Swordfish Teriyaki

Pat and Doshi gave me a cookbook for my birthday: The Japanese Grill. This was the first two dishes we cooked from it, they were very good, we look forward to making more recipes from the book. The Foil Baked Onions are super simple and would go well with other foods besides Japanese. Think steak! The Swordfish Teriyaki was excellent. We purchased the wonderful fish at McCall's Meat and Fish.

Foil Baked Onions with Soy Sauce

The Japanese Grill

Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat

The beauty of grilling onions this way is that they almost magically transform from sharp to irresistibly car­amelized and sweet. The soy sauce enhances the natural flavor of the onions to make them even more delicious.

Serves 4

2 medium Spanish onions (about 2 pounds), halved across the center

¼ cup soy sauce

Cut four 12-inch-long pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil and fold each in half. Liberally brush each onion half with soy sauce, and place on foil, cut side down. Fold over the foil to wrap the onions completely.

Preheat a grill to medium. Place the foil-wrapped onions directly on the grate. Grill for about 35 minutes, turning the onions after about 10 minutes, and again after about 20 min­utes. Test the onions for doneness by pressing the sides with tongs. If the onions give easily, they're ready. Unwrap the onions and serve.

Swordfish Teriyaki

The Japanese Grill

Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat

Serves 4

We use this original style of teriyaki sauce to give grilled fish an intense savory flavor and aroma plus a glossy lacquered sheen. In Japan this dish is typi­cally prepared with yellowtail, but here we use swordfish, which is just as good and easier to find. You can also substitute any dense, meaty fish like shark, mahi mahi, or salmon. Finally, if you want to experiment with other flavors, try spiking the teriyaki with a bit of dried or chopped fresh dill, rosemary, thyme, or tarragon.

¼        cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce

2        tablespoons sake

¼        cup mirin

1        tablespoon sugar

4        swordfish steaks 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), skinned, about 2 pounds

Sansho, for accent

Add the ¼ Cups of sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar to a saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute, remove from the heat, and let the marinade come to room temperature.

Brush the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce on all sides of the swordfish steaks. Reserve ¼ cup of the marinade and set aside. Pour the remaining marinade into a baking dish or rimmed sheet pan. Lay the swordfish steaks in the marinade and gently turn them 4 times to generously coat all over. Let the swordfish marinate for 15 minutes.

Preheat a grill to medium-hot. Brush the cooking grate clean and oil it well. Grill the swordfish for about 6 minutes for medium-rare: Start by grilling the fish for about 2 minutes on each side. Flip the swordfish and brush on the reserved mari­nade. Grill the swordfish for about 2 more minutes, flipping every 30 seconds and brushing on more marinade after each turn. The swordfish will turn a rich honey color as it grills, but be very careful not to burn; if it starts to blacken, pull the fish off the grill. Accent with sansho and serve immediately.

Goan Shrimp Curry

I always love our recipe for Goan Shrimp Curry. I am not exactly sure why, but I felt this was the best version we have ever done. I think it was the Peppers. The dish was a little spicer than usual. It was SOOO good. We have made this many times and it is a real keeper. If you haven't made this we highly recommend it. You can find the recipe on our blog of: August 9, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe. 

We started with a Tomato Salad with Burrata Cheese. We had a small piece of my leftover Birthday Cake for dessert. The weather in Los Angeles has been very warm at night and we have been eating most of our dinners outside overlooking the twinkling lights of LA.

Best Steak Ever!

We purchased two thick Dry-Aged 40 days Rib-Eye Steaks from McCall’s Meat and Fish. They were beautiful! We planned to have them and then maybe have some leftovers. Tom and Scott stopped by and joined us for dinner. It turned out the 2 steaks served four of us and then I had plenty of meat leftover for steak sandwiches (and to give to the cats). The meat was so rich you didn’t have to eat a lot (but we did). We like the meat on the rare side, I grilled them on one side for 8 minutes then flipped and did 6 minutes on the other side. I didn’t even need to use a thermometer to know they were done.

We started with a Tomato Salad with Burrata Cheese that our friend Guillermo had brought  from Italy especially for us. It was much richer than the Burrata we buy locally.  I purchased the Tomatoes at the farmers market (where I also bought the Corn). Basil is in season so I bought several bunches and made fresh Pesto from a New York Times recipe.

Cathy made the best crispy potatoes - the recipe is called Oven-Roasted Potatoes Patate al Forno from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Fantastic! They were like French Fries without the oil. You can get the recipe from our blog of: April 10, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

Scott brought a very light and rich Cake from a Japanese bakery.

Basic Pesto

New York Times

Pesto is a mouthful of bright summer — basil made more so. You can buy it in a jar or in the refrigerator section of your grocery story, but there is nothing better than making it yourself. Fresh basil can be found in abundance at farmers’ markets in the summer. Just clean, take the stems off and throw the leaves in a food processor with nuts and garlic. Dribble in the oil and you’ve got a versatile sauce for pasta, chicken or fish.

Ingredients

2       cups fresh basil leaves (no stems)

2       tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts

2       large cloves garlic

½      cup extra-virgin olive oil

½      cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Combine basil leaves, pine nuts or walnuts and garlic in a food processor and process until very finely minced.

2. With the machine running slowly dribble in the oil and process until the mixture is smooth.

3. Add the cheese and process very briefly, just long enough to combine. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Chicken and Fig

Figs are in season! This is a fabulous recipe for Chicken and Figs. It is another one of those recipes that we make repeatedly. It is always good. It gives great leftovers. If you haven't made it you should give it a try. I know you will like it!. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 27, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe. 

We started with an Endive Salad with Pine Nuts and Shaved Parmesan Cheese. It was a wonderful outdoor summer meal!

Convention Night

We never watch TV while we eat. However, being ardent Democrats we watched from our living room steps the speakers. Every rule needs an exception. This was ours. 

Scarpetta’s Pasta

We made the Scarpetta’s Pasta we liked so much. We also made Endive Salad with Creamy Pine Nut Dressing and Shaved Parmesan. These are two favorites that make for a wonderful dinner.

You can get the recipe for Scarpetta’s Pasta from our blog of: August 24, 2015. Click the date to get the recipe. The recipe for the Endive Salad With Creamy Pine Nut Dressing And Shaved Parmesan is below. They are both great!

Endive Salad With Creamy Pine Nut Dressing And Shaved Parmesan

The Scarpetta Cookbook

Scott Conant

For The Dressing

¼       cup pine nuts, toasted

¼       cup fresh lemon juice

3       tablespoons honey, such as wildf lower

Kosher salt

Pinch of crushed red pepper

½       cup extra-virgin olive oil

For Serving

16       endive leaves, cut in half lengthwise

12       radicchio leaves, quartered

16       arugula leaves, preferably wild arugula, torn in half

28       strips shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

¼       cup pine nuts, toasted

For the Dressing: In a blender, puree the pine nuts, lemon juice, honey, m teaspoons salt, and the crushed red pepper. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil a little at a time; the dressing should be a thick, mayonnaise-like consistency, transfer the dressing to a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons water. Taste and season with additional salt if necessary. (The dressing can be kept in a covered container for 2 days in a refrigerator).

To Serve: In a large bowl, gently toss the endive, radicchio, and arugula with ¼ cup of the dressing and half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Divide among the serving plates and top with the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano and the Pine Nuts. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and serve.

Zucchini Pasta

Zucchini Pasta is one of our favorites! It is from a recipe by Mark Bittman from the New York Times. We make it every summer when Zucks are at there best. You WILL see this again, because we are patiently waiting for our FAVORITE Zucchini's to arrive at the Hollywood Farmer's Market. They are an heirloom zucchini and are only sold there for a very short period. Every week we ask are they there yet? They tell us to cool our jets. The zucchini is sliced very thin and sautéed until dark and crisp. They cook down to very little, so start with a lot of zucks. You can find the recipe for this simple and delicious pasta in our blog of: June 19, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken

We made Miso Chicken. We did not like it as much as the Buttermilk Chicken. Make that one! You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 24, 2016. Click the date to get the recipe.

We started with a Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Basil and Red-Onion. The refreshing taste of summer is here!

Pork Ragu Pasta

We had lots of leftover Pork Butt. Cathy had the great idea to make a pasta sauce with it. She used a recipe from one of our favorite restaurants Campanile (now closed) for Duck Ragu but substituted the Pork Butt for the duck. It was fantastic. We also used a new a different pasta. Is is called:  Casareccia. I really like it. It has a chewy texture,e being thicker than normal pasta, and has a slit down the side allowing for more sauce to penetrate the pasta. It can be bought on Amazon (as most everything can be). You can find the recipe for this on our blog of: May 30, 2016. Click the date to get the recipe.

July 4th

What a beautiful butt!

We had the usual cast of characters over to watch the fireworks and eat bar-b-que on our deck. We did do a few things differently however. We always get the ribs, brisket and pork from our favorite place in Compton: Bludso’s. However this time we decided to try their other restaurant on LaBrea. It was a wise choice: closer and NO lines. We also did not get the pulled pork. We decided to make our own Pork Butt with Ssam Sauce using the great recipe from Momofuku in New York City. It is a winner!

We purchased a 12 pound Pork Butt Sauce from McCall’sMeat and Fish. You can get the recipe on our blog of: May 27, 2016. It is delicious!

We had all the side dishes that you could think of, and lots of great desserts. The weather was very warm and the sky was clear, so we saw lots of fireworks.