Crab Louie - Chicken Tetrazzini

Cathy and I had been thinking about making a Shrimp Louie. We then realized we had a tin of Crab Meat in the refrigerator, and decided to make a Crab Louie instead.

We knew immediately that we would be using Mark Peel’s recipe for Russian Dressing from his cookbook: New Classic Family Dinners. It is the best Russian Dressing! You can find the recipe on our blog of: July 4, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe. The way that we assembled the salad was also from a Mark Peel Recipe in the same cookbook: Shrimp Louie. You can find the recipe in our blog of: August 19, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe. Thank you Mark!

We had dinner with Robert and Darryl and they mentioned they had never had Crab Louie. We invited them to join us for the crab treat. They had been planning to cook for themselves Chicken Tetrazzini – another classic dish. We decided to join forces and eat together. They brought the Chicken Tetrazzini over and cooked it in our oven. They also brought a great Burgundy. We loved the wine.

Shrimp Curry

We have been working our way thru Skye Gyngell cookbook: A Year In The Kitchen, and decided to try another recipe from it: Lobster Curry With Tamarind, Roasted Coconut, Ginger, And Coriander.

However, we substituted Shrimp for the Lobster.

This year at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, the cherries have been exceptional. In fact, I believe they are the best that they have ever had. There are multiple varieties that appear one week, the next week they are gone and different ones appear. Our usual method is to walk the length of the market, tasting one of every cherry and then deciding which we like the best. On our return walk we then purchase them, assuming someone hasn’t cleaned them out of cherries first!

At Palate we had a alad made with fresh cherries. I always like salads with fresh fruit (the only kind of salad with fruit my Mother ever made was cottage cheese with canned peaches, or if she didn’t have canned peaches just cottage cheese with pineapple). At any rate, without a recipe we created a Fresh Cherry Salad with cheese from The Cheese Store of Silverlake and Hazelnuts from Mozza2Go. We used two types of Cherries: Rainier and Bing. It was a very refreshing salad, we will repeat next year – when the cherries return.

The Shrimp Curry was delicious. It was not like a spicy Indian Curry, but much more a Malaysian or Thai influenced curry with the sourness of tamarind and the Coconut Milk. When we had finished the leftovers the next night of the shrimp Curry, we still had curry sauce. I liked it so much we roasted florets of cauliflower and added it to the sauce giving it new life as Cauliflower Curry. A decided Buddhist reincarnation of the sauce– very appropriate.

Lobster Curry With Tamarind, Roasted Coconut, Ginger, And Coriander

A Year In The Kitchen

Skye Gyngell

This dish is based upon a style of cooking that is typical along India's southwest coast, though I have added fish sauce and sugar, which are not traditional ingredients. If lobster seems too extravagant, you could use any clean, firm-fleshed fish—monkfish would be perfect.

Serves 4

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 very fresh, live lobsters, about 1 pound 2 ounces each

3          tbsp vegetable oil

2          onions, peeled and finely sliced

2-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and finely diced

4          cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2          fresh red chiles, chopped

1          tsp coriander seeds, toasted

5          ripe tomatoes, chopped

1          tbsp superfine sugar

3          tbsp fish sauce

3          tbsp tamarind water

generous 2-1/2 cups canned coconut milk

1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes, lightly toasted

Bring a large pan of well-salted water to a fast boil, then drop in the lobsters and cook for 8 minutes. Remove from the pan and leave until cool enough to handle, then extract the meat. Take a sharp knife and make an incision all the way down the middle of the body. Remove the flesh and cut into medallions, discarding the stomach sac and the dark intestinal thread, which runs the length of the body. Crack the large claws with the back of a heavy knife and gently remove the meat. Save the legs for garnish.

Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Add the onions, lower the heat a little, and cook gently, stirring every now and then, until they are translucent.

Meanwhile, put the ginger, garlic, chiles, coriander seeds, and tomatoes in a blender and whiz to a paste. Scrape out the mixture and add it to the onions in the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Add the sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind water and stir well, then pour in the coconut milk. Turn the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cooked lobster and heat gently for z to 3 minutes, until it is just warmed through. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Ladle the curry into warm bowls or soup plates and garnish with the reserved lobster legs and toasted coconut flakes to serve.

Roast chicken and bread salad with sour cherries and roasted red onions

We love Zuni Café in San Francisco. Every time we go to San Francisco, I insist we ate at Zuni and order their Roast Chicken for Two. It never changes and it is fantastic. There are several versions of recipes of the dish that have been published and we have over the years tried them all at home. They all require you to roast the chicken outdoors on a grill.

We recently purchased a new cookbook, A Year In My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell, chef at Petersham Nurseries Cafe in London. The book had a recipe for Roast Chicken and Bread Salad with Sour Cherries and Roasted Red Onions that read to us as very much like the Zuni Chicken but with two distinct differences:


1. It is cooked in the oven - rather than on a grill outdoors
2. It has many more layers of flavors


It was like the Zuni Chicken re-imagined and tarted up. We decided to make it. Bottom line: We really liked it and will make it again. It doesn’t have the rustic feeling of the Zuni Chicken but rather has the complexity of its sophisticated big city older brother: more complex, less earthy and exciting. We recommend this dish. It isn’t hard to make but definitely takes a lot of preparation.

Roast Chicken And Bread Salad With Sour Cherries And Roasted Red Onions

A Year In My Kitchen

Skye Gyngell

I love torn bread salads—the trick is to combine the salad while the bread is still warm, so it can absorb and take on all the flavors. Here, a freshly cooked bird with real flavor is essential—last night's roast chicken will not do. You can replace the chicken with finely sliced prosciutto or, for a meat-free version, lace the bread generously with sweet broiled red bell peppers and black olives.

Serves 4 to 6

Roast chicken

1          small organic chicken, about 3 pounds

1          lemon, halved

small bunch of thyme

bay leaves

small bunch of parsley 5 cloves garlic, halved

1          dried red chile, crumbled

olive oil, to drizzle

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad

2          tbsp dried sour cherries
(or cranberries or raisins)

1          loaf of 1-day-old chewy peasant-style bread

about 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3      cup Roasted Red Onions

1 tbsp salted cappers, rinsed

1          tbsp minced preserved lemon

2          tbsp saba or good-quality balsamic vinegar

large handful of arugula leaves

2 or 3 tbsp Basil Oil

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 425°F (convection oven to 400°F). Rinse the chicken inside and out and remove the little fat deposits just inside the cavity. Pat dry. Put one lemon half into the cavity along with the thyme, bay leaves, parsley, garlic, and dried chile. Squeeze the juice from the other lemon half over the chicken skin, then drizzle with olive oil, massaging it into the skin with your fingers. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 375F (convection oven to 350°F) and roast until cooked through, 35 to 45 minutes. To test, pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer—the juices should run clear. Let rest in a warm place until cool enough to handle. Pour off the fat from the roasting pan, saving the juices. Leave the oven on.

For the salad, soak the sour cherries in warm water to cover for 10 minutes. Cut the loaf in half lengthwise and tear with your hands into pieces, roughly 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches square. Spread the bread pieces out on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Bake in the oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

Tip the bread into a large salad bowl. While it is still warm, drizzle over the remaining olive oil, adjusting the quantity as necessary— the bread should not feel dry. Add the roasted red onions, capers, preserved lemon, and saba or balsamic vinegar. Toss together with your hands. Drain the cherries and pat dry, then add to the salad.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, tear the flesh off the bones and cut into bite-size pieces. Add to the salad and drizzle over the roasting juices. Toss the chicken through, then add the arugula and toss again. Check the seasoning.

Pile the salad into a serving dish, drizzle over the basil oil, and sprinkle with lemon zest. Serve straight away, while still just warm.

Roasted Red Onions

These beautiful, deep-purple rings lend a superb depth of flavor and color to many cold dishes. Their sharp and sweetness sits somewhere in the middle of the scale.

For the roasted onions

5 medium red onions, peeled

½ cup superfine sugar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

generous ¾ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375°F (convection oven to 350°F). Slice the onions into pinwheels, about 1/8 inch thick, and spread out on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with the sugar and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper. Pour over the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and mix together lightly with your hands. Roast in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them (with tongs or a wooden spoon) and basting halfway through cooking. When the onions are ready, they should be deep purple in color and glistening, tasting sweet and sharp at the same time.

Basil Oil

This sludgy, verdant sauce lends a vibrancy to many of the dishes that I cook. Its flavor is clean and punchy and it works almost as a cleanser with many dishes, making the ingredients sing. It is definitely a pure, clan note toward the top of the scale.

For the Basil Oil

3 large bunches of basil

1 clove garlic, peeled

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

generous ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Pull the basil leaves from their stalks and put them in a food processor with the garlic and a good pinch each of salt and pepper.

Process until the basil is minced. With the motor running, slowly trickle in the olive oil through the feed tube and continue to blend until you have a beautiful moss green puree. Let stand for a few minutes, then taste adjust the seasoning.

Pour in a jar, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. This basil oil will keep well in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Cassoulet

We had lots of extra pork and decided to make a Cassoulet. This heavy French dish is a favorite on a cold winter day. We remember in San Francisco a favorite French Bistro wrote on their blackboard how many days the Cassoulet had been cooking. It was in the thousands. They just kept refreshing it with more pork and beans.

This one we basically winged as to the recipe. We soaked  good beans and cooked till soft. Then we started adding ingredients from the refrigerator. It was kind of general lets throw everything into the pot that we had that was appropriate for the dish. We had some left over pork ribs from a dinner at Mozza. We stripped the meat from the ribs and added it. We also had a Tomato, brown sugar, onion compote from Valerie Confections, in it went.

Lastly we knew the Cassoulet needed sausage. Off I went to McCall’s Meat and Fish to get home made sausage from Nate. I was expecting to get fennel sausage, but Nate convinced me to get spicy Italian Sausage to “Kick up the dish” which can be heavy. He was correct it really made it! One of the great things about McCall’s is that you can discuss recipes and ideas with them. They are accomplished professional chefs.

Finally we topped with lots of toasted breadcrumbs mixed with olive oil.

We started the dinner with our rendition “The Hungry Cat Salad” we have made it many times and really like it. You can find the recipe in our blog of November 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Summon joined us, and it was a delicious dinner with lively talk.

Cuban Pork

Salted Pig

Squash Soup with Peppers and Avocado

The Three Dudes

How do you Succulent?

Perfect!

Nate, at McCall’s Meat and Fish told me he was getting a whole Berkshire Pig. This is fairly rare, they are pigs that are the way pigs used to be before they were bred for the mass market. Think of it as a Single Malt pig. We would never miss an opportunity to cook a Berkshire Pig when it is available. Thanks Nate!

We ordered a 6 pound shoulder and we had to decide what to do with it. We had recently purchased the cookbook: Two Dudes One Pan by Snook and Dotolo and they had a recipe for a Cuban Roast Pig. This recipe is a keeper. It is actually quite easy and absolutely delicious. We are not sure how the pig would be if it were a regular store bought pig and not a Berkshire Pig. We are going to find out soon. I see a repeat in our future. Basically the pig is marinated for a couple of days and then slow roasted in the oven. Couldn’t be easier. One change we will make to the recipe next time is that the pig is placed on sliced onions when it is put in the pan to bake.  We will add a lot more onions to the bottom of the pan in the future because they are delicious when served with the accompanying Rice and Black Beans and Plantains.

Making life easy, we live near a El Cochinito Restaurant Cuban Restaurant, and we simply bought rice, Black Beans and Plantains from them to serve with the Pork.

We invited Robert and Darrel over they brought a delicious Squash Soup that had both Smoked Poblano Peppers and Jalapeño Peppers for a good kick smoothed with an Avocado Topping. A great soup! They also brought homemade Chocolate Flan in keeping with the theme of the night.

Cuban Style Roast Pork

Two Dudes One Pan

Shook and Dotolo

2            cups orange juice (preferably fresh)

1            cup olive oil

½            cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)

½            cup fresh lime juice (from about 4 limes)

20            garlic cloves, smashed

4            white onions, halved and very thinly sliced, plus 1 white onion sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rings

3            fresh thyme sprigs

2            bay leaves (preferably fresh not dried)

1            tablespoon ground cumin

1 ½            teaspoons red pepper flakes

4            tablespoons kosher salt
1 6- to 8 pound boneless pork butt (sometimes called a Boston butt), trimmed of excess fat and tied into a roast

5            limes cut into wedges, for serving

Jon:  This roasted pork butt is one of my favorite ways to eat pork. It's so tender and packed with flavor. You could do it up traditionally with rice and black beans, mix it with giant butter beans for a Cuban-style cassoulet, or wrap it in a corn tortilla with pickled red onions for killer pork tacos.

Vinny: We got turned on to Cuban roast pork while living in Miami. Pork butt doesn't set you back financially, plus it can feed a crowd. We like to make the full recipe, even if just cooking for a few friends; we'll portion out the leftovers and pack them into freezer bags to pull out on a rainy day.

WHISK the orange juice, all but 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon juice, lime juice, 15 of the garlic cloves, half of the thinly sliced onions, and the thyme, bay leaves, cumin, red pepper flakes, and 2 tablespoons of the salt in a large bowl. Pour into a large plastic bag (try a small garbage bag) and add the pork. Knot to close and place in a large bowl or in one of your refrigerator's vegetable bins to catch any leak­age. Marinate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.

Preheat your oven to 450°F.

Separate the Vi-inch-thick onion rings and place them, along with the remaining 5 garlic cloves, in the bottom of a roasting pan and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Remove the roast from the bag (discard the marinade), pat it dry, place it on top of the onions and garlic, and rub with the remaining 2 tablespoons of salt.

Reduce the oven temperature to 425 °F and roast the pork for 45 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F, cover the roasting pan with foil, and roast until the meat is falling apart, 4 to 4-1/2 hours longer.

Shred the pork and serve with the remaining thinly sliced onions and lots of lime wedges.

SERVES 12

+ 1 pan: mojo

Mojo is like the ketchup of Cuba. It's a vinegary, pungent tabletop condiment that's used on roasted pork, grilled meats, and pan-seared chicken. Drizzle a little over the pork before serving. It's best served within a hour of making.

Heat 1/2 cup canola or grapeseed oil with 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic in a small saucepan over low heat until the garlic is soft and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and cool until it reaches room temperature, then stir in 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt.

Asparagus and Morel Risotto

Asparagus and Morel Risotto is a perfect spring, early summer dish. The seasonal timing is critical, just as morels are starting to be seen in the Hollywood Farmer's Market, asparagus is beginning to fade from its peak.

We took our basic risotto recipe: Risotto con Luganeg, Risotto with Pork Sausage from The Cuisine of Venice & Surrounding Northern Regions by Guisti-Lanham Dodi. We eliminated the pork sausage and replaced with the asparagus and morels. You can read the recipe in our blog of: April 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Once again we used our own Frozen Chicken Broth. Just a reminder, whenever you make a chicken, throw the carcass in a pot, cover with water add some onion, carrot, etc and simmer for a few hours. Strain the liquid and you have great chicken stock to freeze for future use.

Cherry Salad and Corn Pasta

As summer (actually we have June Gloom) approaches in LA, cherries start to appear in the market. There are 22 different varieties of cherries that are sold, and it is fun to taste our way thru the market trying the various cherries. Cathy found a recipe for Mixed Lettuces with Roasted Cherries, Hazelnuts, & Warm Saint-Marcellin Cheese, in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers

It is unusual (at least for us) to have cherries in a salad, and this salad is delicious. It is a great find and we will make it again. Plus it looks beautiful with the bright cherries nestled in the greens.

Corn is also making its way into the market as summer nears. We made our first Corn Pasta of the year. You can find our recipe in our blog of: August 12, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Mixed Lettuces with Roasted Cherries, Hazelnuts, & Warm Saint-Marcellin

A handsome salad I like to serve at the end of a meal featuring red meat, pork, or game birds. It is lovely made with tender young red lettuces whose leaves are no more than a few inches long. Mix with a little arugula or frisee if you like. Saint-Marcellin is a rich cow's milk cheese with a slightly yeasty tang and some fruity notes. I've eaten syrupy ripe Saint-Marcellin out of the cup it's sold in with a tiny plastic spoon provided by the affineur (cheese "refiner"}, but this salad wants a fairly firm specimen, with only a bit of downy, white mold on the surface. It should feel like firm custard, as opposed to soft pudding. A young Banon is a good alternative to Saint-Marcellin-it is the same size and has similar character. It is wrapped in chestnut leaves, which are convenient for warming pur­poses. Do check to make sure no gray mold hides beneath these leaves. Although it's usually inoffensive, after heating its flavor may be too strong.

for 4 servings:

About 24 hazelnuts (3/4 ounce, or a scant 1/4 cup} 16 ripe red cherries {about 6 ounces], such as Bing, Van, Larian, or Burlat

About 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

A few splashes of kirsch or grappa (optional)

About i tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt

2 wheels Saint-Marcellin (about 3 ounces each} at room temperature

4 to 5 ounces mixed young lettuces, such as red oak leaf, red perella, and baby red romaine, carefully washed and dried

4 slices chewy, peasant-style bread

Preheat the oven to 325°

Roast the hazelnuts on a small baking sheet until the skins darken and start to split, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the oven up to 400°

While the nuts are still hot, bundle them in a towel beanbag-style, then scrunch and massage them to rub off most of their skins. Pick out the nuts and coarsely chop.

Rub the cherries with a few drops of olive oil, and season with a few drops of the optional alcohol and a pinch of salt.

Combine the oil, vinegar, and salt to taste. Add another few drops of kirsch or grappa, if you like, and taste again.

Place the cheeses on squares of parchment paper and place, with the cherries, on a sheet pan {the cherries might roll off a cookie sheet}. Roast until the fruit is near to bursting and the cheese is beginning to slouch, about 6 minutes. If your cheese is riper than described in the headnote, it may begin oozing fairly rapidly and you may need to remove it before it is hot throughout.

Dress the lettuces and hazelnuts very skimpily in the vinaigrette and arrange the leaves on plates, leaving the nuts behind for the moment. Garnish with the warm cherries and nest a half of the warm cheese next to each salad. (If you are using Banon, you can remove the chestnut leaves first.) Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top of the salads. Offer toasted peasant-style bread.

Copper River Salmon and Morells

Copper River Salmon is the best. It is extremely moist and tender. It is only available in the market for a very limited time. We buy ours at McCall’s Meat and Fish, and Nate only sells it for a short period, providing us with only the best.

We found this recipe in for Oven-Steamed Salmon with Chive Oil in Paula Wolfert’s World of Food cookbook. This is actually quite easy to make an is a delicious dish. I highly recommend that you try this. Nothing is complicated, it is just essential flavors at their peak.

When we were recently in San Francisco we ate twice at Cotogna in San Francisco. It is a wonderful restaurant adjacent to Quince and owned by them. It has a slightly more rustic feel with its wood burning oven. We sat at the bar in front of the oven and watched the chefs. One of the dishes that they made was a Baked Ricotta with Fava Beans and Onions. We asked them how to make it, and it was very easy. They make their own ricotta, we skipped that step and bought the cheese at The Cheese Store of Silverlake. We then whipped some Crema Fresca into it to make it creamier. Because morels were in the market we substituted morels for the Favas. We baked it for a few minutes and it turned into a custard like consistency. We then topped the ricotta with the Sauted Morel Mushrooms and Onions. It was delicious and easy.

Oven-Steamed Salmon with Chive Oil

Paula Wolfert’s World of Food

CHIVE OIL

2 1/2 tablespoons snipped chives

Pinch of salt

¼ cup French peanut oil or high-quality salad oil

1/2 small, firm, unblemished cauliflower, broken into 12 flowerets

1/2 pound turnip greens, collards, or mustard greens, washed and stemmed

1 1/4 pound, center-cut fresh salmon fillet, cut crosswise into four l-inch-thick portions, about 5 ounces each, preferably Atlantic or King salmon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 teaspoon snipped chives

1.             Make the chive oil by combining the chives, salt, and the oil in a blender jar and whirling until the mixture is smooth. Pour it into a clean jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate. It keeps up to two weeks. Return the oil to room temperature belore using.

2.             Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and cook it until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove it from the water, using a slotted spoon, and transfer it to a side dish. Add the greens to the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes; drain and refresh under cold water. Cook the greens, covered, in a small saucepan with ¼ cup of lightly salted boiling water until they are almost tender, about 10 minutes (less for young leaves). Add the greens to the cauliflower, cover with plastic film, and set aside. (Up to this point the recipe can be prepared in advance.)

3.             Position one rack in the lower third of the oven and a second rack in the upper third. Preheat the oven to 225° F. Carefully place a skillet of boiling water on the lower oven shelf. Arrange the salmon pieces on a metal baking sheet, and place on the upper rack. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the salmon over and cook 1 minute longer. (Note that the color of the salmon will not turn dull and the texture will be very juicy.) Sprinkle it with salt and pepper to taste.

4.             Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat, add the cauliflower and greens, and saute them, tossing, until hot. Correct the seasoning and arrange the vegetables in clumps on a large serving platter. Add 3 tablespoons of water to the skillet and boil quickly to combine it with the buttery juices. Pour them over the vegetables and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of the chive oil over the juices that fall onto the platter. Place the warm salmon in -the center, over the juices, and sprinkle with a mixture of coarse sea salt and chopped fresh chives.