Warm Winter Fish Chowder

This is a fish chowder I cooked up on a coldish rainy day in February. All foods were local and in season except for the tomato sauce I made last summer and froze. It's a not too creamy but well blended group of flavors and had a beautiful pinkish tinge from the cream and tomato sauce together. The Brussels sprouts were a bit of a risk but I used them in lieu of something sweet like corn. I think they worked well.  Here's how it went:


Serves 4-6 as main course.

Ingredients:

3 thick slices bacon
1 large onion, chopped small
2/3 of a head of garlic, minced
1 med carrot, chopped small
1 pt. Brussels sprouts, chunky chopped into 4-6 pieces each
2 large Yukon potatoes, peeled and 1/2 in. diced
1 small fillet flounder
1 med. fillet monk fish
4 large dry scallops
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 T butter
salt and pepper
Cajun season mix
2 T olive oil
1/2 bunch parsley

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, slow cook bacon slices whole, rending as much fat out as possible.
2. While bacon is cooking (maybe 20 min, turned occasionally), prep veggies--onions, carrot, garlic, potatoes, sprouts.
3. Remove bacon from pan and reserve. Add chopped onions and carrots on high heat. Soften, then turn to low heat, add, garlic, mix through, and let caramelize for maybe 5-10 minutes.
4. While veggies caramelize, first prep parsley by rough chopping enough leaves to garnish soup--3-4 T. Then fine chop the rest, stems and all. 
5.  Prep fish by cutting into bite-size pieces--about 1 in. chunks. I cut scallops into eighths. Put in a bowl. Add 2T olive oil, 1 T Cajun season, 1/4 t salt, and fine chopped parsley. Stir in gently with rubber spatula and let sit.
6. After  veggies caramelized a while, push to sides of pot. Turn heat to high, and add sprouts to center of pot. Let sit for 3-4 minutes, then mix it and continue on high heat. 
7. After about 4 min., stirring frequently, add the tomato sauce. Heat through. 
8. Add the diced potatoes and then add enough boiling water to cover them well--probably 3-5 cups. Bring to boil, then let simmer until potatoes are soft.
9. Add fish and more water if needed to cover well. Bring to boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until fish tastes well done.
10. While fish is simmering, dice the three pieces of bacon for garnish.
11. Add cream and mile a bit at a time, stirring with rubber spatula. Add the butter and stir in.
12. Adjust for salt and a generous about of fresh ground black pepper.
13. Ladle into wide bowls and garnish first with bacon and then parsley.

We ate this simply with some oil crackers and a mixed green salad with Balsamic vinaigrette.  Very warming, tasty, and satisfying.

Carnival 2013: with Roasted Beet Soup recipe

Just wanted to record the feast prepared for Carnival 2013, a nice quiet dinner for 6:

appetizer:

brochette with sauteed pea greens and garlic; brochette or cracker with Doe Run Barn Owl cheese (very bloomy); carrot squares with Shepherd's Hollow Blue de Ewe cheese. 

-->The sauteed pea greens and garlic came out particularly well. Small amount of oil to toast the two cloves of minced garlic, then what probably amounted to two cups plus of pea greens, just past wilted. One teaspoon full spread on each toasted baguette round. Also prepared the carrots in squares by using very large (but good) storage carrots--maybe a 1 1/2 to 2 in. diameter--and slicing them into 1/4 inch slabs then cutting those to roughly square pieces. Crumbled the blue on top. A great pairing.

soup:

variation on Roasted Beet Soup with Creme Fraiche

Here's the recipe. I altered a recipe from epicurious.com to create it:

Ingredients:

8 med. beets, roasted at 350 for 1.5 hrs.

3 med. leeks, white end only, sliced

1/2 med. red onion, thin sliced

3 T butter

1/4 t each of ground ginger, allspice, and white pepper

2 bay leaves

sprigs of fresh thyme

4 sprigs fresh parsley

3+ cups water

creme fraiche (optional)

salt to taste

Directions.

1. Roast and peel beets. Cut 1/2 of one into small cubes. Reserve for garnish.
2. Saute leeks and onion in pan until soft and starting to brown.
3. Add spices and beets, quartered. Simmer for 10-15 min. Adjust salt. Remove bay and sprigs as much as possible.
4. Puree and add water to make a medium consistency.
5. Let cool to room temperature. 
6. Serve each bowl with handful of beet cubes and garnish with sprig fresh thyme. Also garnish with creme fraiche if desired. (I served without and like the lightness of it as a first course.)

entree

my version of a traditional Galician Cocido: pork, chicken, beef, chorizo, greens, chick peas, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes

It will be based on what I did in 2011 (nice picture of Nathaniel eating it), the description of it in John Barlow's Everything but the Squeal, and my friend Anxo's description of what his mother prepared every Sunday.  This is also traditional Carnival fare in Galicia. 
This dish included:
*1/2 of a smoked chicken, about 5-6 lb. chicken
*about 2 lb. or country pork ribs that I covered in about 3 lb. of salt with a maybe a 1/2 cup of my dry rub mixed in. cured overnight in refrigerator.
*a beef chuck roast of about 2 1/2 lb.
*2 lb. of fresh Chorizo sausage
*about 2 lb. of pork cheeks
Seared all of the meats first, then braised in a lot of liquid for about six hours. Added soaked chick peas after about three hours of cooking. Also cooked separately: 5 Yukon potatoes, 2 very large carrots, 1 small head purple cabbage. Cooked cabbage, then changed water, added others, and added a few cups of the meat stock.

salad

Boston lettuce with radishes and mustard vinaigrette and salted sweet potato chips.

dessert

fried Haloumi cheese with pear and spiced dates
Recipe from Spice by Ana Sortun. Used Tina's homemade plum brandy instead of the recipe ouzo for flambe. 

chocolates by John & Kira with decaf San Francisco blend from Old City Coffee

Paleo-Local Brisket - September 16, 2012

This was a local ingredients version of Sylvia's traditional brisket recipe, substituting in-season fruits and other ingredients for the usual catchup, ginger ale, and Lipton onion soup mix. It was fabulous and even Murray loved it.

3 lb. local grass-fed brisket
2 large onions, chopped
1 peach
1 nectarine
2 pears
1 apple
ground cloves
ground cinnamon
salt
pepper
bunch parsley
few leaves basil (5)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cups prune juice
1 ½ cups water
10 Yukon Gold potatoes, med./small
6 medium carrots

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Pat dry meat. Generously salt and pepper it on both sides. Add 3 tblsp olive oil to heavy pan over high heat. Seer brisket until browned and a little crisp, about 3-4 minutes/side. Remove brisket.

2. Add chopped onions to pan. Add ¼ tsp. salt. Cook on high 3-4 minutes until soft. Reduce to low. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

3. Seed and roughly chop all of the fruit. Also roughly chop bunch parsley (stems removed.) When onions slightly caramelized add the fruit and parsley. Cook on high heat 2-3 minutes.

4. Remove about ⅔ of the onion fruit mixture from the pan. Then add meat to the pan. Add prune juice, water, 3 tblsp. balsamic vinegar, ¼ tsp. of cloves, and ¼ tsp. of cinnamon. Place onion fruit mixture back on top of the meat and cook on high heat until it starts to boil.

5. Cover and put in oven.

6. Peel and quarter potatoes. Peel and chop carrots into 1 ½ “ sticks. Steam them until al dente, about 20 minutes.

Paleo Toe In The Water

I'm just posting here to record a bit of my diet using the guidelines of my dear paleolithic ancestors.
I've been winging it for a week on recipes, and made a few good meals. Generally, though, I end up with greens of some kind cooked in fat, pushed out to the side of the pan, then cooked some more as I cook the main meat or fish dish in the center.

For example tonight's meal:

1. About a pound of local pork sage sausage chopped and put in pan with some butter (just found out I'm not supposed to use this--oops); half onion sliced and put in. 
2. When onions soft, prepped string beans added to center well. High heat about five minutes tossing occasionally. Pushed everything out to the side then, 
3. Added maybe 2T slivered almonds; toasted in middle of pan with light sprinkle of Cayenne pepper. Mixed in, pushed everything out to side then,
4. Added three blue fish fillets, prepared with salt, pepper, and some ground mixed tree nuts and a sprinkling of fresh tarragon. Cooked on high heat, flesh side down.
5. Made sauce with melted butter added to Dijon mustard, cumin, and a dash of Balsamic vinegar. 
6. Served fish topped with more fresh tarragon and spooned mustard-cumin sauce over; beans and almond served on the side (saved the sausage for another meal.) Also served green salad on the side.

I'm working on getting away from the one-pan version, though. Here are some menu ideas I have for this week, based on what's in the fridge and freezer--all local:

• Baked round zucchinis stuffed with ground pork and onions.
•  Grilled pork chops on a bed of grilled apples and celery.
• Sliced cooked tuna with ginger tossed with Swiss chard and ginger.
• Slow-cooked zucchini and ground lamb served on a grilled portabella mushroom.
• Chopped beans and sausage (leftover from tonight's meal) mixed with leftover summer squash, eggplant, and chorizo dish, wrapped in a collard leaf and baked.
• Diced cantaloupe tossed with bacon drippings, crushed cooked bacon, and fresh tarragon.

I'm liking the sound of these and feel like I'm just getting the hang of starting to think in a new language. We'll see if it's lost in translation to the table!

Chicken Pot Pie Happiness

This turned out to be one of the most comforting dishes I've made in a while, and who doesn't want to remember comfort? So here it is. It's loosely based off of a recipe in Best Recipe of Cooks' Illustrated. It's heavy on the carrots and celery (something I don't usually like too much), but was beautifully balanced in the end and worked both in terms of texture and aroma. (My pie did not actually look like this.)

For a 9" pie. 6-8 servings.

Ingredients
pie crust for top and bottom--whatever recipe or prepared version you like

1.25 lb. chicken breast on bone (I used local fresh chicken. So flavorful.)
3 c chicken broth (Used Trader Joe's organic, boxed.)
2T + 4T butter
1 t dried tarragon
1 med potato, peeled and diced to about 1/2 in.
2 T olive oil
3/4 large onion, diced
4 med carrots, diced
5 stalks celery, lightly peeled, dices small (sliced lengthwise 3 or 4 times, then chopped) It will be more celery than the carrots and onion combined.
3T white flour
3t dried thyme
1 1/2 heads garlic, minced (Yes, a lot. Some of mine was a little dried out, so you could use 1 head, but you'll need at least that much.)
1/4 c flour
1/2 c heavy cream

Directions

1. Make (or buy) your pie dough ahead and refrigerate.
   
2. Boil the whole chicken breast in the broth for 8-10 min. Remove chicken to cool. Reserve broth. (I did 8 and it wasn't quite cooked through. Also did this a day ahead because the chicken needed to be cooked.)
3. After chicken has cooled, shred it with two forks. Discard skin and bone.
4. In a skillet, melt 2T butter. Add shredded chicken and tarragon. Mix thoroughly and saute on med-low heat for 2-3 minutes. Leave in pan until needed later. (If you boil chicken ahead, do this later when you're making the rest.)
   
   Preheat oven to 400.
   
5. In a medium pot, boil the diced potato for about 3 minutes. Drain and reserve.
6. In a large heavy pot, heat onions in oil on high heat until they soften. Reduce heat to med-low and add carrots, garlic, and thyme. Heat through. Add celery. Let cook on low for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Make a well through to the bottom of the pot. Add the flour there and stir a bit until it heats. Add the 4T of butter to that and mix in to make paste. Now be patient, letting it heat through and start to turn light brown and smell nutty. Stir occasionally. When it starts to get the wonderful nutty smell (that's a roux!) then stir into all the veggies and heat through for another minute or so.
8. Gradually add the chicken broth, stirring through each time (maybe a 1/4 cup at a time) until it's mixed through and not lumpy at all from the flour. Bring it to a boil. Reduce heat.
9. Add heavy cream and the boiled diced potato. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer on low heat for about ten minutes. It needs to reduce to a pretty thick consistency as this will be the pie filling with the chicken added.
   
10. While the filling is simmering, roll out your pie dough and line the bottom of the pie dish. (Once in the dish, you may want to put it in the oven for 4-5 min. to set a little. I did this as my bottom dough was too wet--a frozen one I totally messed up getting in the dish, but it came out fine. I used my own dough for the top--and it was better.)
11. Roll out or prepare top dough layer.
    
12. Add the chicken to the pot and heat/mix through.
13. Ladle the filling into the pie dish until full. (I had about 3/4 cup left--really tasty appetizer eaten with a spoon!)
14. Cover with top crust. Seal edge, and but a few fork holes in the top to let out steam.
15. Place in oven with a baking tray underneath (next shelf down) to catch drips.
16. Bake for 20-25 min. or until top is nicely brown. Remove and let stand for ten or fifteen minutes before serving. It will still be plenty hot!

This pie is a good meal all by itself with maybe a green salad on the side. Good leftovers with a quick reheat in the microwave (no more than 20 sec. for a piece) or put the whole pie dish in the oven at 350 for ten minutes or less.

Simple Bread Pudding

This is an adaptation from the Joy of Cooking version. Made to use up leftover stale bread in the fridge.

9 x 11 baking dish; larger lasagna pan; mixer; bowls, etc.

Preheat to 350. Serves 6-8.

INGREDIENTS

cubed stale bread, about 4 cups, 1/2 in. cubes (I used half old baguette, half white loaf.)
eggs, 4, separated
sugar, 1/3 cup + 2 T + 1t
milk, whole, 3 cups
cider, hard, 1 cup (Doesn't have to be hard.)
raisins, 1/3 cup + 2 T
apple, about 1/3 cup finely chopped (I used 2/3 of a small apple.)
cinnamon, 1/2 t + sprinkle

DIRECTIONS

1. Cube bread in put in large mixing bowl. Prep apple.
   
2. Heat milk to warm, not boiling. When hot, whisk in cider. It will start to curdle, so whisk in quickly and then pour over bread and mix.
   
3. Combine egg yolks with 1/3 cup sugar. Add with 1/2 cinnamon, chopped apple, and 1/3 cup raisins to bread mixture. Combine.
4. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Beat in about 2T sugar. Fold egg whites into bread mixture.
5. Transfer bread mixture to 9x11 baking dish. Top with 2 T raisins, 1 t sugar, and sprinkle of cinnamon.
6. Place 9 x 11 dish in larger lasagna pan. Place in oven. Fill measuring cup with hot water from tap. Pour into the lasagna pan wen it's in the oven to create a bath.
7. Bake at 300F for 40 minutes or until set.
   
8. To remove, use a baster to remove some of the water form the lasagna pan, then lift out the pudding dish. This makes it easier.

It's a very moist pudding because of the apples, but a very nice texture when cooked through since the egg whites add some lift. I served this with maple beef breakfast sausages. Wonderful complement, and you could prepare the dish with sausage pieces in it.

Shrimp Etoufee In A Pie!

This was an adaptation of a basic etoufee but served as one dish (not over rice) and in a pie dish. Looked like a pie, served like rice. Easy to make ahead and reheat or to take to someone's house. Spicey enough for New Orleaneans but didn't exclude others. Here's how it went:

Serves 4 generously or 6 with more normal portions. 9 in. diam. pie pan; 2 in. deep

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c uncooked short grain glutinous rice . (Regular or brown rice would work but the glutoun makes it wonderfully saucy and it serves well)


• 2 med onions, chopped


• 1 bell pepper, diced


• 2 stalks celery, diced


• 5 cl.garlic, minced


• 4 T salted butter + some to butter tin


• 1 T salt 1/4 t cayanne pepper


• 2 t dried thyme + some for sprinkling


• 1 lb. small peeled shrimp (I used cooked shrimp because I had it, but uncooked would be better. Small is important.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350.

1. Cook rice in 3 c water. Boil, reduce to simmer for 25 min. Turn off heat and let sit.


2. Melt butter in large skillet (I use 14 in.) over med heat. Add flour a little at a time, constantly stirring/scraping with flat end of a spatula. Continue scraping over med to low heat for 10-15 min, or until roux forms with a cherry wood or almond color. Med brown roux.


3. Add garlic and heat through. Quickly add onions, bell pepper, and celery before roux gets too dark. Add salt, cayanne pepper, and thyme. Stir through and keep it moving over med to high heat until onions are soft--about five minutes.


4. Reduce heat to low and let cook another five minutes, stirring occasionally.


5. Add shrimp (except for about 20 that you reserve for garnish) and combine, heating though on med heat. (If using raw shrimp, push onion mixture to sides of pan, crank heat to high, add a little oil or butter or oil in center, add shrimp and toss it over the heat for one or two minutes until coooked through, then combine.)


6. Over low heat, add all of the rice, about a cup at a time, combining until evenly mixed. Add 1/4 c vegetable stock to deglaze pan if sticking.


7. Butter the pie pan, then transfer rice-etoufee mixture to pan a few spoons at at time, packing it in as much as you can. It will fill and slightly heap the pan.


8. Garnish with a ring of shrimp around the perimiter and a pinwheel in the center. Sprinkle with crushed thyme.


9. Bake in 350 oven for 30 min.

Variations and changes: Could try not putting any stock in to make it dryer. I thought the whole thing might set, but it got softer, not firmer, in the oven. A long slow cook time might make a more "cakey" etoufee pie, but this was so delicious, it might not be a good idea to mess with it.