My Love Affair…

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castelvetranosI must confess, I LOVE Castelvetrano Olives… Such beauty!  Such a satisfying object to adore!

Castelvetrano olives are named for their provenance, a town and comune of the same name in Trapani, Sicily, Italy.

This olive is actually not cured, but processed in a similar fashion to California’s black olives.  This is why this beauty has such a lovely bright green hue.  You must keep them refrigerated, should you want to prolong their existence in your home.  That is, if you can resist eating every last one the moment you open the package…

The flavor is sweet and a bit fruity; tasting truly like good olive oil.

Enjoy them with your favorite bold Italian cheese, good quality cold cuts, or alone with a glass of wine.  They are an excellent ingredient for tapenade, with their delightful flavor and incredible color.  You can include them in many recipes, too.  Just crush to remove the pit and chop.  Super easy.  This olive wants to be loved!

Play With Your Food

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ChicoriesYes, I highly recommend playing with your culinary cohorts!  Get to know one another!  Have FUN!!

This colorful pair of playmates are both from the Chicory family.  These are some excellent ingredients with which to invigorate your Winter diet!

The frivolous greenery to the right is Frisee; aptly named.  Frisee is a fine leafed relative of curly endive.  It has a nice bitter, yet slightly sweet flavor.  You can eat it raw, in a salad featuring, possibly a favorite, full flavored cheese, nuts, eggs, mustard, or citrus.  Additionally, it is excellent as a wilted salad!  Frisee can also be braised.  I think I might endeavor to create a recipe using this frolicsome ingredient tonight!

The luscious purple/red orb to the left is Radicchio.  You might have read my recent post featuring a warm radicchio salad.  This highly versatile chicory hales from Italy.  It also has the bitter notes, typical of this genus.  You will find Radicchio to have a subtle earthy quality in it’s flavor profile.  I particularly enjoy cooking it with vinegars, like Balsamic.  The cooking process brings out a wonderful sweetness, that is enhanced by the acids of the vinegar.  You might also try dressing wedges of Radicchio with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper then grilling for another addictive flavor!

For more ideas on ingredients to use with these lovely ingredients, I recommend Karen Page’s book ‘The Vegetarian Flavor Bible’.  Karen does a phenomenal job of giving us endless ways to combine and create with these and 1000’s of other ingredients!

So get out there and PLAY with your FOOD!  Chef Celinda

Now What?

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TopRound

You bought this great looking piece of beef and haven’t a clue what you are going to actually make with it…

Top round is super lean, so you need to prepare a dish that involves either a very quick cooking method, using super thin slices of the beef; like a stir fry or a combination of both dry and wet cooking methods.  Some standard ideas would be Beef Stroganoff, Bourguignon, Braciole, Goulash or Stew. I’m feeling like something decadent tonight!

Truffled Beef and Mushrooms with Blue Cheese

Begin by cutting the top round into thin pieces, against the grain, to shorten the fibers that can make it chewy.  Finish cutting these slices into bite size morsels.  Season with salt and pepper, then dredge with Red Mill’s 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour, or your favorite brand that works well in this application.  Brown the prepared beef in a small amount of olive oil.  Remove it from the pan and set aside.  Immediately, add minced shallot and Cremini, or your favorite mushrooms.  If necessary, add a touch more olive oil.  When they are getting close, add minced garlic and cook until soft.  Deglaze with balsamic vinegar, then add stock, the browned beef, a bay leaf, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer for an hour, or until the beef is tender.  You may need to add more stock, if it gets too thick.  Take the pan off the heat and finish with minced flat leaf parsley, a round of black truffle oil and unsalted butter, stirring to melt the butter to create a glossy sauce.  Remove the bay leaf and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.  Just before serving, fold in crumbled blue cheese and spoon over your favorite prepared gluten free pasta.

Sunny Side Trip

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radicchio&caracara

Beautiful, sweet Cara Cara oranges are in season right now!  Read more about this treat on Sunkist’s page.  I thought I’d include them to create a “side trip” to somewhere sunny on our “Arm Chair Vacation Tour”!

The sweet, yet tangy flavor of these oranges lend themselves beautifully to a warm radicchio salad.  Such beautiful colors!  Your guests will be excited to try this dish.  It is excellent as a side, with many different proteins, or it makes a memorable lunch entree with the addition of crumbled chevre and roasted pine nuts.

1 head radicchio, cored and thinly sliced across the grain

1/2 cup julienne red onion

Olive oil

Cardamom

1 Cara Cara orange

Italian flat leaf parsley

Salt and Pepper

Sherry Vinegar

Start the red onion and olive oil on a moderate temp.  While that’s cooking, you will want to use a micro-plane and zest about half of the orange.  Reserve this.  Now, using a very sharp pairing knife, cut away the rind and pith; then cut out the segments, between the membranes.  Keep a bowl below you, to catch the juices.  Place the pretty supremes in the juice.  When finished, wring any remaining juice from the membranes, then discard them.  Set your juice and supremes aside.

As the onion is nearly finishing, add the cardamom directly to the pan.  You want the heat to awaken the wonderful flavors of the spice.  Toss that around a bit.  Now add your radicchio.  Don’t worry that you have too much, it is going to wilt quite a lot.  Add salt, pepper and the orange zest.  Cook until the radicchio is soft, but still retaining it’s color. Now add the orange segments and parsley.  Cook just until the orange is warmed thru.  Cara Cara’s are less acidic, and your dish needs a touch to bring it to it’s full potential, so add about a half teaspoon of good quality sherry vinegar and toss thru.

If you are serving as a lunch entree, add the crumbled chevre and roasted pine nuts at the very end, as well.

Enjoy your trip!  Remember to take pictures!

 

No Passport Needed

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salmon

Balsamico e Burro!  Park me in a chair, tighten my seat belt and hand me a fork! An ‘armchair’ vacation made in culinary heaven!

This fresh Coho Salmon, wrapped with Speck prosciutto, in Balsamic, garlic and butter sauce will induce severe ‘Vacation’ brain.  It’s pretty easy to create, too!

Salmon, boned and cut into 6 oz portions

Speck prosciutto, have thinly sliced when you purchase

Fresh rosemary, finely minced

Shallot, julienne

Garlic, thinly sliced

Cold unsalted butter, cut into large cubes

Salt and pepper

Fresh Italian parsley, minced

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper the salmon fillets.  Massage a small amount of the minced rosemary into each.  Wrap with a slice of Speck Prosciutto. Heat a small amount of oil in a thick bottom saute pan.  When it’s hot, add the salmon, top side down first.  Make sure the Speck stays in place.  When the first side is done, carefully turn the fish over in the pan.  As it’s cooking, add the julienne shallot and garlic.  Watch that you don’t over cook the garlic!  When the fish is done, transfer to a plate to rest and finish cooking.  When the shallot and garlic are sweated and lightly browning, add balsamic vinegar.  Reduce 75% of the liquid.  Take the pan off the heat and add a small amount of the butter.  Whisk until dissolved.  Add more butter.  When you have a beautiful glossy sauce, quickly add the parsley and you’re done!  Quickly plate the salmon and top with the Balsamico e burro.

The dish above featured low carb and gluten free steamed spaghetti squash that has been tossed with a lovely Marinara sauce and Pecorino Romano.  The fresh beans were cooked with more of the lovely Speck.

The best kind of vacation!  Travel anywhere you want for the price of a meal and no suitcase to unpack later!