Shrimp and Smoked Salmon Canapé

April 1st, 2010

Yes, they take time to make but they also make an occasion special.  And guests love ‘em.  This canapé was inspired by some I made at The George Town Club many years ago.  It has what it needs: sweet creme fraiche, sour capers and raw spinach, salty salmon with shrimp, bitter dill and bread.
Here’s how:

Yield:  About 24 canapé
See abbreviations, if needed
24              uncooked shrimp, shelled
24              squares or rounds of bread sliced thin
24              fresh cucumber rounds, sliced thin
24              spinach leaves, washed and dried
1/2lb          smoked salmon
bunch         fresh dill sprigs, destemmed
5 oz          creme fraiche
48              capers

1.   Pour a bottle of beer in a pot, BTB, drop in the shrimp, turn off the heat, cover for 1 minute,
drain and set aside to cool
2.   Cut 24 thin slices of bread (cocktail bread, rye, wheat, etc.).  Square (1.5″) or round (40mm) each
and set aside
3.   Decoratively peel a cucumber and cut thin slices and set aside
4.   Select nice spinach leaves and trim to bread size
5.   Cut smoked salmon to bread size and set aside
6.   Finely chop a bunch of dill fronds (about 1/4 cup chopped
7.   Stir the dill into the creme fraiche and return to fridge
8.   Cut whole shrimp in two and then slice each half lengthwise
9.  To assemble:

  • spread creme fraiche onto bread
  • top with cucumber and then top cucumber with creme fraiche
  • top with salmon slice
  • dip both sides of bottom half of shrimp in creme fraishe and place on top of salmon
  • top shrimp half with spinach leaf
  • dip both sides of top half of shrimp with creme fraiche and close over spinach
  • garnish with a couple of capers (or caviar if plush)

10.  Hold in fridge and serve cool

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Roasted Leg of Lamb with Green Sauce

March 30th, 2010

Roasted leg of lamb is an Easter tradition.  So with a group of 11 en route, I ordered up two legs from the neighborhood high end butcher who gets them from a farm nearby.  (While I will not pay extra for organic produce, the idea of well husbanded meat, raised and slaughtered nearby is attractive.)  I have yet to be disappointed with the freshness and quality of well husbanded meat and poultry–the relatively few times I’ve gone for them.

The lamb legs came with the aitch bone removed, as I requested, but with the sirloin flab still attached.  Good! So the first task was to tie the flap on and shape each roast. I then frenched the trotter ends of the bone.  We used a marinade of mustard-based garlic, soy sauce, lemon juice, rosemary and EVOO.  All lathered up, the legs were then vacuum sealed for a 24 hour stay in the fridge and to be taken out 2 hours before roasting.

Roasting instructions for leg of lamb vary by cookbook.  Since we have a very good oven vent, the legs were started off at 450F for 20 minutes–each legs turned at the 10 minute mark.  Heat was then reduced to 375F and the legs were turned again at 30 minutes.  To our surprise the legs were done in another 30 minutes for a total roasting time of about 80 minutes.  Indeed the Thermopen read 140F at the first check and 130F near the bone–ten over where I wanted it. After resting for 20 minutes they carved out medium rare with some rare at the bone and some well done at the surface.  In all, these legs of lamb looked beautiful from start to finish and roasted out moist and very tender.

(Note:  It didn’t exactly go as described above.  I made the mistake of starting the whole roasting process with water in the bottom of the roasting pan to reduce smoking at 450F.  Well of course, all the initial energy went to boiling off the water.  The oven didn’t boom to the desired 450F until the pan was boiled dry, which took just long enough to make me nervous.)  No harm done, but dah . . .

For the sauce (well liked):  In a food processor:  1.5C yogurt;  4 spring onions chopped white and green;  1/2t of freshly shaved frozen ginger;  1 large jalapeno pepper with seeds and white removed;  a whole package or bunch of mint leaves; an equal sized bunch of cilantro leaves; some salt and a little fresh ground pepper.  Spin all this to smooth and then taste.  It should be balanced, with equal notes of mint and cilantro. When  right, pour the green sauce into a gravy boat and then fridge.  Take it out of the fridge early and let it warm up a bit before serving as a side to the sliced lamb.
(Another note: Do all you can to keep the lamb very warm–hot platter and warmed plates.)

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A Better Way to Hard Boil Eggs

March 22nd, 2010

Welcome to the most popular page on this Web site (about 5000 hits each Easter week).

Here is a better way to hard boil eggs and to cool and peel them:
(Excerpted from Chicken, Egg and Tuna Salad Spreads)

To hard boil:
·   Place the eggs in a roomy saucepan and fill the pan with cold water to
completely cover the eggs
·   Bring to boil over high heat
·   Simmer for 30 seconds
·   Turn the heat off, cover, and let stand 12 minutes

To cool:
·   Leave the eggs in the pan and drain off the hot water
·   Place the pan, eggs and all, in the sink under running cold water until the water in
the pan is cold
·   Let the eggs cool in the cold water bath for 5 minutes

To peel:
·   Drain off the cold water, but leave the eggs in the pan
·   Shake the pan vigorously to crack the eggs
·   Peel eggs under running water

More about eggs:

Other how-to’s:

How to Spatchcock a Chicken

How to Puree Garlic with a Chef’s Knife

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A Nice Chocolate Cookie

March 22nd, 2010


Awhile back, our friends in Knoxville gave us a cocoa pot, complete with a fitted battery powered mixer.  The idea being to toss in the cocoa powder, pour in the milk and then zap it with the mixer before and after heating it all in the microwave. It works.

It was 8 above Saturday morning, so I poked about in the pantry for some cocoa powder to make  hot cocoa for breakfast as fortification against the record low temperature.  I found a box of Dutch cocoa, by Droste, which proved to be high quality stuff.  On the back of the box was a recipe for Cracked Chocolate Cookies.  Since TLW ordered cookies for the inauguration, these looked promising.  Though the recipe called for vegetable oil, it otherwise made culinary sense. Dusted with 10X sugar, the cookies appear cracked as they expand in the oven.  The Droste cocoa and brown sugar combine to produce a cookie with an intense chocolate taste with low sugar notes.

So here it is, completely rewritten and with butter and some pecans:
Cracked Chocolate Cookies
See Abbreviations, if needed
Yield:  about 30 cookies
1 1/2 C      AP flour, sifted once
1/2 t           salt
1/2 t           baking soda
6 T             (3/4 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 C       light brown sugar
1/2t            vanilla extract
2                eggs
1/3 C         cocoa powder
1/2 C         pecans, chopped
1 C            10X sugar for dusting

1.    Preheat oven to 375F
2.    Add salt and baking soda to the AP flour, sift and set aside
3.    Place butter in KA bowl and spin at high speed to aerate
4.    Slow paddle speed and add the brown sugar and mix well
5.    Add the vanilla extract, eggs and cocoa powder and mix slowly
6.    Add flour mixture slowly and mix until the dough is all brown again
7.    Add the pecans and mix briefly
8.    Remove KA bowl from machine, remove and clean paddle and then
place bowl in fridge while prepping the next steps
9.    Place 10X sugar in a shallow flat tray
10.  Place baking mat(s) on cookie sheet(s)
11.  Remove cookie dough from the fridge
12.  Scoop out a one-ounce portion of dough with a #60 scoop or tablespoon,
shape into a ball and drop into the 10X tray
13.  Roll to cover balls with sugar and then place them on cookie sheet
14.  Bake about 9 minutes until cookies are lightly firm to the touch (about 190F interior)
15.  Remove cookies to a rack to cool.

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Inverted Spiced Pear Pie

March 22nd, 2010

We’re en route to Williamsburg, where we’ll taste this pie with friends.  It’s butter, sugar and spices with pears on top with pecans, then sautéed to caramelize, then cooled and covered and tucked with pie crust dough, then baked at 425F until the pie crust is done.

Easy enough…But then flipping over the cooled but still hot sauté pan onto a paper plate, cut to fit inside the pan, and catching the pie and getting  the whole thing out in one piece without getting burned, proved tricky.  More  after the tasting.

We’re back and everyone liked the pie, so I baked another one today for recipe purposes.

See Abbreviations, if needed
5T      butter
2/3C   sugar
Spices:  (see note)
1/4t each of medium hot chile powder, ground cumin and turmeric powder
a pinch  of cayenne and 8 whole cloves
5         Bosc pears, ripe, cored, halved and peeled
1/3C   chopped pecans, toasted
1         store bought 9″ pie crust, ambient

1.  In a small sauce pan, melt the butter, add the sugar, and bring to simmer
2.  Add the spices and continue to simmer, about 5 minutes total
3.  Butter a 9 or 10 inch non-stick, oven proof, sauté pan (I know it’s non-stick but butter it anyhow)
4.  Pour all the butter-sugar-spice mixture into the sauté pan and keep warm
5.  Core, half and peel the pears and arrange them in the sauté pan, as shown
6.  Top the pears with the pecans

7.  Bring the pan to boil, reduce heat to a brisk simmer and cook the butter-sugar-spice mixture until the sugar begins to caramelize and turn golden in color, about 14 minutes,as shown–do not stir
8.  Remove the pear pan to a rack and let cool enough to handle
9.  Roll out the pie crust to over fit the pear pan by an inch or so
10.  Lay the crust over the pears in the pan and tuck the edges in and around the pears and downward to the bottom of the pan
11. Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 425F until the crust begins to brown, about 20 minutes or about 15 minutes convection
12.  Rack the pan and let cool for about 5 minutes
13.  Trim a paper plate to just fit inside the sauté pan (If you have a serving plate that fits, use that)
14.  Using a towel or mitts for protection, invert the pear pan onto the fitted plate and immediately rest it all
on a counter top. Give the pears and syrup a little time to fall out of the sauté pan
15.  Lift off the pan.  If any pears are stuck to it, neatly remove them and put them back into the pie
16.  Transfer the pie from the paper plate to a serving plate, if desired

Note:  If these spices are not to your liking , substitute a more traditional selection of nutmeg, cinnamon and black pepper.

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FireWire –Flexible Skewer

March 20th, 2010

While shopping for a smoker, we came across some grilling skewers made of  3/32″ stainless steel preformed cable. They have a loop on one end and a fixed probe on the other.  With meat and veggies strung on the cable, the loaded cable can be dangled, loop-side-down, and formed to fit onto the grill any which way that works best, straight out, serpentine or circled–with the probe end extended over the edge of the grill grate, if you wish. Since stainless steel is non-reactive, raw product, skewer and all, can be marinated if you are using only one marinade for both veggies and meat (not to my liking). They are really long–30 inches! Sufficient to load enough food for two on each skewer.  Manufactured by Inno-Labs (firewiregrilling.com), the FireWire won a kitchen gadget award last year. Big Green Egg vendors have them and others too. Preformed cable is expensive–the skewers are $20 the pair. But neato!

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Recipes

March 20th, 2010

I’ve cleaned up and better organized the Food Page Recipes.  There are over a hundred now and it was getting cumbersome.  Have a look.

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Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini

March 17th, 2010

I’ve had a copy of Elizabeth Schneider’s Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables for about three years and refer to it quite often.  Flipping through the book, I note page markings for arugula, cilantro, spaghetti squash, mangoes, radish sprouts, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, tomatillos and others.  When published in 1986, most of these items were hard to find “curiosities.” Schneider’s book is recognized today as a classic that influenced not only cooks but also the produce market.  Now, 15 years later, Schneider has produced an updated and upscale version of the 1986 book.  In Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini, she has dropped the fruits and winnowed out the veggies.  Cilantro and other “spice” type veggies are not in the new book.  Sprouts, squash and other single items in the old book are presented now within generic headings.  Hugely informative, more fun to read and with lots of new material, the format and presentation of the new book—with large heavy weight glossy paper, 275 superb photos, 500 meat and meatless recipes and 220 more pages—is as elegant as the old book is text bookish.  The 1996 reprint of Uncommon Fruits costs 28 dollars; Vegetables goes for $60!  If I had neither and wanted a book on veggies, I would go Vegetables, price notwithstanding.  Schneider has been writing for 30 years.  Quite likely, this book is her magnum opus.  It is a 2001 nominee for a James Beard Foundation book award.

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Chef’s Privilege

March 15th, 2010

I’ve spent a week deciding if I should get into Sous Vide.  Sous Vide cooking involves vacuum sealing food in airtight pouches, then submerging them in a water bath at precisely controlled temperatures well below the boiling point for a relatively long period of time–30 minutes (fish) to 72 hours (tough meats). This “under vacuum” water oven technique has been evolving in labs and professional kitchens since the mid 70’s.  Its advantages are that the heat is low and precise and precludes overcooking;  the pouches are packed with food and spices to produce a finished product;  textures are impressive as meats and veggies are cooked uniformly and to perfection;  food in pouches are stable, can be prepared hours or days ahead and then served a la minute.  Sous vide products are finding there way into stores everywhere as pouched sauces, prepared veggies and meats.  Costco, for example, carries an excellent lamb shank, a veal osso buco and a line of Indian vegetarian sauces that I wrote about earlier. Fine dinning restaurants are using sous vide prepared off and on site to the chef’s specifications.  Culinary literature abounds with name chef cookbooks touting the technique and their skilled use of it.

Now, a compact  home water oven is on the market called the SousVide Supreme.  It goes for $450.  Also needed is a vacuum sealer, like the one I’ve used for many years, which runs another $150 to $250, plus the pouch material at 50 cents a running foot. It would be fun to have this thing and prep a stack of steaks to a perfect 125F ready to be grill marked and served;  to buy veggies in large quantities and sous vide them and then freeze ‘em;  to toss in a seasoned Boston Butt and forget it for a couple of days and have it emerge as ready to serve pulled pork.

On the other hand, sous vide is essentially a slow cooker.  A smart crock pot with water in it.  For us geezers who no longer leave home for work at 0700 to return 10 hours later, planned and slow cooking methods have lost their time saving attractiveness. (We haven’t used our crock pot or an oven timer in years.) Which leaves the culinary value of sous vide, which is substantial and attractive enough to the seasoned home cook that I’m writing about it. Sur la Table carries the SousVide Supreme and reportedly sold out their initial buy of a thousand units in two months.  I’m going to pass.

Now on to the Big Green Egg . . .

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Glazed, Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs (Revised)

March 12th, 2010

Boneless beef short ribs are the muscle portion of the short ribs derived from the 6th 7th and 8th ribs of the primal beef rib cut.  They are a bargain cut, flavorable, hearty and tender if cooked long and wet.  Orange marmalade is a great glaze since it is tasty, strong and holds up well when grilled or braised.  It gets quite dark when braised.  We served the ribs with a tossed salad and TLW’s wonderful but mysterious creamed rice and cheese casserole (she won’t write up the recipe).  This dish takes only about 15 minutes to prep.  Here’s how:

Glazed, Braised Beef Short Ribs (Revised)
Yield:  4 servings
See abbreviations, if needed

6             beef short ribs (about two per person)
S/P
EVOO
1/3 C      red wine
2T           herbes de Provence (or other seasoning blend)
1/2 C      orange Marmalade
2-3 C      beef or chicken broth (low salt if available)

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350F
2.  Dry the beef ribs and season with S/P
3.  In a Dutch oven or oven proof heavy skillet with cover, brown the ribs nicely on all sides
4.  Remove the browned ribs and deglaze the pot with red wine, then reduce at high heat for a few minutes
5.  Reduce heat, add the herbes and return the ribs to the pan
6.  Generously spread the top of the ribs with orange marmalade
7.  Add the broth to a height of about 1/2 inch
8.  BTB on the stove top, cover and then place in the pre-heated oven
9.  After one hour, remove the cover and check level of braising liquid left to make sauce
10.  Add water, if necessary, return the pot to the oven and roast (uncovered now) for another hour
11.  When fork tender and nearly falling apart, carefully remove ribs to a warm place
12.  Skim the fat from the braising liquid, taste and then BTB briefly to make sauce
13.  Serve the ribs on heated plates with the sauce

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