Salmon and Lentils

We made a variation on a recipe from the Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. Her recipe is called: Salmon Cooked with Flageolets, Bacon, & Red Wine. We substituted Lentils for the Flageolets. The Wild salmon was Salmon from McCall’s Meat and Fish. It was perfectly done and was delicious. This like most of Judy’s recipe is a little complicated but worth it. This is a restaurant level dish. It also photographs beautifully! It tastes as good as it looks!

Salmon Cooked with Flageolets, Bacon, & Red Wine

The Zuni Café Cookbook

Judy Rodgers

An earthy salmon dish, best made with fat, late-summer salmon which will stand up to the challenge of the other long, rich flavors. We use Pacific salmon-Sacramento River Basin Kings or wild Alaskan-for this, or any salmon dish. All commercial salmon labeled "Atlantic" is farmed; I find its flavor disap­pointing to dreadful, and the environmental effects of salmon farming can be dev­astating to surrounding waters and wild fish. Choose fat pieces of fish; thin tail pieces will cook too rapidly. As long as you don't overcook the salmon, or over-reduce the sauce, the result will be satiny and succulent. You can substitute lentils for the flageolets.

Be prepared to adjust the oven temperature or distance from the broiler as necessary when you make this dish.

for 4 servings:

4 pieces salmon fillet, preferably King, about 6 ounces each and 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick

Salt

1-1/3 cups medium-bodied red wine, such as Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, or a light Merlot

3/4 cup Chicken Stock

3 ounces thickly sliced bacon or braised bacon, cut into 1/4-inch strips

About 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced and chilled 1/2 cup finely diced carrots {2 ounces}

1/2 cup finely diced celery (2 ounces]

1/2 cup finely diced yellow onions [2 ounces]

2 cups cooked flageolets , drained, cooking liquid reserved

A few sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Seasoning the salmon

For the best flavor, do this several hours in advance}: Season the salmon evenly with salt. Cover loosely and refrigerate.

Cooking the salmon:

Preheat the broiler. Position the rack about 6 inches from the element.

Place the wine in a small saucepan and reduce to about 1/3 cup. Add the chicken stock and return to a simmer. Turn off the heat.

Place the bacon in a 12- or 14-inch ovenproof skillet and lightly brown it in its own fat over medium heat. Reduce the heat slightly and pour off all but a film of the fat. Add about 2 tablespoons of the butter, the carrots, celery, onions, and 1 sprig of the thyme. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes.

Add the flageolets, about 1 cup of the red wine-stock mixture, the bay leaf, another sprig of thyme, and about 3 tablespoons of the butter. Raise the heat to medium and swirl as the liquid comes to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, add the salmon, and swirl and tilt the pan to baste the top of the fish. Make sure no beans, bacon, or bits of vegetables are perched on top of the fish, where they could burn. The pieces of fish should not be touching one another.

Place the pan under the broiler. Cook for about 6 or 7 minutes; the salmon should be quite rare and the whole surface of the dish should be sizzling and beginning to color. Watch closely; if the fish or beans threaten to char at any point, reduce the oven temperature to 500°

While the fish is cooking, set four plates in the oven to heat for a minute or so, then remove.

Transfer the pan to the stovetop. Using a spatula and tongs, transfer the salmon onto the warm plates, where it should reach medium-rare as you finish the sauce. Protect from drafts.

Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Taste. If the liquid looks or tastes thin, simmer briefly to reduce and allow the starch from the beans to bind the sauce. If it seems winy, add a splash of the reserved bean cooking liquid. If you want more sauce, add the last splash of red wine-stock mixture and some bean liquid. Correct the salt. Reduce the heat and swirl in some or all of the remaining butter, to your taste.

Spoon the saucy beans over the waiting fish.

Goan Shrimp

A goto dinner for us is Goan Shrimp. Goa the Southern Indian State that was owned by the Portugese is known for its hot and spicy fish dishes. This is a great one! We have made it many times. Shumon give it thumbs up, especially if you have hot pickles to go with it. You can find the recipe on our blog of: August 9, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Cheese Soufflé and Caesar Salad

We made a Caesar Salad but substituted Belgium Endive for the Romain Lettuce. It was a bad decision, we should have stuck with the tradional Romain Lettuce, the Belgium Endive was too bitter. Oh well, we tried. The soufflé was made with Parmesan Cheese that Guillermo brought us from Italy. You can get the recipe from our blog of: Feb. 15, 2013. Click the date to get the recipe.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad

We had some leftover  Roasted Cauliflower from Pizzeria Mozza. It made a great salad component. Easy and delicious.

Cherry Salad

Cherries are at their peak. We made a Salad with Cherries and Cheese to go with our leftover Lasagna. A cherry pitter is necessary kitchen utensil.

Slow Cooked Salmon

We found this excellent recipe for Slow Cooked Salmon in The Los Angeles Times. You can find the recipe on our blog of: April 25, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe. It is very simple and the salmon becomes very moist. With the salmon we served Black Rice to which we added sliced steamed Asparagus. It was a perfect match. Dessert was Nancy's Famous Ice Cream and fresh Cherries.

Salad and a Dessert

Smoked Trout Salad

Nancy's Ice Cream and Fresh Cherries

We bought the very first pint of Nancy's Fancy Ice Cream sold at our local Gelson's in Silver Lake. Her ice cream is the best! We topped it with absolutely amazing cherries that we bought from Cookbook in Echo Park. This is the season to get cherries, wow are they good!

Pork Ragu

Beautiful Pork Shoulder

Smoked Trout Salad with Horseradish flavored Yogurt

Margarita Time

Ragu in the Pot

Dressed Ragu on the plate

We decided to make a Pork Ragu. This is a favorite of mine. You cook Pork Shoulder with the bone until the meat falls off the bone. In an unusual twist wide Lasagna Noodles are broken in pieces and cooked. The Ragu is then mixed with the cooked (boiled) broken lasagna and served topped with arugula and parmesan cheese. Warning: Don’t follow the recipe for boiling time on the lasagna box. The timing on most boxes assume that you are going to take the softened noodles and place in a baking pan and bake. This recipe is not baked. You need to test the noodles and remove from the boiling water when appropriately cooked. You can get the recipe for the Pork Ragu on our blog of: Oct. 20, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

Shumon joined us and we started with Smoked Trout Salad served over lettuce. We make a Sauce of Yogurt and Horseradish to go with the trout.

We purchased the pork and the Smoked Trout at McCall’s Meat and Fish.

Shumon Curry

Bobby and Darryl joined us for a Chicken Curry Dinner that Shumon cooked. It was excellent. We had a great night of conversation.

Braised Chicken Potatoes and Olives

We saw this recipe for Braised Chicken With Lemon and Olives in the New York Times. We liked making it and the presentation is beautiful. We love one dish dinners with lots of good leftovers. This is one!

Braised Chicken With Lemon and Olives

New York Times

A good cook needs an assortment of chicken dishes to fall back on. Aside from roasting or frying (and in addition to grilling), braising chicken is a simple technique to master. Chicken thighs make the best braises; use skin-on bone-in thighs for the best flavor. Though it could be done on the stovetop, this dish is oven-braised.

INGREDIENTS

8  chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in, about 3 1/2 pounds

Salt and pepper

½  teaspoon red pepper flakes

6  garlic cloves, minced

½  teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

1  tablespoon roughly chopped rosemary

1  tablespoon olive oil

2  Meyer lemons, cut in wedges

1  cup flavorful olives with pits, a mixture of black and green, about 1 pound

1  cup chicken broth

3  tablespoons chopped parsley

PREPARATION

Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper and place in an earthenware baking dish in one layer, skin side up. Sprinkle with red pepper, garlic, fennel and rosemary and drizzle with olive oil. Rub seasoning into thighs on all sides. Tuck lemon wedges here and there. Let marinate for 15 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Put baking dish in oven, uncovered, and roast until skin browns lightly, about 20 minutes. Scatter olives evenly over chicken and add broth. Cover tightly and bake for 1 hour, until meat is very tender when probed with a skewer.

Remove thighs and lemon wedges and arrange on a platter. Keep warm. Pour pan juices into a saucepan and quickly skim fat from surface. Over high heat, simmer rapidly until reduced by half. Spoon juices over chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Lobster Risotto Cakes

Answering the ago old question: What do you do with left over Lobster Risotto? The answer is you fry it into Crispy Lobster Cakes! Take the leftover Lobster Risotto and fry in butter till crisp! we served it with a salad to go from All'Acqua. OMG! I felt like I had died and gone to heaven!

Zuni Fish

We decided to make a fish recipe from The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. We made Sea Bass with Leeks, Potatoes, & Thyme. It is definitely a one dish meal. We purchased the fish at McCall’s Meat and Fish. This would make a great dish on a cool night.

Sea Bass with Leeks, Potatoes, & Thyme

The Zuni Café Cookbook

Judy Rodgers

Sort of a bass bonne femme, the fish being cooked in a chunky stew of leeks and potatoes that recalls that traditional French soup. We use plump white sea bass fillets, but black bass and turbot are good alternatives. The fillets need to be between 1 and 1-1/2 inches thick in order to cook properly, which means avoiding tail pieces.

The first time you make this dish, plan to watch it closely while it is in the very hot oven (all of about 10 minutes]. My pan placement instructions and cooking times are necessarily only guidelines - you may need to adjust one or both to the characteristics of your oven, pan, or fish.

for 4 servings:

4 pieces sea bass fillet, about 6 ounces each and 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick

Salt

About 3/4 pound peeled yellow-fleshed potatoes, preferably yellow Finnish, Bintje, or German Butterballs, cut into irregular bite-sized chunks

1-1/2 cups diced or thinly sliced leeks (including a little bit of the green part)

A few sprigs of fresh thyme

About 1-1/4 cups Chicken Stock

A splash or so of dry white vermouth 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced and chilled

A trickle of Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar, if needed

Seasoning the fish (For the best flavor, do this a few hours in advance}: Season the fish lightly and evenly with salt. Cover loosely and refrigerate.

Cooking the fish:

Preheat the broiler. Position the rack so it is about 6 inches from the element.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan, add cold water to cover, and set over medium heat. Season liberally with salt (we use a scant 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt per quart}, stir, and taste. The water should taste as seasoned as you would like the potatoes to be. Cook the potatoes at a gentle simmer until quite tender and soft on the edges, about 5 minutes. (Some of the soft potatoes will later diffuse in the sauce, giving the dish its homey character.)

Drain the potatoes well and place them, still steaming, in a 12- or 14-inch ovenproof skillet. Add the leeks, thyme, about 1 cup of the chicken stock, and a splash of vermouth. Set over medium heat and swirl as the broth comes to a simmer. Add about 4 tablespoons of the butter, and swirl until it melts. Taste for salt. Reduce the heat to low and add the fish. Swirl and tilt the pan to baste the surface of the fish with the buttery broth. The liquid level should rise as the bass releases moisture into the broth. If it doesn't, add a little more chicken stock.

Make sure no bits of leek are stuck to the sides of the pan, or marooned on top of the fish, and place the pan under the broiler. Cook until the surface of the fish and potatoes is lightly gratineed, about 5 or 6 minutes. The liquid should be bubbling vigorously. Reduce the oven temperature to 500. Cook until the fish is medium-rare, another 1 to 5 minutes.

While the fish is cooking, set a small, shallow platter and four plates to warm in the oven for a minute or so, then remove.

Transfer the fish pan to the stovetop. Using a spatula and tongs, lift the fish, tilt to drain slightly, then place on the warm platter, protected from drafts (don't stack the pieces of fish). The fish will finish cooking as it rests.

Swirl the pan gently over medium heat to encourage the potatoes to thicken the sauce as it simmers. Taste. Add the remaining butter and adjust the salt. Tilt the platter of fish over the pan and carefully drain any liquid into the simmering sauce. Continue simmering to reduce the sauce as needed, until it has a little body, then taste again. If it seems flat, add a splash of vermouth or a few drops of vinegar. (Don't reach for lemon; its perfume can easily dominate all others and, it is out of character for this dish.) Transfer the fish to the warmed plates and spoon the sauce and potatoes over all.

Note: At Zuni, this dish and the two fish dishes that follow brown and reduce beautifully in our brick oven; the burner-then-hot-broiler technique mimics those blistering conditions.

Lobster Risotto

 Beautiful Lobster Tails

Tails Removed from Shell

Butter Poaching the Lobster Tails

Lobster Risotto Cakes

This is about as good as it gets. Lobster Risotto! We purchased the Tails and then I needed to remove the the tails from their shell. I thought it would be difficult but it wasn’t. We then followed the recipe for Butter Poaching Lobster Tails. This takes the lobster meat and makes it incredibly rich.

We then followed the New York Times recipe for Lobster Risotto.

What can I say except it was fabulously decadent?

Butter-poached Lobster Tails Recipe to Die For

I have always loved lobster but rarely make it because I get the creeps by sticking a live lobster into a pot of boiling water. It feels wrong and you really only end up eating the tail and claws (I know, I know you can eat some other parts, too, but I’ll pass on those). When I saw a deal on uncooked lobster tails though, I thought that was more up my alley and why not treat myself once in a while.

I’ve had butter-poached lobster at restaurants before, and loved it, yet have never made it myself. I took the opportunity to grab the deal on uncooked lobster tails and try a new recipe all in one. You can also add a side of cauliflower mashed potatoes to this dish for an excellent pairing. If you’re a lobster lover, this is an easy way to cook lobster and it’s hard to overcook the meat. Oh yeah, and it’s supremely deliciously buttery and tender and you’ll hear little angels singing in your ears.

Total Time:30 minutes

Number of Tails: 2, or however many you would like to cook, but this recipe is for 2

Ingredients:

•  2 uncooked lobster tails

•  1 TB (Tablespoon) water

•   ½ cup (1 stick) butter cut into 1 TB pieces

Cook it:

•     Take kitchen scissors and cut the shell of the lobster from the top of the back to the start of the tail then flip it over and do the same thing on the other side

•      Remove the meat from the shell

•      In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a simmer over medium-low heat

•      Whisk in 1 piece (or 1 TB) butter

•      When that piece has melted, add another piece. Continue adding pieces of butter and whisking in this same manner until you have added all the butter (do NOT let the butter come to a boil or it will separate and you won’t have butter poached lobster tails)

•      Add the shelled, uncooked lobster tails to the butter and cook for 5-10 minutes turning them every so often (Continue to make sure the mixture does not boil, if this means you need to reduce the heat, that’s ok)

•      Make sure the lobster is fully cooked (i.e. not translucent anymore and is white and pink) then remove it from the butter

Top the butter poached lobster with the basil garnish and serve to your guests whose mouths are watering from the tantalizing smell

Lobster Risotto

New York TImes

About 6 cups lobster stock

¼ cup butter

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

Salt

2 cups arborio, carnaroli or other short-grained white rice

Meat from 1 cooked lobster, chopped

2 tablespoons minced chives

½ cup grated Parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper.

1.   In a medium pot, heat the stock and keep warm.

2.   In a large, wide saucepan, melt the butter in the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add a large pinch of salt, then add the rice and stir constantly for about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of broth and simmer, stirring until the broth is almost absorbed. Add more broth, a cup at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next. Stir often. Cook until the rice is tender and the mixture is creamy, 20 to 25 minutes.

3.   Stir in the lobster meat until heated through, then add the chives and ¼ cup of the Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with remaining Parmesan.