Spring Meals

We have been cooking up a storm. Spring has finally arrived and the Hollywood Farmer's Market is replete with the young green vegetables that we love. Asparagus and Fresh Peas are their in abundance. The Academy Awards and then the Los Angeles Marathon had closed the area near the Farmer's Market for several weeks. Now they were over we could once again easily shop on the street.

We purchased a rack of lamb from McCall’s Meat and Fish and had them cut them into chops. We then used a wonderful recipe from the Cookbook: Indian Home Cooking for Tandoori Lamb Chops. The lamb is marinated in the spices and yogurt and and is delicious when grilled. You can get the recipe from our blog of July 16, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

We have been cooking with spring asparagus making a variety of recipes. Sometimes the easiest and simple preparations are the best way to bring out the flavors of vegetables. We cooked one of our all time favorites: Asparagus Pasta. We make this several times every spring. You can get the recipe from our blog of: May 11, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

We had also purchased smoked salmon from McCall’s and made a wonderful Salad - Smoked Salmon With A Frisee from: Thomas Keller’s -Bouchon Cookbook. If you don't want your smoked salmon on a bagel this is for you!

We had the final dish made from our Confited Pork Belly: Pork Fried Rice. Boy did we get a lot of use our of the pork! We had the most amazing fried rice we ever had in Hong Kong. Cathy realized that what made the fried rice so special was that the egg was scrambled separately from the rice. When it was cooked it was mixed into the rice. This made the texture of the rice much lighter. We had purchased fresh snap peas and added them to the rice. They were so fresh and crisp we only had to cut them in little chunks and throw them into the rice, no peeling required. With the addition of the Pork Belly we had a great dish.

Once again we had a Salad with Fresh Dates, Parmesan Cheese, Almonds and Saba. We are waiting for the good tomatoes to appear in the market. I hope they arrive soon!

Smoked Salmon With A Frisee Salad
With Oranges And Radishes
Saumon Fume Et Salade Frisee Aux Oranges Et Radis
Thomas Keller – Bouchon Cookbook


CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

3/4 cup fresh orange juice, simmered until reduced to 3 tablespoons
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Cara Cara (red or pink navel) oranges or blood oranges
1 to 2 heads fnsee lettuce
40 tarragon leaves
40 Italian parsley leaves
40 chervil leaves
1 heaping tablespoon minced chives
12 slices (about 8 ounces) smoked salmon
2 large breakfast or Icicle radishes, trimmed
and thinly sliced (to get 24 rounds) Extra virgin olive oil


Here smoked salmon is paired with bitter greens, citrus vinaigrette, and peppery radishes. Fresh herbs are meant to be one of the dominant flavors, and they go well with all the elements here, so don't be shy about using them. And notice how light the vinaigrette is—just three tablespoons of reduced orange juice, one tablespoon of vinegar, and one of olive oil.

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE: Whisk together the reduced orange juice, sherry vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut off the top and bottom of 1 orange. Stand the orange up and use a serrated knife to cut away the peel and pith in wide strips, working from top to bottom of the orange. Cut between the membranes to release the segments, letting them fall into a bowl. Squeeze any juice from the membranes over the segments. Repeat with the second orange. Set aside.

Remove the dark green outer leaves from the frisee and reserve for another use. Cut off and discard the core from the inner yellow leaves. Separate the leaves, trimming the bottoms as necessary to separate them. Wash the leaves and spin-dry. Place 1V2 cups greens (reserve any extra for another use) in a medium bowl and add the herbs.

TO SERVE: Arrange 3 slices of salmon in the center of each of four serving plates, overlapping them, their edges following the perimeter of the plate, to make a large circle.

Toss the frisee salad with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat the leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss in the radish slices.

Drizzle the salmon with olive oil and some of the juice from the oranges. Mound the salad in the center of the salmon and distribute the orange segments among the salads.