Lobster Salad, Baked Ricotta, Pasta with Peas

We had some left over lobster (always a good thing) and made a Lobster Salad as a first course. We then made Peas with Baked Ricotta and Bread Crumbs from Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison. We thought it was heavy and probably won’t make it again.

For the main course we made Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots, this is a wonderful pasta we make every spring when English Peas are fresh in the market. The recipe is from Sunday Supper at Lucques by Suzanne Goin. You can get the recipe from our blog of: April 28, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Peas with Baked Ricotta and Bread Crumbs

Vegetable Literacy

Deborah Madison

A light supper for 2

Faced with a cup of just-shucked peas, my mind runs in a million directions. Should I simmer them with soft butter lettuce leaves, pair them with pasta, or flatter their delicacy with new sage leaves and their blossoms, fresh mint, or lemon (or even all three)? Basil is lovely with peas, too. I could add them to that meager handful of fava beans that are waiting for company, or use them to make a frothy green soup. After scanning the possibilities, I end up cooking them with minced shallot, sage, and lemon, then spooning them over baked ricotta with crispy bread crumbs. This is one of my favorite dishes.

Olive oil

1       cup high-quality ricotta cheese, such as hand-dipped full-fat ricotta

2 to 3         tablespoons fresh bread crumbs

4         teaspoons butter

2       large shallots or 1/4; small onion, finely diced (about 1/3 cup)

5       small sage leaves, minced (about 1-1/2 teaspoons)

1-1/2 pounds pod peas, shucked (about 1 cup)

Crated zest of 1 lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Chunk of Parmesan cheese, for grating

Heat the oven to 375°F Lightly oil a small baking dish; a round Spanish earthenware dish about 6 inches across is perfect for this amount.

If your ricotta is wet and milky, drain it first by putting it in a colander and pressing out the excess liquid. Pack the ricotta into the dish, drizzle a little olive oil over the surface, and bake 20 minutes or until the cheese has begun to set and brown on top. Cover the surface with the bread crumbs and continue to bake until the bread crumbs are browned and crisp, another 10 minutes. (The amount of time it takes for ricotta cheese to bake until set can vary tremendously, so it may well take longer than the times given here, especially if it wasn't drained.)

When the cheese is finished baking, heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. When the butter foams, add the shallots and sage and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the peas, 1/2 cup water, and the lemon zest. Simmer until the peas are bright green and tender; the time will vary, but it should be 3 to 5 minutes. Whatever you do, don't let them turn gray. Season with salt and a little freshly ground pepper, not too much.

Divide the ricotta between 2 plates. Spoon the peas over the cheese. Grate some Parmesan over all and enjoy while warm.

With Pasta: Cook 1 cup or so pasta shells in boiling, salted water. Drain and toss them with the peas, cooked as above, and then with the ricotta. The peas nestle in the pasta, like little green pearls.

Rotisserie Chicken

Chicken with Potatoes Roasting

Ravioli Soup

We decided to have our first Rotisserie Chicken of the season. We invited Tim over. It was a fun evening of very interesting conversation.

We started with an absolutely delicious soup we had never made before: Spring vegetables in Parmesan broth with goat cheese ravioli. This recipe was from the LA Times. We used Frozen Ravioli from Heirloom LA. This soup is FABULOUS! You should try it for sure!

Cathy stuffed the two chickens using the recipe for Roast Chicken for Two and from The Balthhazar Cookbook by Keith McNally, Riad Nasr & Lee Hansen. This is a great recipe that keeps the chicken very moist. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 23, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Recipe: Spring vegetables in Parmesan broth with goat cheese ravioli

LA Times

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 to 2 ounces rinds from Parmigiano-Reggiano

Herb trimmings

Salt

2 dozen asparagus tips

1/2 pound sugar snap peas

Goat cheese ravioli or fresh pasta squares

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1 ounce freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. In a soup pot, simmer the chicken broth, water, garlic, Parmesan rinds and herb trimmings until aromatic and flavorful, about 90 minutes. Strain and return to the soup pot.

2. In a wide pot, blanch the asparagus tips in plenty of rapidly boiling, generously salted water until just tender, about 3 minutes. Use a wire skimmer or slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice water bath to stop the cooking, then transfer to a bowl and set aside.

3. Cut the sugar snaps in half on a bias, then blanch them in the same way, stopping the cooking with the ice water bath and holding in a separate bowl. (The recipe can be prepared to this point up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.)

4. When ready to serve, warm 6 shallow pasta bowls. Bring the Parmesan broth to a simmer, taste and correct seasoning with salt to taste.

5. Bring a large, wide pot of water to a boil. Cook the goat cheese ravioli or fresh pasta squares until the pasta is tender, 3 or 4 minutes. Divide the ravioli among the serving bowls. Warm the asparagus tips in the same pot of water and divide them among the pasta bowls. Warm the sugar snaps in the same pot of water and divide them among the pasta bowls. Sprinkle each bowl with chives and then ladle over roughly one-third cup of hot Parmesan broth. Sprinkle with a little grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and pass the remainder at the table.

EACH SERVING, WITHOUT RAVIOLI

Calories 41

Protein 2 grams

Carbohydrates 4 grams

Fiber 1 gram

Fat 2 grams

Saturated fat 1 gram

Cholesterol 4 mg

Sugar 2 grams

Sodium 319 mg

Asparagus Carbonara

Scott and Tom were leaving on combined business / pleasure trip. We decided to have them over for one last dinner. We also invited Tim over. One of our favorite local restaurants is Barbrix. They served a pasta with a sunny side up egg on top that became converted the pasta into a Carbonara. We decided to try it.

We started with Pea Puree on Toast Points.

We made our regular Asparagus Pasta and placed an egg on each serving. It worked out and we will do this again!

You can get the recipe from our blog of: March 17, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe.

Rice Cakes with Tuna

We have a local restaurant we like called: Silverlake Ramen. One of the dishes that is serves is: Crispy Rice With Spicy Tuna spicy tuna and avocado, jalapeno over the crispy rice with eel sauce. The key ingredient for me is the fried rice. Think of rice shaped like sushi but then fried so that it is crispy and stays together. We tried to make them once, and it didn’t work out. The key we discovered is once the rice is made to refrigerate it, then dredge in rice flour. You can literally top them with anything.

We used left over Tuna that we had cooked and the sauce that we use for Dynamite Crab. They were delicious.I went to a Japanese market and purchased some seaweed salad to eat with the fried Sushi. We can’t wait to make them again. It turned out that the fried rice cakes aren’t greasy and keep in a covered container (not in the frig) for several days. I reheated them briefly in the oven and they were excellent.

I had purchased some Japanese Plastic rice molds but it turns out with this method you don’t need them. It is really quite easy to cut the chilled rice to the desired size.

You can find the recipe on our blog of: September26, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Tuna from Moro

We have been trying to eat less meat and more fish and vegetables. We are lucky to have McCall’s Meat and Fish near us. They have fantastic fish. We made Atun con oloroso (Tuna With Oloroso) from Moro The Cookbook by Clark & Clark. If you are ever in London be sure to eat at their restaurant Moro. It is a wonderful restaurant.

The thick tuna steaks are almost like meat and tuna is one of the few fish that I don’t mind eating as leftovers. This is a good recipe! We served it with rice.

Atun con oloroso

TUNA WITH OLOROSO

Moro The Cookbook

Clark & Clark

This is a version of 'atiin encebollado' (tuna with sweet onions), a recipe given to us by Miguel Valdespino of the famous Valdespino sherry bodega in Jerez. The tuna caught off the Atlantic coast of southern Spain is among the best in the world and huge slabs of it, sometimes whole fish, appear in the local fish markets of Jerez and Cadiz during the season. Look out for deep red/purple shiny, firm flesh and do not compromise with the often grey, dull, flabby cuts that certain supermarkets dare to offer.

Serves 4

4         thick tuna steaks, about 200-225g each

1         garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt

200         ml medium-dry oloroso sherry (see Sherry Suppliers)

3-4         tablespoons olive oil

3         large Spanish onions, thinly sliced

½         small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1         lemon, quartered

sea salt and black pepper

First marinate the tuna. Place the tuna in a dish and rub the garlic all over. Pour over a third of the sherry and leave to sit for an hour in the fridge before cooking.

Meanwhile, place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion and a pinch of salt. When the onions have wilted, turn down the heat and continue to cook for a good 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are golden brown and sweet in smell and taste. Pour off any excess oil, add the remaining sherry, and simmer until the alcohol has evaporated and you have a nutty, rich sauce. Set aside.

When ready to cook the tuna, heat a clean frying pan until very hot. Add a drizzle of oil followed by the seasoned tuna, and fry briefly on both sides, depending on how rare you like it and the thickness of the cut. When almost cooked, add both the marinade and the onion sauce to the pan to warm through. You could use a griddle pan instead and warm the sauce separately. Serve immediately with the parsley sprinkled on top and the lemon.

Asparagus Salad

Cathy found a recipe in the brand new cookbook by Deborah Madison: Vegetable Literacy for: Roasted Asparagus with Chopped Egg, Torn Bread, and Red Wine Vinegar. This was like a harmonic convergence, a brand new cookbook, asparagus being fresh in the market and bread from Bread Lounge being available in Silverlake! This is a fantastic salad. We have made it twice already. A great find.

Roasted Asparagus with Chopped Egg, Torn Bread, and Red Wine Vinegar

Vegetable Literacy

Deborah Madison

For 2

It's not hard to polish off an entire plate of asparagus for dinner. I included this recipe, courtesy of Amelia Saltsman, in What We Eat When We Eat Alone, and it was one of the readers' favorites, whether they were eating alone or sharing.

1 pound asparagus, preferably fat unless you prefer the thin

stalks

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the asparagus

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 piece sourdough or ciabatta

1 teaspoon coarse mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 egg, hard cooked

Heat the oven to 400°R

If the asparagus spears are thick, peel the stalks and cut off the tough stem ends. If thin, snap off the bottom of each stalk where it breaks easily and trim the ends. Toss the spears with 1 teaspoon oil to moisten, season well with salt and pepper, and lay them in a single layer in a shallow baking dish or sheet pan.

Roast the spears, turning them once every 10 minutes, until tender and colored in places, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, crisp the bread in the oven.

To make the vinaigrette, combine the mustard, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, then whisk in the oil. Chop the white and yolk of the egg.

Lay the asparagus on a platter. Cover with the chopped egg. Tear the bread into small, rough pieces and scatter over the egg. Spoon the vinaigrette over all and finish with freshly ground pepper.

Ruta Returns to Pasta

Ruta had recently returned from India and we wanted to have her over to discuss her trip. We started with an Asparagus Salad with Burrata, Hazelnuts and Brown Butter.

For the main course we made our favorite pasta in spring: Fava Bean Pasta. The recipe can be found in our blog of: April 30, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

It was a great evening discussing her trip and reminiscing about India.

Sweet Potato soup Ad Hoc

Did someone say, make me a rich, hearty, thick soup flavored with great vegetable and bacon? This is the perfect soup for Southern California’s gloomy Spring.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup from adhoc at home by Thomas Keller is the answer to your soup dreams. This is a fantastic soup. It will warm your body and soul on any cold day.

Lentil and sweet potato soup

ad hoc at home

Thomas Keller

8 ounces applewood-smoked slab bacon

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 cups thinly sliced carrots

2 cups coarsely chopped leeks

2 cups coarsely chopped onions

3/4 to 1 teaspoon Yellow Curry or Madras curry powder

Kosher salt

1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes

2 Sachets

2 cups (about 8 ounces) Spanish Pardina lentils,    or French de Puy lentils, small stones removed, rinsed

8 cups Chicken Stock

1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

Cilantro leaves

The sweet potatoes make this a rich soup. The curry powder sharpens the flavor, and the cilantro brightens the rich ingredients. The bacon and cilantro used as garnish could be served on the side and added at the table if you prefer.

Cut the bacon into lardons that are 1 inch long and 1/2 inch thick.

Heat the canola oil in an 8- to 10-quart stockpot over medium heat. Add the bacon, reduce the heat to low, and render the fat for 20 to 25 minutes. The bacon should color but not crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and set aside.

Add the carrots, leeks, onions, and curry powder to the pot and stir to coat in the bacon fat. Season with salt, reduce the heat to low, cover with a parchment lid (see opposite), and cook very slowly for 30 to 35 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Remove and discard the parchment lid.

Meanwhile, peel the sweet potatoes. Trim them and cut them into 1/2-inch dice. Put the potatoes, one of the sachets, and 2 teaspoons salt in a large saucepan, add cold water to cover, bring to a simmer, and coo until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and spread on a tray to cool; discard the sachet.

Add the lentils, second sachet, and stock to the vegetables, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the lentils are tender (At this point, the soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

Spread the bacon in a small frying pan and crisp over medium-high heat.

Add the vinegar to taste to the soup, then add the potatoes and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the soup garnished with the bacon and cilantro leaves.

Bon Voyage Dinner

We invited Scott and Tom over for dinner. We started with a favorite of mine, Thai-style turkey soup with tamarind, lemongrass and fragrant herbs that we found in the Los Angeles Times. The soup is delicious. Spicy and multi-layered in flavors. I highly recommend this soup.

The recipe can be found in our blog of: September 25, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

We also decided to make Cod cakes in tomato sauce from the cookbook Jerusalem by Ottolenghi & Tamimi. Basically it is like a crab cake with a tomato sauce. For some reason the cakes didn’t stick together as well as we expected, but it really didn’t make any difference. They were tasty. We served it with couscous to sop up the sauce.

Cod cakes in tomato sauce

Jerusalem

Ottolenghi & Tamimi

SERVES  4

3 slices         white bread, crusts removed (about 2 oz)

1-1/3 lb         cod (sustainably sourced), halibut, hake, or pollock fillet, skinned and pin bones removed

1         medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

4 cloves         garlic, crushed

1 oz         flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 oz         cilantro, finely chopped

1 tbsp         ground cumin

1-1/2 tsp         salt

2         extra-large free-range eggs, beaten

4 tbsp         olive oil

TOMATO SAUCE

2-1/ tbsp         olive oil

1-1/2 tsp         ground cumin

½ tsp         sweet paprika

1 tsp         ground coriander

1         medium onion, chopped

½ cup         dry white wine

one 14-oz can chopped tomatoes

1 red chile, seeded and finely chopped

1 clove         garlic, crushed

2 tsp         superfine sugar

2 tbsp         mint leaves, coarsely chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

With their sweet and slightly sharp sauce, these fish cakes, typical of Syrian Jews, manage to capture much of the spirit of Sephardic food. They are delicate, almost brittle, and thus very comforting and very popular, perfect for a large family gathering where there are many, often fussy diners to please. The cakes are almost better the day after they are cooked; just remember to bring them back to room temperature or warm them up before serving. Serve with bulgur, rice, couscous, or bread, alongside sauteed spinach or Swiss chard.

First, make the tomato sauce. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a very large frying pan for which you have a lid. Add the spices and onion and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onion is completely soft. Add the wine and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chile, garlic, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and some black pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until quite thick. Taste to adjust the seasoning and set aside.

While the sauce is cooking, make the fish cakes. Place the bread in a food processor and blitz to form bread crumbs. Chop the fish very finely and place in a bowl along with the bread and everything else, except the olive oil. Mix together well and then, using your hands, shape the mixture into compact cakes about3/4 inch thick and 3-1/4 inches in diameter. You should have 8 cakes. If they are very soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up. (You can also add some dried bread crumbs to the mix, though do this sparingly; the cakes need to be quite wet.)

Heat half the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, add half of the cakes, and sear for 3 minutes on each side, until well colored. Repeat with the remaining cakes and oil.

Gently place the seared cakes side by side in the tomato sauce; you can squeeze them a bit so they all fit. Add just enough water to cover the cakes partially about a scant 1 cup. Cover the pan with the lid and simmer over very low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the cakes to settle, uncovered, for at least 10 minutes before serving warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with the mint.

Thai Fried Rice Pork

We went to Mozza’s newest restaurant: Chi Spacca. It for a meat eater must be what heaven is like. Huge, delicious steaks, chops, etc. Great sides. We had the Tomahawk Pork Chop. It is gigantic! It is delicious! It is more than 2 people can eat. Boy must the pig be big!

We started with an Steamed Asparagus, Egg, Bread Crumbs and Brown Butter. A perfect spring salad!

We brought the leftovers home and we decided to make a Thai Pork Fried Rice with the leftover pork. We use the recipe for: Fried Rice with Crab from Thai Street Food by David Thompson. We simply substituted the Crab with Pork. It was as good or better than any Fried Rice we get a restaurants. This is a recipe (with Crab or Pork or Shrimp) that you should try.

Fried Rice with Crab

Thai Street Food

David Thompson

SERVES 2

2-3         garlic cloves, peeled

good pinch of salt

3-4         tablespoons vegetable oil - peanut is a good choice

2 eggs - ideally 1 duck and 1 chicken

2         cups cooked rice - freshly cooked and warm but not steaming hot

2-3         tablespoons light soy sauce

pinch of white sugar

pinch of ground white pepper

approximately 100 g (3 oz) cooked crabmeat - more, if feeling generous

3         spring (green) onions, trimmed and finely

chopped coriander leaves, lime wedges and cucumber slices, to serve

chillies in fish sauce (see below), to serve

+ CHILLIES IN FISH SAUCE

¼         cup fish sauce

5-10         bird's eye chillies (scuds), finely sliced

1         garlic clove, finely sliced – optional but desirable good squeeze of lime juice – optional

good pinch of chopped coriander

Combine the fish sauce, chillies and garlic in a bowl and set aside. It keeps for some time - in fact it becomes richer and milder as it settles for a day. Make sure it is covered if you are making it in advance - and if the fish sauce evaporates, add an equivalent amount of water to refresh it. Just before serving, stir through the lime juice and coriander.

FRIED RICE WITH CRAB

This is a classic version of fried rice and one of the best. Fried rice made its debut on the streets of Thailand about 80 years ago. In the Chinese community, where fried rice has been eaten for much longer than this, it is traditionally one of the last dishes to be served at a celebratory banquet - say, for a wedding or to mark Chinese New Year - and so it has to be good to entice diners to take some.

Most authorities advocate allowing the cooked rice to cool completely, but I have found that if the rice is too cold it clumps - and forcing the clumps apart during frying breaks the rice grains. I actually prefer rice that is still slightly warm, ideally freshly cooked then left to cool for an hour or two. If it is too hot, the fried rice will be sticky; too cold, and it will be slightly tough and possibly marred by broken grains.

Some cooks say the best fried rice is made with an equal amount of duck and chicken eggs, and here's where the controversy begins: should the egg go in before the rice or afterwards? Each cook will have their own stance, but I believe the egg should go first. If the egg is added after the rice, I find it can make the fried rice gluey, sticky and heavy - especially if using a duck egg or two.

Blue swimmer crab has the sweetest meat so is the perfect choice for fried rice, but naturally almost any crabmeat will do. If you want the freshest most succulent crabmeat then you must cook and shell the crab yourself - it really does make a difference. Almost any other meat can be used, including fresh pork, chicken, prawns, Chinese barbeque pork or duck; if using raw meat or seafood, add them to the wok along with the garlic to ensure both are ready at the same time.

In Thailand, fried rice always comes with a few slices of cucumber and tomato as well as a few wedges of lime to squeeze over the rice. I like the refreshing crunch of the cucumber, and I think the lime is de rigueur, but I am not so convinced about the tomato.

·      Crush the garlic to a somewhat coarse paste with the salt - either by pounding it using a pestle and mortar or finely chopping it with a knife.

·      Heat a well-seasoned wok over a low-medium heat and add about 2 tablespoons of the oil, then stir in the garlic paste and fry until it has lost its sharp raw aroma, has become nutty, and is just beginning to color. Take care not to burn the garlic, as this would taint the fried rice and ruin it. Crack in the egg and allow them to set slightly before stirring and scrambling, trying to keep them in quite large, soft curds. Be careful not to overcook the egg and so make it dry.

·      Add the rice, turn down the heat to low and mix and toss the rice, frying it gently and ensuring that all the grains are lightly coated with egg and oil. If it seems too dry, dribble a little extra oil down the side of the wok, but don't overdo it - the oil should just coat the rice, not swamp it.

·      Season with the soy sauce, sugar and pepper and continue to fry until the soy sauce is absorbed. Taste the rice: it should be gently seasoned, nicely but not overly salty and pleasingly rounded in flavour. Under-seasoning the rice will make it taste spare and hollow - add a little more soy sauce, if necessary. Now stir through most of the crabmeat and spring onions but reserve a little of both to sprinkle over the fried rice when serving.

·      Divide the rice between two plates and sprinkle with the reserved crabmeat and spring onions. Serve with coriander leaves, some slices of cucumber and a wedge or two of lime, and accompany with a small bowl of chillies in fish sauce.

Shrimp Risotto

We love so many recipes from  from The Balthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr & Hanson. This one is for Risotto With Shrimp and Red Peppers. It is delicious! The recipe can be found in our blog of: Sep 25, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.