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.

Spicy Shrimp Cocktail

The earliest mention of seafood cocktails in America is from the late 19th century. Especially popular during prohibition to replace the spirits that were missing during that the darkest hour of our American history! Earliest concoctions would typically include oysters and it was down south in the bayou that shrimp were more plentiful that we see the inclusion of the briny sea creatures included in the mix. The recipe below is my take on a classic. I tend to like things spicy so if you prefer less so cut down on the hot sauce and chili paste.

1 pound 31 to 40 count shrimp poached for three minutes chicken broth with shells on (I think the smaller shrimp work best for this recipe as they tend to be sweeter than the larger shrimp). Let cool in broth and remove shrimp from broth and remove shells. Even though the shrimp are small for this application chop shrimp in half or thirds. Also the broth you now have is very flavorful. Freeze for future application such as sopa de Lima!

1/4 cup ketchup

1/5 cup Heinz Chili Sauce

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

1/2 red onion (small dice)

1 rib celery (small dice)

teaspoon chili paste (sambal olek is my favorite)

Hot sauce to taste

salt and pepper to taste

juice of half a lime

Cilantro (chopped)

Mix all ingredients add shrimp leaving some cilantro aside for garnishing. Let flavors marry in fridge for 30 minutes to one hour. Serve in small glasses with spoon top with cilantro leaves.

White bean and prawn omelet Spanish style

This is a riff on a Jose Andreas recipe.

For the beans:

1 pound small white navy beans
2 sprigs Rosemary
3 Bay Leaves
Water to cover by 2 inches
2 tablespoons Olive oil

Soak beans 8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse beans. Place in heavy dutch oven or stock pot. Add cold fresh water to cover beans by two inches. Add bay leaves, rosemary and olive oil bring to a simmer. Simmer for 60 to 90 minutes partially covered until beans are tender. Shut off heat and keep covered until needed (store in fridge up to 1 week).

For omelet (makes 2 individual servings):

4 to 5 eggs beaten with a little water

4 ounces oyster mushrooms (stems removed hand torn)

2 roasted piquillo peppers (from a jar) sliced

1/2 white onion fine dice

1/2 pound of 41 /50 count shrimp (smallish)*

Cilantro (a few leaves hand picked)

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

Sal and Pepper

Olive oil

Heat two 6 inch non stick pans over medium low heat. Add a small amount of oil each pan to cover bottom of pan approx. 1 tablespoon each pan. Let oil heat for 1 minute and then add diced onion. Sweat onion for 2 to 3 minutes and add torn oyster mushrooms. Cook for 1 minute and add prawns spread evenly throughout pan in one layer. Allow prawn to cook 2 minutes and turn prawns and mushrooms. Cook another 2 minutes. Add both paprika's split evenly among the two pans. Add 1 cup of bean drained of their liquid and cook for one minute. Flattend out all ingredients so that they fill the pan in one layer. Add 1/2 of beaten eggs to each pan. Add salt and pepper and slice piquillo chili's scattered on top of the eggs. Do not stir let the eggs set. You may have to twirl the pan to get the eggs in every crevice. Cover pan for 2 minutes and slide omelet onto warmed plate. Top with cilantro leaves. Serve with crusty bread and a nice tomato, onion avocado salad.

Jose Andres is god or devil or maybe both......

I have been a huge, huge fan of Feran Adria (of El Bulli fame) for years……this guy is the father of molecular gastronomy after all. Molecular gastronomy is basically creating new ways to cook, display and eat food the likes of which would send our good friend Escoffier into fits of unbounded pleasure……of course modern chefs have the benefit of new chemical processes and techniques not available at the turn of the 19th century. For my part molecular gastronomy is a pure reductionist view of food......

While I have not had the pleasure of dining at El Bulli under Adria or at the London Savoy under the masterful hand of Escoffier I did have a chance to dine under the watchful eye of Jose Andres……long time student of Feran Adria.

So for those of you that seek ultimate culinary experiences like a crack addict seeks….well crack…..than this posting is for you…….

The Bazaar
At SLS Hotel
465 S La Cienega Blvd

Lapin au Vin (Rabbit Stew)

The first time I had rabbit was in 1989 in Paris. I was visiting my little sister who was working and going to school there at the time. My older sister and her husband were in Paris at the same time for the same reason. The trip itself was loads of fun and filled with lots of first time eating experiences but one of the most memorable was the day I was wondering around Paris on my own and stumbled across a small out of the way bistro in the 12th arrondisement. I ordered a rabbit stew that was served with simple boiled potatoes a green salad and a carafe of red wine. The weather that day was foggy, drizzling and cold (It was December after all) so the meal was perfect to warm me up. The bowl of stew came out steaming, I took my first bite and the rabbit was tender and slightly sweet with a subtle hint of barnyard gaminess. It went perfectly with the lightly boiled potatoes sprinkled with a dusting of parsely and fresh cracked black pepper. Ever since that meal I have been a big fan of rabbit and order it whenever I can. Recently a new upscale market opened in my neighborhood and they sell fresh farm raised rabbit. While it is neither foggy or cold in southern California at the moment I could not resist trying to recapture my Lapin au Vin.

Lapin au Vin

1 fresh rabbit cut into 6 pieces (see picture)

1 cup flour (seasoned)

4 slices thick cut streaky bacon (diced)

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion diced

4 garlic cloves

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon thyme

8 crimini mushrooms

2 carrots diced

1 stalk celery (diced)

1 cup red wine

2 cups chicken stock

salt and pepper

Cut up the rabbit and rinse in cold water and dry (make sure to remove the kidenys on the inside of the rabbit set aside for a nice little snack later - simply season with salt and pepper and suatee in a little butter). Sautee diced bacon until fat is rendered and crisp. Remove bacon set aside for later. Season rabbit with salt and pepper and dredge in seasoned flour. Add butter to hot pot and rendered bacon fat and brown rabbit pieces in batches until browned all over. Set rabbit pieces aside. Sautee onions and garlic 5 minutes. Add thyme and bay leaves and sautee 2 minutes. Add wine reduce by 25% add rabbit pieces and chicken stock until it almost covers rabbit. Simmer for 90 minutes. Remove rabbit pieces from stock and let cool. Strain solids from stock and discard. Place strained stock back in pot with rabbit that has been removed from bone and shredded. Add diced carrots and mushrooms and simmer for 30 minutes. If too dry add more stock or water. Adjust seasoning and serve with mashed potatoes.

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.

Tapas and Shish Kabob

We had a few friends over for a little bbq and drinks. For some reason when I plan a dinner party of any sort my creative juices start flowing and from what was a simple throw some burgers and hot dogs on the grill becomes a shish kabob, mint feta orzo salad, 2 homemade salsas, chorizo, boudin blanc, wagyu hot dogs, sweet Italian sausages, tapas frenzy…….

I can’t seem to help myself but in the end it was loads of fun and I hope tasty for the guests. First lets begin with the tapas. I had originally thought about doing some kind of gourmet devilled eggs…you know topped with a bit of tobiko (flying fish row), or Spanish tuna in oil with capers…..that kind of thing. The above flavors still came into play but I decided to cut the perfectly cooked boiled eggs (9 minutes with a bit of vinegar in the water and a hole punched in the big end of the egg with a push pin and slowly dropped into the barely boiling water) across the egg latitudinally and lay them in the egg cup with various toppings. Possibly a picture of my mis en place will give you an idea of where I ended up on the devilled eggs idea.

Upper lelft you have crispy shallots going clockwise you have seaweed strips, smoked trout, anchovies in chili oil, spanish tuna in olive oil, boquerones, piquillo peppers and out of the picture is a bowl filled with sliced scallion, radishes, parley leaves and capers and a small tub of tobiko.

No real recipe here just put on it what you like......here is one of my creations.

Now onto the meat part of the evening, as I said we did have quite the selection of sausages that included the following:

Boudin Blanc (nice pork sausage with a hint of brandy and I think allspice), Chorizo, wagyu beef hotdogs (amazing!!) and some good ole' sweet italian.

Luckily enough we have a nice baker nearby that does these amazing fresh hot dog and hamburger buns.......put a few kinds of mustartd, some catsup, mayo and a soome HP sauce and you are go to go once the sausages come soff the grill.

Okay now for the shish kabob......5 pounds shank end of leg of lamb bone removed by you or butcher but make sure to keep it for a future stock. Cut lamb into approx 1 inch cubes trimmed of silver skin and some of the fat. Make the marinade by pulsing together the following in a food processor:

1 bunch mint

5 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons rosemary

Handful of parsley

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Process into paste and toss with meat. Marinate overnight (huge difference in flavor if you leave for 24 hours). Make kabobs on metal skewers with the following pattern - red onion, meat, peppers - repeat....will look something like this:

Grill a total of 8 to 10 minutes turning every couple until all 4 sides have felt the heat. Should give you a medium rare kind of thing going on.

Will save the recipe for delicious orzo, mint feta salad for a future post.