Oysters: Two Ways

Four months later I return to blog about medical-related-food.....Christmas is a time of bounty with gifts from neighbors, and if you're my father, gifts from patients. He receives lovely gifts like delicious baked goods, jams, and wine, but some food gifts are really special like a bucket of oysters! I spent my early childhood near the South Texas coast and grew up eating oysters in all their forms. If you love oysters like my family the indispensable tool for their preparation is a small fryer or as it is known in our house the "FryDaddy." Tonight we had so many oysters that we prepared them two ways, fried and scalloped, and served the oysters with a green salad.

 Scalloped Oysters
(From Rockport Collection: Fish, Game, Fine Art, a copy of this book was given to my parents when they bought a house in Rockport, TX)

Ingredients:
2 cups of oysters, drained
8 tbs butter
1 1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs
1 tbs of chopped chives, sprig of Oregano
juice from one lemon
3 tbs Parmesan cheese mixed with 1 tbs bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
2. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter. In a bowl, coat the crumbs with butter until a paste is formed.
Spread a half inch thick layer on the bottom of a flat baking dish. Arrange the oysters over the crumbs.
3. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a glass measuring cup. Combine and mix the melted butter, lemon juice, chives, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the oysters, then sprinkle the oysters with Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
4. Bake the gratin for 30 minutes until it is brown and bubbling at the edges.

Fried Oysters:
Oysters drained and dried until damp
Zatarain's garlic fish fry powder
cayenne pepper
bottle of vegetable oil
small fryer

1. Heat the oil in the fryer. 
2. Pour the fry powder in a plastic bag, spike it with cayenne pepper and mix well.  Dredge oysters through the batter and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Put the coated oysters in the freezer until you are ready to fry.
3. Fry the oysters and pull them out of the fryer when they float to the top.
4. Serve the oysters with tartar sauce, ketchup, or salsa golf (which is Argentinian secret sauce made of mayonnaise and ketchup)

The joys of Galveston--Stone Crab

During my first trip to Katie's fish market on Thursday,  I watched a local fisherman deliver an overflowing cooler of fresh stone crab claws to the market. The crabs were weighed out on the spot and a man handed the fisherman a stack of twenty dollar bills. After witnessing the delivery of fresh crab from the Gulf of Mexico, I knew I had to come back the next day to buy those crab claws and other ingredients to make a seafood paella.  When I went to the fish market on Friday, I bought 12 stone crab claws and two pounds of shrimp intending to make a seafood paella. But family plans changed and I used the shrimp for ceviche, and was too busy to return to the fish market for more ingredients. Luckily, my mother, the master paella cook, is here in Galveston and used the stone crab to make a paella with lump crab meat.

We followed this recipe of Paella rice with spider crab and peas, using instead the meat from the stone crab claws.  The stone crab claws where extremely hard to open--I think the crabs were named for having bodies as hard as stones. It took a series of serious whacks with a hammer to break the shell, but the reward was large chunks of a very sweet crab meat.  I wanted to share a few pictures of the preparation of this fabulous paella before I transition to vegetarian meals from my new favorite book. 

 

Note to readers: I just bought How to cook everything vegetarian by Mark Bittman so the next few posts will be sourced from that book.

Welcome to Galveston

I'm back from my 6 month hiatus...for now at least.  I have moved from Washington, DC to Galveston, Texas, and I start classes on Monday, August 29, at University of Texas Medical Branch.  I sorely miss Washington, DC and all of my friends there,  but life in Galveston is looking up. I am starting medical school, a day I thought would never come, and I live in a house with perfect location that is 10 minutes from a beach and even closer to a fish market.

This morning I went to the Katie's Seafood market on pier 19 and bought 12 stone crab claws and 2 pounds of gulf shrimp.  As a first year student, I anticipate being short on time from now until at least next May. Thus, I thought it appropriate that my first blog post from Galveston be a time saving recipe--quick and easy shrimp ceviche. Though ceviche is simple to prepare, in order to denature, the raw fish has to stew in the lime or lemon juice for at least 3 hours. In my ceviche, the shrimp is pre-cooked and the mixture only has to sit for an hour to develop flavor.

Ingredients:
2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 cup lime juice, about 8-10 limes
5 green onions, sliced thinly, going a few inches into the green
1 red jalapeño and 1 green jalapeño, minced (I only used half of the green to limit the spiciness)
1 cup cilantro (about a handful), finely chopped
10+ cherry tomatoes, quartered 
salt, pepper, olive oil

For Serving:
tortilla chips
salsa


1. Peel and clean the shrimp. For aesthetics, I sliced the shrimp in half lengthways.

2. While cleaning the shrimp, fill a large pot with 4 inches of water. Once the water comes to a boil,  set a metal colander in the pot.
3. Add the cleaned and sliced shrimp to the boiling water. Cover the colander and steam the shrimp for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the shrimp are white and pink. Remove the shrimp from the water and set aside to drain and cool. When cooled, transfer the shrimp to a flat dish; I used an 8x8 pyrex dish.

4. Juice the limes into a measuring cup.

5. Slice the scallions, mince the jalapeños, and add them to the measuring cup with the lime juice to soften while you chop the cilantro and quarter the tomatoes.
6. Pour the lime juice mix onto the shrimp and toss, making sure to coat the shrimp.

 7. Add the cilantro and tomatoes, toss again. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

8. Let the ceviche sit refrigerated for at least an hour, you can leave it for longer for stronger flavor. 
9. When you are ready to serve the ceviche, use a sieve to drain only the lime juice from the shrimp. Transfer the shrimp back into the serving dish, sprinkle with about two tablespoons of olive oil and toss to coat the shrimp.
--The olive oil helps smooth out the bite of the lime juice, but if you like the sour bite, reserve some of the lime juice and mix it with the olive oil and make a dressing to coat the shrimp.
10. Serve the ceviche with tortilla chips and your favorite salsa.

Homage to Palena Cafe: Lamb meatballs in red sauce with mozzarella

The dish prepared in this blog post is another meal made in homage to a Palena Cafe dish. When my mother came to DC, I did what all good children to and took her to a restaurant where I would like to eat regularly but am too poor to do so. Palena Cafe was a good pick for both of us: my mother wanted excellent continental American food and I wanted to visit Palena again so I could eat something beside frito misto and the roasted chicken.

When I visit a new city I am more likely to eat at ethnic restaurants that represent a prevalent immigrant group (ie Ethiopian in DC) or eat at a place that serves a current food trend (ie meatballs in NYC). My parents, however, live in a small suburb of Austin, Texas, and they rarely eat out at "nice" Continental restaurants in Georgetown, Texas or even in Austin. The reasoning is, for less money my mother can probably recreate the meal using better ingredients and they can drink better wine in the comfort of their own home. So while my parents would never go to a continental restaurant like Palena Cafe or Dino's or West End Bistro in Austin, they like to go to places like that in DC because the food is delicious and worth the money.

I loved what my mother ordered at Palena Cafe: lamb meatballs and mozzarella pearls in red sauce served over creamy polenta. Just like the frito misto I love at Palena, the lamb dish is seemingly simple in its composition but not easy to recreate. Thanks to my boyfriend and his family, I was able to use farm raised ground lamb (just like Palena) to make the meatballs, but even with that special touch, my dish was a far cry from Palena's version. My final product was similar in spirit, but needless to say I will still be spending large chunks of my paycheck eating out at restaurants above my pay grade...

Lamb and cheese balls in red sauce served over polenta:

Tomato wine sauce (recipe adapted from a friend of a friend)

olive oil for sauteing
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced and 1 whole garlic clove for flavor
1/4 tsp salt
3 tablespoons fresh oregano
1 1/2 cup red wine
1 28 ounce can canned tomatoes, undrained
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. In a medium size pot, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot and saute the chopped onions and minced garlic until the onions are translucent. Add the chopped oregano and about a teaspoon of salt and saute for a few minutes.
2. Add 1/2 cup of the red wine and allow it to come to a boil; stir to incorporate the onions. 3.While the wine is heating, pour the canned tomatoes in the food processor and puree them until smooth. (Don't skip this step like I wanted to--chunky tomato sauce will ruin this dish.)
4. Add the pureed tomatoes, 1 cup of wine, and one whole garlic clove into the pot. Stir, turn the heat to medium-low and allow the sauce to simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. If the sauce tastes too much like wine for your taste, add a cup of water.

Lamb meatballs (make while the sauce is simmering and the flavors are melding)

olive oil for frying meatballs
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 cup corn meal
1 egg

1. Combine the ground lamb with cornmeal and egg. Mix really well with your hands or spoon.
If you have time, let the mixture set for 30 minutes or more. I find this helps the meatballs stay together while they cook.
2. Roll the lamb mixture into 1 inch diameter meatballs.
3. In a small frying pan, add enough oil to cover the bottom. Heat the oil over medium-high heat, and add the meatballs when the oil is hot.
4. Cook the meatballs until they are brown on all sides and then for a a few minutes longer so they are not very pink inside.
5. Cook all the lamb meatballs and set aside for assembly.

Cheese balls--two options
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Combine the cheeses in a bowl. Form balls slightly smaller than the lamb meatballs.
2. Set aside until assembly.
OR
1. Go to Whole Foods and buy a container of pearl mozzarella.

Polenta
I bought the ready-made kind that comes in a tube and heated in the microwave with some milk and water and whipped it until fairly smooth. It's lazy I know, but this recipe is already too long.

Assembly
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 °F.
2. In a oven-safe frying pan or dish, pour in enough sauce to have a 2-3 inch layer of sauce. Arrange the meatballs and cheeseballs in whatever artful arrangement pleases your eye.
3. Bake until the cheeseballs are soft and beginning to melt. For my ricotta-mozzarella balls this took 20 minutes.
4. Dish out polenta into bowls--about 1 cup per person.
5. Serve the sauce with meatballs and cheeseballs on top.
6. Enjoy.

Homemade Frito Misto

When Sam and I are feeling rich, we like to live above our means by eating at expensive restaurants. One of our favorite places to spend money is Cafe Palena in Cleveland Park. Every time we go we order one of two things: the roasted chicken or the fry plate. Since we began eating at Cafe Palena the fry plate has evolved from majority french fries and fried onions with homemade mayonnaise, to mostly fried seafood like shrimp, squid, and cod. I have a few precious family memories eating fried fish in Texas. When I was very young, my family had a house in Rockport, Texas, and my mother had the brilliant idea to make fried calamari from the squid usually used as bait. A later summer, one of my father's patients brought him a huge bushel of oysters. First we ate them raw with lemon, then we brought out the Fry Daddy and fried them poolside. What I'm getting at, is with all my history and love of fried fish, I had never made it before, so Sam and I set out to remedy the situation by attempting to recreate the Frito Misto from Palena.

One Saturday a few weeks ago, Sam and I went the to the DC fish-market out on the Southwest waterfront and bought 1 pound of shrimp, 1 pound of cod, and 1 pound of squid. We also added onions, broccoli, and lemon slices to our list of things to fry.

The plan to make the Cafe Palena fry plate was simple:

1) clean shrimp, cut cod, squid and vegetables into friable pieces

2) coat the seafood and vegetables in flour

3) heat one whole bottle of vegetable oil in a deep pan

4) Fry everything
5) Eat with condiments

All American meal: Fried chicken and Baked Alaska

I hosted a few friends for dinner last night, and I used the gathering as another opportunity to cook something new as well as eat something for the first time. Fried chicken is not an entirely new experience since almost every meat eating American has had fried chicken either homemade or in the form of chicken nuggets or chicken tenders. However, I have never fried my own chicken, and I wanted to make the type of fried chicken with a thick and crispy coating, similar to the coating on chicken fried steak. I turned again to Mark Bittman, who had a fried chicken recipe called Fried Chicken that Reaps Superlatives; who could refuse to try a recipe with a title like that?
Indeed this fried chicken recipe is genius. I'm a fried chicken amateur, (so this might be common knowledge to experienced southern/fry cooks) but making a thick paste of onions, parsley, tahini, and olive oil and then dredging the chicken in flour is the trick to a thick crispy coating. Double dredging the chicken is not enough. The usual egg and milk mixture that I use to fry okra is too wimpy to keep the flour glued to the chicken while it fries in hot oil. The paste creates the thick coating and thus delectable fried chicken.

After dredging the chicken in the paste and then the flour, and repeating these steps, the chicken is fried in about 1/2 inch of hot oil. My best advice is to use chicken thighs because the meat stays more moist during the frying process. In the case of this fried chicken, the best directions are to follow the Mark Bittman recipe and watch the Minimalist video to get an idea of how think the paste should be and how long to cook the chicken so it still retains its tenderness and moisture.



The second part of the meal that was totally foreign and new to me was Baked Alaska. I originally thought Baked Alaska was a savory dish involving salmon and heaps mayonnaise; the type of recipe published in woman's magazines in the 1960's, aimed at Betty Friedan's target audience whose main concern was feeding the men of the greatest generation. Apparently Baked Alaska is actually a mountain of sugar encased in a layer of meringue. My friend who came to dinner brought the components of the dessert: brownie, butter pecan ice cream, and eggs.
The dinner guests worked in shifts beating the the egg whites by hand until they peaked, and then the Baked Alaska was assembled. As one dinner guest commented, "Ice cream. Alaska. I get it. That's stupid." I can't think of a reason that this dish is called Baked Alaska except for the presence of ice cream and and the finished product is a large white mass.

The final verdict: Baked Alaska is a pretty good dinner trick--pure Americana and tasty in the right combination of cake, ice cream, and meringue. However, I don't know if I'll be making this on my own. I'd much rather my friends come over again and make it for me.

(Valentine's Day?) Chai Truffles

At the end of January I said I would spend February blogging Mark Bittman Minimalist recipes. Though my original intention remains, the opportunity to make my own chocolate presented itself and I could not ignore such an occassion. Really, the spirit of the Minimalist is making cooking easier than you think it is and then pushing yourself to cook things you would not usually cook. Hence homemade the pasta, the truffles in this post, and the next blog post, fried chicken.

I have a killer sweet tooth...one that will probably kill me through either diabetes or choking on a piece of hazelnut in a chocolate bar when I'm seventy. As I have stated earlier, I am not a great baker and as I learned last night, I'm also not a great confectioner, but I did have fun making the truffles. The truffle making process was too sticky, too messy, and did not yield (in my opinion) a very aesthetically pleasing product. Though, I have to give a shout out to my boyfriend, he is an excellent truffle maker and ended up rolling up most of the truffles and certainly made all the pretty ones.

The idea to make these truffles came from my boss who wanted to make them herself but didn't have the time. She kindly provided me with the spices required for this recipe, so I could make these truffles as a Valentine's day treat for my lab. I was intrigued by this recipe, because I only recently learned how to make authentic chai tea. Chai tea, for those who have only ordered it at Starbucks, is black tea simmered with a combination of aromatic spices that usually includes cinnamon, fennel seed, ginger, cardamom pods, and cloves. Using the same spice and tea mixture with a base of chocolate appealed to my taste buds.

Chai Truffles (adapted from the Washington Post)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons loose black tea leaves (I accidentally used green tea; it tasted fine)
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
10 whole cloves
10 whole green cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound dark chocolate, if you can't find dark just buy unsweetened
about 1/2 cup cocoa powder, mixed with a few tablespoons of cinnamon for rolling the truffles

1. Coarsely chop the pound of chocolate. Then run the knife through it a few times so it has a shaved consistency. Place all the chocolate in a large mixing bowl.

2. In a small sauce pan combine the heavy cream, tea, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom pods, fennel seeds, and salt. Break open the cardamom pods (I wrap them in a paper towel and then hit them with a ladle a few times) and break the cinnamon sticks in half before adding them; this allows the spices to release more of their flavor.

3. Cook mixture over medium heat until bubbles from at the edges where the cream meets with the pot. Remove from heat, cover the pot, and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes.
4. The simple directions are to return the saucepan to medium heat, add the butter and stir until it has melted. Only cook the cream mixture until it is heated through and bubbles have formed around the edge of of the sauce pan. Strain the cream and spice mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the bowl with chocolate. Discard the spices in the strainer and use a spatula to stir the chocolate until it is smooth.

(While those are the general directions, I found that the tea leaves had actually absorbed about 1/8 cup of cream. First, I strained the cream mixture into a measuring cup so I could ascertain how much liquid I had lost and also get rid of the bulk of the spice debris. I then added more cream to bring the total liquid volume back to 1 1/2 cups, poured it back into the sauce pan, added the butter to melt, heated the cream through, and then strained the cream again when I poured it over the chopped chocolate.)

5. Add all of the cream at once and the chocolate will start to melt immediately. Use a spatula to fold the cream and chocolate together, and stir the cream and chocolate until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

6. Place the bowl in the refrigerator; stir the chocolate every twenty minutes until the chocolate stiffens enough to roll into truffles. The hardening process should take about an hour or a bit longer.
7. To prepare for the truffles: Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Mix together the cocoa powder and cinnamon and spread it on a plate.
8. The mixture is ready when it is hard enough that a spoon stands up independently, but still soft enough to mold into a shapes. With a tablespoon, scoop out a chunk of chocolate and use your hands to roll it into a ball. When you're satisfied with the shape, roll the ball in the plate of cocoa powder. Place the truffle on the baking sheet to set. Repeat until all the chocolate is used.

Fresh Pasta for everyone!

Before January 7^th, I never had any inclination to make my own pasta. My exposure to fresh pasta was limited to visiting Filomena's Ristorante in Georgetown and watching the ladies in the entrance window roll out fresh pasta dough into noodles and then later buying freshly made pasta from Vace, the Italian deli in Cleveland Park. But Mark Bittman did it again. His column nudged me toward another new and exciting cooking adventure that I probably would not have tried without his video guidance. Just like I fell in love with Brussels sprouts one cold winter night in 2009, this winter I have fallen for fresh pasta made in the food processor. Based on my successful pasta making experiences of Friday and Monday night, I pledge to (hopefully) never buy dried lasagna noodles again.

I used to avoid making my own dough by telling myself I wasn’t a baker. I am not a baker: I lack the patience and attention to detail required to be an exceptional baker. I do, however, make excellent pizza dough and now pasta dough and whose success is solely due to The Food Processor. For me the hardest part of making dough is sufficiently incorporating the butter or water into the flour to create the small doughy particles that eventually get kneaded together to make the dough ball. Yet with the food processor fresh pasta from flour to noodle in about an hour...I promise I wouldn't lie to you.

Pasta in the Rough: Fresh Pasta from Mark Bittman

Ingredients:

2 cups flour, plus more for coating the dough and rolling it out

1 teaspoon of salt

3 egg yolks

2 eggs

2 tablespoons water

1. Add the flour and salt to the food processor bowl. Pulse a few times to combine.

2. Add the egg yolks and eggs. Pulse a few times at 10 seconds intervals.

The dough should be a light yellow color and beginning to form tiny, dry dough particles.

3. With the blade spinning, slowly add the 2 tablespoons of water through the plunger hole.

At this point, the dough should start to stick together with a slightly darker yellow appearance.

4. If much of the dough is sticking to the walls of the food processor, add a few tablespoons of flour and pulse again.

5. Remove the dough from the bowl and form a ball. Coat the the ball in flour so it doesn't stick to all surfaces.

6. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature. It can rest in the refrigerator up to 24 hours.

7. Place a pot of water to boil while you wait. (It doesn't have to be large. Because the pasta cooks so quickly, I found it easier to cook the pasta in small batches.)

8. After the 30 minutes have passed, with a knife cut the dough ball into four parts.

9. Using a rolling pin (or a wine bottle works in a pinch) roll out one of the dough quarters into a thin sheet.

For pasta that will be sauced and served, try to roll the dough out to one eighth of an inch. For lasagna noodles, roll out the dough to one fourth of an inch. Keep in mind the pasta expands a bit while it cooks.

10. Use a knife to cut the pasta sheet into either squares, rectangles, or large sheets. Drop the pasta a few pieces at a time into boiling water, and remove it as soon as the pasta floats back to the top of the pot--about 1 to 2 minutes.

The cooked product.

The final product, one topped with red sauce and meatballs, the with basil pesto.

Of souffles and jamon...

It has been a while since my last post, and I swear I have an excuse...I lent my camera to my mother and father for their trip to Madrid in January, and I have just gotten it back. I have been cooking, but unable to take pictures, so I haven't bothered to post anything for a while. However, this post has several purposes. 1) One to share some pictures of jamòn Serrano from Spain. 2) Talk about my recent success and goals in souffle making. 3) Mourn the loss of the Minimalist, Mark Bittman, from the New York Times.

My parents spent a week in Madrid, Spain, and as readers of this blog well know, I am a great lover of all pork products, and that affection is directly inherited from my dear parents. My father went to medical school in Spain and has never been able to return to Cuba, so Spain took on the role of adopted homeland. The music and food of Spain have always been prevalent in our household, and my earliest travel memories are eating tapas in Las Cuevas de Luis Candela (a series of restaurants situated in caves) in Madrid.



Here are a couple of shots taken at El Museo del Jamòn (translation The Museum of Ham)
Now on the subject of souffles: I have a personal goal to make a large savory cheese souffle. I've successfully made small chocolate souffles in a myriad of circumstances, and I've never had a Sabrina type failure where the souffle does not rise. I've only had the luxury of using actual ramekins twice; all the other times I've simply made the souffles in coffee mugs. Rustic, yes, non-traditional, yes, but more importantly, available and functional. David Lebovitz posted a recipe for goat cheese souffles that seemed like the perfect transition recipe from sweet to savory souffle. The base of the souffle is goat cheese, cream cheese, egg yolks, sugar, and citrus zest. I used the orange zest of several clementines, and my souffles had a wonderfully tangy sweet taste. I'd love to post pictures...but they don't exist. However, take my word for it, the souffles rose, they stayed fluffy, and the inside was gooey and cheesy as expected. In my (expert) opinion the key to a successful souffle is beating the egg whites until they are extremely stiff, so stiff that you can lift your metal bowl over your head and the egg whites don't move. After that, just make sure you fold the whites in gently to the base and don't over mix the batter. Souffles are often considered too difficult to make by the amateur home cook, but with a strong arm and a whisk or cheap hand held mixer, anyone can beat egg whites and make a successful souffle.

Finally, sad news from the New York Times. Mark Bittman is ending his tenure as The Minimalist, but staying on at the New York Times to write about current food news and American views on what and how to eat. I love Mark Bittman, as the home cook, and I have prepared many successful meals based on his recipes that focus on simplifying technique but maximizing flavor with just a few ingredients. The Minimalist and the Bitten blog were my favorite section of the New York Times. Thus in honor of the Minimalist and Bittman's contribution to food blogging and establishing a norm of how to discuss cooking and everyday food experiences on the internet, I'm going to spend the next few blog posts cooking Minimalist recipes. My next blog post, with pictures, will be about preparing fresh pasta and grinding your own meat for meatballs.


Stay tuned...