Garlic Soup & Moroccan Fish

Doshi drove up and joined Pat for dinner. The door project is coming along and looks fabulous due to the fact that Pat is such a perfectionist. He also appears to have every tool ever invented by man.

We started with Garlic Soup - Brisighella Zuppa di Aglio from a recipe in the great cookbook: The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. This is a house favorite. It is easy and it isn’t as garlicky as you might think. It is very good. The recipe can be found on our blog of: March 18, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

We then had Baked Fish Fez Style, from a recipe in the New York Times. When we were in Morocco, we loved the cooking with all the spices and olives. Moroccan food is wonderful, and we often make it. This is an interesting recipe because the fish is baked over potatoes. I like anything with olives (especially Martinis!). Of course we got the fish at McCall's Meat and Fish.

For dessert we had Cherry Tarts from Valerie Confections. They have fantastic chocolate as well as baked goods. It was wonderful being able to share a dinner with Pat and Doshi who made our new doors possible!

May 8, 2012

Baked Fish, Fez Style

New York Times

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

At lunchtime by the pool at La Mamounia, the lavish hotel in Marrakesh, the buffet is global. The grilled lobsters were tempting to be sure, but a highlight was fish boldly baked Moroccan-style, with spices, herbs, tomatoes and olives. I left Morocco a few weeks ago with the recipe in my notebook and thought of it for our Greek reds. Though the wines could accept a broad range of dishes, one might detect a Greek accent in the fish dish, with its garlic, lemon, parsley, peppers, tomatoes, olives and olive oil. It’s an easy all-in-one recipe that can be served at room temperature. Double or triple it and you have the anchor for a summer party menu, even on a buffet that is less copious than the one in Marrakesh. Cool some Greek reds to pour alongside.

Baked Fish, Fez Style

Adapted from La Mamounia, Marrakesh

Time: 1 hour

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 tablespoon minced cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika, preferably hot

1 pinch saffron threads, crushed

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 1/2 pounds fish fillets (4 fillets): fluke, black sea bass, hake

1 pound large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, in 1/2-inch-thick slices

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and black pepper

1 red bell pepper, cored and slivered

1 pint (1 pound) cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives.

1. Combine garlic, parsley, cilantro, cumin, paprika and saffron in a dish big enough for the fish. Mix vinegar, lemon juice and tomato paste in a small bowl. Add to dish and mix. Place fillets in the dish, turning to coat them, cover and set aside to marinate 2 hours at room temperature, 3 if refrigerated.

2. Place potatoes in a saucepan, add water to cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Drain.

3. Brush a baking dish that can go to the table and will hold the fish in a single layer with a little of the oil. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread potatoes in dish, season with salt and pepper, and place fish fillets on top. Scatter peppers and tomatoes over fish. Add a little more salt and pepper. Spoon any excess marinade over fish, strew with olives, drizzle with remaining oil and bake about 30 minutes, until fish is just cooked through.

Yield: 4 servings.

Soft Shell Crab and Black Cod

Robert joined us for a joint dinner. Shu also joined us. Robert and Darryly brought Softshell Crab and cooked it at our house. God, I LOVE softshells! Robert cooked it and it was excellent. He also brought a garlicly side and made a sauce for the crab! Great appetizer.

We made Black Cod with Miso and Japanese Rice. We first had this dish at Matsuhisa Restaurant. It is amazing that we can make it almost as well as Nobu.  The trick is to have great ingredients (what else is new). McCall’s Meat and Fish had a fantastic White Miso which we used. Of course we got the Black Cod from them. We topped the rice with caviar. It was exceptional.

For dessert we had an Almond Cake from Proof Bakery. This was a GREAT dinner!

Black Cod with Miso

Nobu Matsuhisa

3 tablespoons mirin

3 tablespoons sake

1/2 cup white miso paste

1/3 cup sugar

Six 6- to 7-ounce skinless black cod fillets, about 1 1/2 inches thick

Vegetable oil, for grilling

Pickled ginger, for serving

In a small saucepan, bring the mirin and sake to a boil. Whisk in the miso until dissolved. Add the sugar and cook over moderate heat, whisking, just until dissolved. Transfer the marinade to a large baking dish and let cool. Add the fish and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Heat a grill pan and oil it. Scrape the marinade off the fish. Add the fish and cook over high heat until browned, about 2 minutes. Flip the fish onto a heavy rimmed baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, until flaky. Transfer to plates and serve with pickled ginger.

MAKE AHEAD The marinade can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Green Taste of Spring

Our neighbor Tom had returned from his travels and he and Scott dropped in to tell us they had brought us a bottle of wine from Spain. They suggested we go out for dinner.

We decided to cook a dinner for them instead. We have suspended our Hindi lessons for a while we are having construction done at our house. It is just too chaotic with the constant flow of workers. Our Hindi lessons were on Wednesday morning, the same time as the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market.

On Tuesday night, I woke up in the middle of the night and said to a sleepy Cathy “Hey we are free on Wed. morning, we can go to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market”. I promptly fell back asleep. Cathy didn’t fall back to sleep immediately. When she did, she had a bad dream where she wanted to make a Spring Green Vegetable Risotto, with Fava Bean Puree, Peas and Asparagus from the Chez Panisse Vegetable Cookbook, but couldn’t find the recipe. When she awakened in the morning, she found the cookbook, found the recipe and was ready to head to Santa Monica.

We bought all of the ingredients for the risotto.  David the Mushroom Man, had the very first Morel Mushrooms of the season. We bought Purple Asparagus and served the Morels over the Asparagus. With the addition of Brown Butter it was beyond perfect! We served Toasted Brioche Bread to mop up the sauce.

When we got home from visiting the market we had a peel-a-thon, peeling the fava’s (twice) and then peeling the pees. The freshness of the final risotto made it all the work worthwhile.

So out of my waking up in the middle of the night, we switched from going out to cooking a fabulous risotto.

We started with drinks on the patio, it was a warm windless night. We have been drinking a lot of Floc de Gascogne, a wonderful aperitif. It is perfect on a warm night.

For dessert we had a Lemon Cake from Proof.

It was a very special dinner. One could be a vegetarian with food like this! 

Green Risotto with Fava Bean Puree, Peas, and Asparagus

Chez Panisse Vegetables

Alice Waters

½ pound young fava beans

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

¾ pound fresh green peas

4 spears asparagus

1 medium onion

7 to 8 cups chicken stock

4-1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cup Arborio Rice

1/3 cup dry white wine

¼ cup grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese plus extra for garnish

Shell the fava beans and discard the pods. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the favas, and simmer for 1 minute. Drain them and cool them im­mediately in cold water. Pierce the outer skin of the beans with your thumbnail and pop out each bean with the thumb and forefinger of your other hand. Put the beans in a pot with a little olive oil, a little salt, and water to just about cover, and cook slowly, until they are soft enough to puree but haven't lost their color, about 15 to 20 minutes. If necessary, add water as they are cooking to keep them from sticking. Drain them and pass them through a food mill.

Shell the peas. Cut the asparagus on the diagonal into thin slices. Peel and chop the onion into small dice.

Heat the stock and keep at a low simmer. In another, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of the butter, add the onion, and cook over medium heat until it is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and a pinch of salt and cook over low heat for about 3 minutes, stirring often, until the rice has turned slightly translucent. Turn up the heat and pour in the white wine. When the wine has been absorbed, add just enough hot stock to cover the rice, stir well, and reduce the heat.

Keep the rice at a gentle simmer and keep adding stock, a ladle or two at a time, letting each addition be almost completely absorbed by the rice be for adding the next. After about 10 minutes, the grains of rice will be softened somewhat but will still be hard in the center. Stir in the peas and asparagus. Continue to ladle in more stock, stirring before and after every addition. After 5 minutes, add the rest of the butter, the cheese, and the fava puree. Stir well. Add more stock if needed: the , risotto should have a saucy consistency. Adjust the seasoning. Serve in warm bowls, garnished with more of the Parmesan.

Serves 6 to 8.

My Kind of Leftovers

Bea stopped by to checkout the progress of our patio construction and see our new Mini. We invited her to join us for leftovers. We had been cooking a lot and wanted to have a simple meal.


We had eaten at Mozza Pizzeria and had ordered more Pizza then we could eat, so that we would have Pizza to take home! The Pizza is fantastic made with Chris Bianco's magic tomatoes. They are unbelievably sweet. In addition, we had defrosted a Mushroom Lasagna. It is from the cookbook: Plenty by Ottolenghi. The recipe can be found in our blog of: Aug. 19, 2011. Click the date to get the recipe.

It was a delicious dinner with lots of excellent wine. In addition, like we often do when we have leftovers, we augmented the dinner with some Vegetable Sides from Forage.

For dessert we had some Pecan Cookies from Forage. They are like eating a Pecan Pie. Wonderful!

Smokin' Lamb

Ready to start smoking

Garlic Soup

The Lamb bone is connect to the....

Lamb and Fava Bean Hash

Pat joined us for dinner and we made Leg of Lamb, the Best (Rosemary) from Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton at Home. This is a fun recipe to make. We harvested a whole lot of rosemary from our garden, several cups worth, and completely surrounded the lamb with the rosemary. The lamb is then cooked, covered, in the oven. When it is done the covered dish is taken outdoors and briefly opened. The rosemary is now like dry kindling surrounding the lamb. You light the rosemary and let it all flame up, smoke rising everywhere. As soon as all of the rosemary is on fire you return the lid and let the lamb smoke. It is easy, fabulous, fun and impressive to see. The resulting lamb is smoky and succulent. You can get the recipe in our blog of: Dec. 17, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

With the lamb we served a Fava Bean Hash. This is a creation of Canele in Atwater Village. It is a great combination of flavors and is perfect with the lamb. You can get the recipe in our blog of: April 3, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe.

Bludsoe's

Beef and Pork Ribs

Brisket and Pork Shoulder

Corn Bread

Doshi's Cole Slaw

Two Pat

My that is a lot of food!

Cheese Cake

Bludso’s brings tears to the eyes of Bar-B-Que fans everywhere in Los Angeles. This is THE place! We love their smoky, high-cholesterol, fantastic food. Doshi was having dinner with us and she is from Texas. Bludso’s is a Texas Style Bar-B-Que and she had never had it, although she had heard of it. We decided to put it to the test. She could only make it to our house on Monday and Bludso’s is closed on Monday. No problem. They packaged the food for next day re-heating!

We had all of the usual suspects: Pork Ribs, Beef Ribs (only available on Weekends), Pork Shoulder, Beef Brisket, Greens, Corn Bread. Doshi made Cole Slaw. I of course, ordered way more than we needed so that there would be leftovers for days! Pat made great Black Beans. They were perfect with the dinner.

In addition to Pat and Doshi, their close friends, Patrick and Susan joined us for ribs. Even the dog Riley, wagged his tail in appreciation of the great bones from Bludso’s.

We finished with a Cheese Cake from Proof Bakery. This is NOT a dinner that would be thought of as “Heart Healthy”. It was fantastic.

We probably won’t have Bludso’s again to July 4^th. Something to look forward to!

Asparagus Pasta

Spring is heralded by fresh Asparagus. The best in our area is from the Sacramento Delta Region. The very best is from Zuckerman Farms. Asparagus Pasta is easy, delicious and reheats. I really recommend that you try this. I am always reminded when I eat this dish, of my father, who thought pasta should only be made with meatballs and a tomato sauce. How glad I am that I have broader tastes. You can find the recipe in our blog of: April 17, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe.

Chicken

One of our favorite Roast Chicken Recipes is: Roast Chicken with Preserved Lemons adapted from Laurent Tourondel. We have made this dish many times and love it. We roast the chicken surrounded by potatoes and onions. The recipe can be found in our blog of: Dec. 12, 2005. Click the date to get the recipe.

Garlic and Pork

Grilled Fava Beans

Garlic Soup

Grilled Pork Loin

Pork Loin, Polenta with Chantrelles

Doshi Bread

Fava beans are plentiful at the Farmer’s Market. Last year we had some fava’s done in completely different fashion from any method we had previously had them. The Fava Beans were Grilled, tossed with Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper and thrown on the grill Cook till they just start to get charred. They can be eaten whole, no 1^st peeling, no 2^nd peeling just pop in your mouth and chew! A great nosh with some white wine!

We smoked one of our favorite dishes, Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast from License to Grill by Chris Schlesinger. It is cooked in the Egg, low and slow. The recipe can be found in our blog of: July 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe. It is delicious and makes great leftovers. With the Pork we served Polenta. Serious cooking note, the absolute best Polenta anywhere is: Anson Mills Rustic Polenta Integrale. This is the one you NEED to buy. It is available on the Internet and you freeze it until you need it. We topped the Polenta with Sautéed Chanterelle Mushrooms.

Doshi brought a home made Bread that we ate with the dinner.

We started with Fresh Garlic Soup (Brisighella Zuppa di Aglio Fresco) from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. It is delicious, and light, and not hard to make. If the soup isn’t smooth when cooked be sure to strain it. The recipe can be found in our blog of: March 18, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Lentils and Sausage

Pat joined us for dinner again. It was warm enough that we could eat outside on our deck. We started with lots of wine and homemade Guacamole. Hot summer night, stars in the heaven and Guacamole; perfect! We had lots of the left over lentils (which Pat loved!). We bought Pork Fennel ad Garlic Sausages from McCall's Meat and Fish and smoked them on the Grill. It was a great repurposing of the Lentils!

Salmon, Potato Gratin and Cauliflower

More left over Smoked Salmon, more dinners. We had a lot of leftover delicious smoked salmon. We made a potato gratin to serve with the salmon. The recipe is named: Gratin Dauphinois Madame Cartet (Madame Cartet's Potato Gratin) from Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells. This is a classic Potato Gratin recipe. It was a snap to make, with our Magimix, that slices the potatoes perfectly. It is excellent.

We also made a very unusual recipe for Saffron Cauliflower that Robert and Darryl recommend from the cookbook, Plenty by Yoam Ottolenghi. We are really glad they recommended it to us.

Gratin Dauphinois Madame Cartet

Madame Cartet's Potato Gratin

Bistro Cooking

Patricia Wells

There are some recipes one can never have too many of in one's repertoire. And potato gratin is one of them. This is one of the easiest potato gratins I know, cooking in just under one hour, a simple but full-flavored blend of potatoes, fresh cream, garlic, and freshly grated Gruyere cheese. Twice each day, Therese Nouaille, of Paris's tiny neighborhood bistro Cartet, prepares this gratin for her steady customers: Make it yourself and you'll understand why they keep coming back!

1     garlic clove

2     pounds (1 kg) baking potatoes, such as russets, peeled and very thinly sliced

1     cup (about 3 ounces; 80 g) freshly grated French or Swiss Gruyere cheese

1     cup (25 cl) crime fraiche (see Index) or heavy cream Salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Thoroughly rub a shallow, 6-cup porcelain gratin dish with the garlic. Layer half of the potatoes in the dish. Sprinkle with half of the cheese and then half of the creme fraiche. Sprinkle with salt. Add another layer, using the rest of the ingredients. Bake, uncovered, until the gratin is crisp and golden on top, from 50 to 60 minutes. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

In 1793 potatoes were considered so indispensable that a decree of the French Republic ordered a census to be taken of luxury gardens, so that they
could be devoted to the cultivation of this vegetable. As a result, the principal avenue in the Jardin des Tuileries and the flower beds were turned over to potato cultivation. This is why potatoes were for a long time given the additional name of 'royal oranges’

Alexandre Dumas

Dumas on Food

Saffron cauliflower

Plenty

Yotam Ottolenghi

In the summer of 2009 I was asked by the makers of the Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 to host a half-hour show on a subject of my choice. Bizarrely, I ended up doing a program about cauliflower, trying to show how this veg is unjustifiably losing its popularity in recent years, particularly to broccoli. I know that there's nothing obviously sexy about cauliflower to warrant star status. In fact, it seems - on the face of it -somehow dull and dreary. But as we were working on the show I realized that this isn't really the case, that cauliflower is actually wonderfully versatile, much more so than broccoli. Both Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi's executive head chef, and I agreed that it is one of those singular vegetables, like potato or eggplant, that can take on big flavors without losing its own unique character.

Here's one example. Serve it as part of a mezze selection or as a side dish with lentils or fish. To upgrade, drizzle with tahini sauce.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1-1/2 tsp saffron

1/3    cup boiling water

1       medium cauliflower, divided into medium florets

1       large red onion, sliced

2/3         cup golden raisins (if they are very dry soak them in water for a few minutes, then drain)

½      cup good-quality green olives, pitted and cut lengthways in half

4       tbsp olive oil

2       bay leaves

salt and black pepper

4       tbsp roughly chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the saffron strands in a small bowl and pour over the boiling water. Leave to infuse for a minute, then pour the saffron and water into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, except the parsley, and mix everything together well with your hands.

Transfer the mix to a medium ovenproof dish, cover with foil and place in the oven. Cook for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender but still a bit firm, not soft. Halfway through the cooking time remove the dish from the oven and stir well, then cover again and return to bake.

Once the cauliflower is cooked, take it out of the oven, remove the foil and allow to cool down slightly before stirring in the parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve warm or at room temperature.

Lentils and Salmon and Cabbage

With lots of left over Salmon we made many more dinners and dishes.  Marybeth was still staying with us and we decided to make lentils Pan-Roasted Sea Trout With Umbrian Lentils And Red Cabbage Sottaceto from the Mozza Cookbook by Nancy Silverton. We simply didn’t make the Sea Trout and used the Salmon we had previously smoked. This dish is a winner! Everyone loved it and Pat went crazy for the Lentils (as we all did).

It really is that good.

We leveraged our leftovers serving Dynamite Crab (again) and the Chocolate Cake for desert. It was a great meal. And the lentils reappeared in other re-incarnations!

Pan-Roasted Sea Trout With Umbrian Lentils And Red Cabbage Sottaceto

The Mozza Cookbook

Nancy Silverton

for the cabbage

1/4  cup extra-virgin olive oil

8     garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

½    head of red cabbage,

cored and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)

1     cup balsamic vinegar

for the fish

4     6-ounce fillets sea trout, skin on

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼    cup extra-virgin olive oil

30   whole fresh Italian parsley leaves

Lentils Castellucciano

2     tablespoons finishing-quality extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1     lemon

I am a red wine drinker, so any fish preparation that can be enjoyed J   with red wine, such as this one, which is served with a rich lentil stew and pickled red cabbage, is a winner for me. Sea trout is a freshwater fish that drifted into the sea, so although it is trout, it looks and tastes like it wants to be salmon with pink flesh and the same moist, oily quality that you get from really good salmon. Sea trout is much more consistent in qual­ity than salmon and also less expensive, so I hope you will enjoy this salmon alternative. Sottaceto means "pickled" in Italian. The cabbage here is slow-cooked in balsamic vinegar, so it's like a pickle, which cuts through the richness of the lentils and the fattiness of the fish. The recipes for the cabbage and lentils both make more than you will need for four servings offish. You can double the number offish fillets you prepare, or serve the remaining cabbage and lentils on the side. Since the cabbage is pickled, it will keep, refrigerated, for at least a week.

SERVES 4

To make the cabbage, warm the oil and garlic together in a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Season with salt and saute the garlic, stirring constantly to prevent it from browning, for about 2 minutes, until it begins to soften. Add the cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes, to wilt it slightly. Reduce the heat to low, add the vinegar, and simmer the cabbage 35 to 45 minutes, until the vinegar is reduced by about two-thirds and is thick and jammy. You don't need to stir the cabbage while it cooks, just let it slowly simmer and it will melt down into the vinegar. You can prepare the cabbage to this point up to three days in advance. Transfer it to an airtight container and refriger­ate; bring to room temperature before serving.

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Season both sfdes of the trout with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat until the oil is almost smoking and slides easily in the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Place the fish fillets in the pan skin side down and cook for i to 2 minutes, so the skin begins to brown and crisp. Place the pan in the oven and cook for about 4 minutes, until the skin is golden brown. (To check for doneness, look at the skin around the outer edges of the fish; you want it to be a rich, crunchy, french-fry brown around the sides.) Remove the pan from the oven and slide a spatula under each fillet to turn it, taking care not to tear the skin or burn yourself, as the pan will be searing hot. Return the pan to the oven and cook the fish for another minute. Remove the pan from the oven and let the fish rest in the pan for 2 minutes.

While the fish is cooking, combine 1/2 cup of the cabbage with the parsley in a small bowl and toss gently. Warm the lentils in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add enough water so they are the consis­tency of a thick porridge but not so thin that they will spread over the surface of the plate. Remove the lentils from the heat and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the finishing-quality olive oil, stirring constantly for about a minute, until the lentils are creamy and emulsified.

Ladle 14 cup of the lentils into the center of each of four plates. Lay the trout on top of the lentils, squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over each fish fillet and top with the cabbage and parsley, dividing it evenly. Drizzle each serving of fish with the finishing olive oil, and serve with the remaining cabbage on the side.