Pasta with Caviar

I love caviar and as the servuga's and osetra's of the world are a bit pricey salmon and trout caviar can satisfy the craving in a more frugal way. While I tend to eat my caviar straight from the jar this is a pretty good way to enjoy the mouth popping goodness of fish eggs!

1/2 pound spaghetti
4 ounces Salmon Caviar
2 tablespoons butter
Creme Fraiche 2 tablespoons
Shallots - 1 large
Chives - 1/2 bunch diced
Parsley - 1/4 cup
Pepper and Salt to taste

Prepare pasta al dente. Melt butter in saute pan over medium heat until foam subsides. Add shallots and cook for 2 minutes or until opaque. Turn heat to low and add 1/4 pasta water and creme fraiche. Stir gently and add parsley. Place drained pasta in sauce and turn off heat. Add 2/3 of caviar (use remaining to garnish) and top with chives. Serve immediately.

Recently a kind and thoughtful friend gave me a selection of Italian sweet peppers (capsicum annum) from her local farmers market.

While I love all things capsicum and these are great fried up with a little onion I thought I would make a slightly more complex but typical antipasti that captures the slight sweetness of the pepper and combine it with the richness of tuna.

Roasted Italian Sweets with Oil Poached Tuna

6 Italian Sweet Peppers
1 jar imported Bonito del Norte (Tuna in oil - Spanish or Italian are the best for this)
Olive Oil for drizzling
Capers

Juice of a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkling of smoked paprika (optional)

Roast the peppers until charred on all sides. Place in bowl and cover with plastic wrap to allow peppers to steam. Remove charred skin from peppers careful not to rip or tear the pepper. Slice of the stem end of the pepper and make a cut down one side and open up the pepper flat on a cutting board. Remove seeds and any of the white veins inside the pepper (they can sometimes be bitter). Slice the pepper in half logway so you have two long strips of the pepper. Repeat on all peppers. Drain the oil from the tuna but keep the oil for later. Carefully remove the tuna from the jar and do you best to make long strips of the tuna. Lay pepper flat on board with inside of pepper facing up. Place strip of pepper across the pepper and roll from the skinny end to the thicker end of the pepper. Place on serving platter and repeat until all peppers and tuna are rolled. Season with salt, pepper, paprika (if using) and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil (oil from the tuna is fine but use fresh oil if preferred) and top with capers. Serve right away or let set at room temperature for and hour or so to let flavors mingle.

The rest of the meal was comprised of (going clockwise from 9 o'clock) hummus, caprese salad with fresh tomatoes from our friends Ian and Rachael's tomato plants, a simple fennel, celery and spring onion salad and padron peppers from Spain sauteed in olive oil with a sprinkling of sea salt and a fresh bagguette.

Salmon Tartare

Salmon Tartar

½ pound sashimi grade salmon (belly if possible)
2 tablespoons Olive oil
Lemon zest and juice (1 lemon)
Black Pepper
Capers
Sambal
Serrano chili deseeded fine dice
Chives
Salmon Roe
Shallot
Salt


The key to good tartar is the texture of the protein you are using. Too large of a dice and the mouth feel is all wrong – chunky not silky smooth. Then again using a food processor will turn the flesh gummy and sticky. Take your time when dicing the salmon use a very sharp knife and make long thin strips across the fatty grain of the flesh and then turn to make small almost bruinoise like (small ¼ inch dice).
Place diced salmon in a chilled stainless steel or glass bowl and add olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and pepper (hold off on the salt for now). Place in fridge for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap.

While salmon is resting in the refrigerator prepare condiments and place in a bowl:
Lightly chop 1 tablespoon capers
Dice Chili
Chop Chives
Dice Shallot (small dice)
½ teaspoon sambal
Mix all together

Remove salmon from refrigerator and add above mixture and add salt to taste. Mix in one tablespoon of the salmon row and mix gently. Use ring mold to plate and top with remaining salmon row. Serve with a small smear of crème fraiche on the plate so guests may take as little or as much as they like to mix into each bit of tartar.

Shrimp fra Diablo Primevera

Okay probably not a traditional pasta dish from Italy but a piquant, spicy tomato sauce with shrimp and roasted vegetables sounds great for a Sunday evening meal........

Spicy Tomato Sauce
1/2 onion diced
1 stalk celery small dice
1 carrot small dice
3 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 large can whole plum tomatoes pulsed 4 times in food processor
1 teaspoon pepperincino (red chili flakes)
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 Bay Leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
couple of pinches of sugar
1 cup dry white wine

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet or saucepan. add onion and saute until translucent. Add smashed garlic and carrots and celery. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until limp. We are not looking to brown the vegetables. Add chili flakes, tomato paste, thyme and oregano. Allow tomato paste to turn a slight rust color about 3 minutes then add sugar. Turn heat to high and add white wine (don't let sugar burn). Cook until all the wine is evaporated. Add the pulsed tomatoes and the bay leaves. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Roasted Vegetables
Large dice of the following:
1/2 onion
2 courgette
6-8 stalks asparagus
1 cup broccoli florets
1 yellow diced pepper
1 tomato seeded
Mix all in a bowl with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Place onto a baking sheet and into 425 F oven for 15 minutes or until the edges of the veg start to brown. Remove from Oven and set aside.

Shrimp and Pasta
A dozen 21 to 30 count shrimp peeled and deveined
toss in a bowl with a little olive oil, chili flake and salt.

Saute in a saute pan 1 to 2 minutes per side and pull

off heat and place on plate. Set aside.

In same pan saute a little spinach (this is optional) set aside

Cook pasta per directions on package. I suggest Spaghetti or Farfalle.

In pot where pasta was cooked and drained add some sauce (1 cup) the roasted veg and the shrimp. Bring to temperature and add pasta stirring to coat and add spinach. Serve with fresh basil or parsley and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Technically you should not put cheese on a seafood pasta but what the hell I like what I like.

Oysters, oysters and more oysters......

There is nothing quite like the briny bite of a fresh raw oyster and normally I will eat my oysters freshly shucked au natural but once in a while the rich softness of lightly cooked oysters truly hit the spot. I think this recipe captures fresh grilled oysters at it's best.

Oysters Kilpatrick

1 dozen freshly shucked oysters

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 shallot diced small

4 slices of bacon diced and fried until crisp

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

Chopped Parsley

Lemon Wedges

In a small saucepan melt butter over low heat. Once melted add the diced shallot and soften for 3 or 4 minutes. Place shucked oysters on a baking sheet with rock salt or crumpled foil for stability (try not to lose any of the oyster liquor). Once shallots are softened add Worcestershire sauce to melted butter and stir to combine. Spoon melted butter mixture over oysters (a teaspoon or so ought to do it). Sprinkle crisped diced bacon over each oyster and but under broiler for 3 to 5 minutes until oysters are warmed thru and bacon re crisps. Plate oysters and squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley - eat immediately while hot. Serve with a nice baguette for soaking up any left over sauce