Lemon Butter Braise

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

LemButCod

I bought some beautiful, super fresh, white True Cod at Central Market Saturday.  Looking for a bright, bold flavored dish, I created:

Lemon Butter Braised True Cod

The pieces you bring home from the Market, will be dense at the tail end, tapering to thin wider pieces over the area previously containing the fish’s rib bones.  You will need to cook the thicker pieces longer.  Be aware that the thin ones will be a bit tricky to handle, when cooked, being fairly delicate.  A ‘fish spatula’ is a most useful tool!

True Cod, cut into portion sized pieces
Gluten free flour.  I like to use Red Mill’s 1 to 1 baking blend.
Shallot
Garlic
Unsalted butter
Olive oil
Button mushrooms.  note: other mushrooms, if desired
Fresh lemon
Fresh rosemary, minced
Vegetable stock
Saffron
Coriander
Turmeric, ground
Salt and pepper

Prep shallot and garlic, set aside.  Season the fish portions with coriander, salt and pepper.  note:  I used Rosemary Sea Salt instead of regular salt, but either will work. Dredge in a small amount of the flour.

Melt butter in a good quality, thick bottom saute pan.  Add olive oil, as well.  This will make the butter much easier to work with.  Brown the fish, remove and set in a baking dish.  Place in a 250 degree oven to keep warm, and allow to finish cooking all the way through.  If you make the sauce quickly, the timing will be perfect.  If you work slowly, keep on eye on the fish, so it doesn’t over cook.

Scrape the bottom of the pan to dislodge any morsels of remaining fish.  Remove them.  Place the mushrooms in the pan and cook until they start softening.  You will probably need to add additional olive oil.  Now, add shallot. When shallots are about half done, add the garlic and rosemary.  When shallot is lightly browned, add vegetable stock, juice of fresh lemon, saffron and turmeric.  Reduce, season as needed, then mount with additional butter.  Pour over the fish and serve immediately.

Dreary weather take heed!  We culinary soldiers will win this battle!  Enjoy!  Chef Celinda

Sunday’s Comin’!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

porkcandyhashSunday, especially gloomy Winter Sundays are synonymous with BRUNCH.  And a memorable brunch needs to include PORK BELLY!

Pork Candy Hash

This delightful dish was a Parco creation.  You need to plan this ahead, but it’s easy to put together when it’s time to feed all the little Piggies at your table!

For braise:

Pork Belly, uncured

Maple Syrup, REAL, preferably grade B (dark)

Salt

For hash:

Partially cooked red potatoes, diced (peel, if desired)

Apple, cored, sliced with peel still on.  I like to use Pink Lady apples.  Great flavor and color!

Onion, chopped or julienne, as desired

Baby Kale, I always enjoy using Earth Bound Farms Organic Baby Kale blend

Rosemary, minced

Apple cider vinegar, Try Bragg’s!!

Salt and pepper

Eggs, preferably Organic, Cage-free hen eggs or your choice of other varieties

You need to braise the pork belly first.  It’s super easy.  You will need a pan that will hold the belly, laid out and deep enough for the liquid.  Salt the belly on both sides and lay in the pan.  Add cold water to reach half way up the side.  You want it sloshy but not fully submerged.  Now drizzle on the syrup.  If you are in a pinch to make, but don’t have the syrup, try molasses or brown sugar.

To braise, first cover the meat with parchment paper, then seal the top tightly with heavy foil.  Carefully place into the oven.  325 degrees for standard or 300 for convection.  Personally, I prefer to do my braises in a convection oven.  The texture is more consistent.  You will cook this for three hours.  When it’s done, remove the foil and paper then fully chill.

When cooled, carefully remove the fat layer from the top of the liquid and discard.  Notice the beautiful gelatinous brown ‘jelly’ around the pork belly?  You want to save this, it’s BELLY JELLY and makes a wonderful ingredient to enhance other dishes.

Place the cooked belly on a cutting board and cut into portions.  For the hash recipe, you will want to cut each portion into bite size pieces.  Place these in a good cast iron skillet with just enough olive oil to keep them from sticking.  Bring the morsels to temperature.  Be careful, they have a lot of moisture and will pop and snap.  Ow!!!  Once warm, pull from the heat and drizzle with more maple syrup.  No subs at this point!!  Place in a 350 degree oven until they caramelize.

While the belly is lolling about in the oven, place the potatoes, apple slices, onion and rosemary in a size-able cast iron pan.  Note:  if you don’t have any, when you look into purchasing, look at Lodge brand pans.  Excellent quality and will last forever!  Cook potatoes until nicely browned.  The belly should be finished.  Carefully remove the morsels and mix into the potatoes.  You do not want the remaining fat in the caramelizing pan.  Watch that you don’t get burned on the HOT maple caramel!

To finish the dish, add the baby kale and a dash of cider vinegar.  Adjust the seasoning and cook until the kale is just wilted.  Plate and top with a pair of eggs, sunny side up or basted.

This meal epitomized FOOD FUN!!  Enjoy!  Chef Celinda

Football Sustenance

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

footballchicken

Football, a word that means you are going to have a handful, or maybe a house-full, of “12th Wo/Men” hanging out to watch the game Saturday!  Can you face another dinner of pizza and wings?  If not, here’s a great dish, that the hordes will love!

Chef Celinda’s Game Day Chicken

Chicken thighs, boneless and skinless,                                                  seasoned with s&p on both sides

Olive oil

Onion, minced

Celery, minced

Carrot, minced

Garlic, minced

Balsamic vinegar

Castelvetrano olives, chopped

Yellow skinned potatoes, peeled and diced

Tomato sauce, preferably made from Italian, San Marzano’s

Oregano and Marjoram

Stock

Frisee

Salt and pepper

Make mire poix with the onion, celery and carrot.  Place this, with the chicken thighs, in braising pan with heated olive oil. When the chicken is nearly done browning, add the garlic.  When soft, deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar, then add stock.  I was lucky and had a ham bone simmering nearby.  I kyped a couple scoops of that for my stock!  What a lovely addition.  Chicken or vegetable stock will work fine.  Mine’s just gonna be better… teehee

Add the chopped olives, tomato sauce, oregano and marjoram.  Check the salt levels.  Adjust as needed.  Remember, to keep in mind you will be reducing the liquid, which increases salt percentages, but also adding potatoes, which will absorb it.

Add the diced potatoes.  Stir them around, so they are submerged in the liquid.  Add more stock, if needed.

Cover and allow to simmer until the chicken and potatoes are done.  Add your chopped frisee and cook until it wilts nicely.  Serve with a strong flavors cheese garnish, either shaved are shredded.  Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano will do nicely.  I happened to have a pretty piece of Grand Ewe Vintage Best Uniekaas that was an amazing addition.

Enjoy!!

My Love Affair…

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

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

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

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?

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

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

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

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

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

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!

Bitter Bones

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

bitterbones

Short ribs are always a favorite!  I don’t often repeat a recipe or concept, but I do love these braised with a rich dark beer.  Unfortunately, beer typically has a gluten base.  To reproduce the flavors, I started by breaking down the flavors the beer would impart.  Coffee, chocolate, bitter…  Okay!  That’s not hard at all.

To begin, I used some ground Midnight Blend, Classic Italian Roast from The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie.  I picked up a bag on Sunday, while doing a bit of a day trip to the island.

Next, I added some of my favorite Mayan Cocoa from World Spice, some ground urfa peppers for a hint of heat, then cinnamon, salt and freshly ground black pepper.  What a wonderful smelling rub!  Don’t be stingy!

After searing, I added yellow onion, orange peel and bay leaf, deglazing with spiced rum.  Than, stock, to bring up the liquid and a healthy drizzle of real maple syrup to balance all those beautiful bitter flavors from the coffee, orange peel and unsweetened cocoa.  Into the oven!  Yeah, I do realize how much my neighbors hate me; smelling so many lovely dishes…

I served my bitter bones with polenta; dotted with minced seeded jalapeno and finished with creamy chevre and a squeeze of fresh lime to wake everything up.

Enjoy!

 

Oh, Coconuts!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

VietCoconutPork

Take a stroll down a different path.  Skip traditional dull Winter recipes…

Spice up tonight with Vietnamese Sweet Coconut Pork.  One of the pretty blends I bought on my recent foray to Savory Spice Shop at Alderwood, is an enticing Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry.  Joy in a jar!!

Turmeric, lemongrass, cumin, black pepper, paprika, coriander, garlic, cardamom, sugar, salt and a myriad of this and that inspired this dish.  I got the meal started by, using the blend as a rub on pork tenderloin.  Once browned in pure sesame oil, the little piggy popped happily into the oven to finish.  Meanwhile, I sauteed yellow pepper, seeded jalapeno, onion, fresh ginger and garlic in natural coconut oil.

When the tenderloins were close, they were moved to a plate and the cast iron pan returned to the stove top where I added a round of silver rum to deglaze.  With that bubbling merrily, it was time for some stock and juice from half of a large fresh lime.  A good shake more of the Lemon Curry added layers of additional flavors.  Just as the sauce was finished reducing I added a handful of sweet flake coconut.

Serve over a bed of steamed rice.  The pic above features Basmati, since I seem to have an abundance currently.  Jasmine or another of your favorites are excellent ideas.

Happy Holidays to all!!