce.  and i got all three from ‘pasta fresca’.  and they were all three just excellent.  as good as anything i’ve ever had in italy. 

and that right there i know is a big bold statement – and perhaps a bit of selective memory.

(the ‘rustic plum cake‘ making a second appearance – this time made in the right sized 9″ pan (cary offered to buy me one and it was his idea and everything – very impressive), the plums were right side up and then the cake was dusted with the obligatory powdered sugar.  much nicer.  i made two.  and once again, i say – go find yourself some plums and get baking.  it’s easy and it’s almondy delicious.)