Soft Shell Blue Crab and local beer. It's a fry heat.

 

I'm having a great summer. Yeah it's hot but you come to expect that here in Phoenix. Coyotes are staying put for now, they backed off the mass-transit strike and I spent the 4th with my folks so all-in-all can't complain. Now I got crabs....not those kind, yeesh.

Once a year the good Lord sees fit to make available one of the yummiest treats known to man. Soft shell crab. Immature freshly molted crustaceans. Usually something this pricey I would back away from for this blog but some jerk-wad ordered a bunch from my local butcher and then refused them. His loss my gain, usually they sell anywhere from 8 to 10 each but these needed to sell quick so I got them by weight at 9 a pound. See how having a good relationship with a supplier comes into play? Right.

What should I do? Maybe go Asian with a light tempura batter and Thai Curry? Maybe classic Cioppino?

OR...wait for it. We have a terrific local brewer called San-Tan that has a new seasonal. A light wheat Ale with Pineapple. Do some Midwest style corn on the cob and a Cajon style slaw? Sounds good right?

Here's what we need.

Soft Shell Blue Crab Sandwich with Cajon Cole Slaw

Mise-en-place

8 or so soft shell crabs

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

Salt and Pepper

2 12oz Beers

A quantity of Cajon Blackening Powder ( I make my own, we've covered this before) We're using it a lot today

Oil and a deep pot for frying

smallish head of Cabbage

1 red Bell Pepper, small dice

3 Green Onions, same

A jar of Mayonnaise, sure I could make my own but I'm not gonna

1 whole Lemon

Fresh Corn with husk, let's be real, it's everywhere this time of year

Corn's easy. I'm keeping it Midwestern style so once the shucks are removed put it in a pot with Milk, Water, salt, pepper, sugar and butter. Just do it. Bring it to a boil, drop the heat and just forget about it.

The longer you let it sit, the better.

Cajon Cole Slaw

Basically it's a chopped salad isn't it?

Remove the core, cus yuck

Add your Pepper and Green Onion

Stupid easy I know

Take about a Cup of the Mayo. Add 1TB of Blackening Powder, a few good splashes of Tobasco, some more of the same of Cider Vinegar, pinch of Salt and Pepper, pinch of Celery Seed some chopped Dill and combine.

 

Dump it over the chopped stuff and toss to coat. Let that sit for a spell, longer is better.

See? It doesn't have to be fancy.

 

Now we set up our fry station

We're using seasoned flour first so in a wide bowl add one cup flour with a good pinch of Salt and Pepper, to that add tsp of Cajon Blackening Powder, toss , set aside

For the batter, measure out 2 1/4 cups flour. One tsp Baking Powder. Good pinch of Salt. Combine.

Dump in both Beers, whisk thoroughly.

 

Let sit for about 60 minutes.

 

Get those crabs ready. Dry as much as you can with clean paper towel. We're frying, hot oil and water don't like each other.

For frying stuff like this I like a combination of oil and shortening. Any vegetable oil will do, just add an equal amount of Crisco. Sure, if you want to drag out your deep-fryer go ahead. I'm just gonna use this pot, so there. Betcha my clean up will be easier. Test the oil temp by dropping a speck of batter in. If it bubbles and floats immediately you are ready to go.

Frying is done in steps. Use your hands and be careful.

First coat the item in the seasoned flour, shake off any excess.

Now dunk it into the batter

 

 

let it drip for a second and lower low and slow into the oil.

 

It only takes a minute or so, then flip it over for another 30 seconds, remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat. Don't rush and don't panic. Golden brown or nuthin'.

As an added bonus let's do an Aioli. Basically a special Mayonnaise.

A cup of Mayo

1 tsp grated Lemon peel

Juice of half a Lemon

Scant pinch salt

Big-ass pinch of Black Pepper

That'll be the spread for the sandwich. Cool.

 

 

Done? Let's plate up. Grill your bun if ya wanna, or not, your call.

 

Now that's summer right there

Cooking poor, eating rich

Get your grub on

Ciao

 

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Girl Kryptonite. Chocolate.

Hi friends, been a while hasn't it.? Don't worry everything is just dandy. I've had a busy spring with my RWJ, a high school reunion, birthday, vacation but now it's summer and things have slowed down.
Today I'm going to share a secret, ready? Chicks dig chocolate. Seriously, like even more than horses, shoes and unicorns. They should rename it "chickolate" Need a ticket out of the doghouse? Here ya go.
It's also my Sister-in-law's birthday and this is her present from me.
Almost Flourless Chocolate Torte:
Warning, while the prep for this is actually easy, the techniques used are fairly advanced. Read through the instructions a few times before you start and if I lose you, I'd be happy to provide clarification. I'm here to help.
Mise-en-place
1 pound dark chocolate
4 whole eggs
1 TB sugar
1 TB flour
10 TB unsalted butter
10 oz's raspberries, frozen are just fine
One small pot for melting the chocolate and butter
One large pot with an inch or two of boiling water
One medium bowl for the eggs and sugar
Good large wire whisk
Rubber spatula
Spoon
9 inch cake pan, floured and buttered.
9 inch round of wax paper, butter one side and place it on the bottom, butter side up please.
Preheat oven to 425f

A few tips. Chocolate hates water. Wash all your equipment the night before and let air-dry so there isn't even a trace of water on anything.
When buying chocolate splurge a little, best you can afford. The chocolate we are using today is easy to find. It's labeled simply as "dark chocolate" or as 40% depending on where it's from. Do not use cookie chips, they spray those with food wax which is ok for Tollhouse but not for today ok?
Last one, let your eggs come to room temperature and you'll get better results.

Ready? Here we go.
Start heating up the large pot of water
In your small pot combine your chocolate and butter and place over medium heat. Stir gently as it melts. Once smooth remove from heat completely.

In the large bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar over the boiling water. Just until warm.

And we're whisking....and whisking. Keep going, the eggs will start getting foamy, you'll have to keep checking the temperature, use your finger. If it gets too hot the eggs will curdle. It's better to go slow and warm. It's ok to remove it from the hot water, just keep whisking, do not stop. It will quadruple in volume and get fairly thick. Then you can stop.

Gently fold in the flour.
Now we temper, we've done this before. Add 1/4 of the egg stuff into the chocolate off heat please, fold in gently.

Once completely stirred in, add the chocolate compound to the remaining egg mixture. Gently fold until completely incorporated.

And we're folding... 'Cus stirring would cause you to lose all that volume you just whisked into the eggs and that would be dumb.

Mmmmmm folding....
Alrighty, is that oven ready? Better be. Pour the batter into the cake pan and gently smooth out the top. No tapping to remove air bubbles, 'cus like duhhhh.
Put it into the oven and go wash stuff for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. It will still be fairly liquid. It's ok.

Let it cool just enough to be safe and wrap it tight in plastic. Put it in the freezer overnight.

Get some rest. I'll see you in the morning.
First thing, take it out of the freezer. Just put it somewhere out of the way while you get your morning coffee. Let it come to room temperature. Remove the plastic and invert it onto a flat plate. If it fights coming out, use some hot water on the bottom of the pan, it should pop right out.
It's kinda ugly looking right? We can fix that. If ya like go ahead and cover it with whipped cream. Today I am lucky enough to have a bit of imported cinnamon-infused chocolate.
Same procedure as we did with the other chocolate. 4oz chocolate with 1 TB of butter. Melt slowly over lower heat. Once smooth just spread it on the top and sides. Easy right?

Off-set palette knives are our friends

We need a sauce for this don't we? In a small pot heat up the raspberries with a scant pinch of salt, 2TB sugar and just a splash of water. If using frozen you might need less sugar, some come sweetened. Stir on simmer until all the fruit is broken down and press it through a fine wire mesh strainer. Done

To slice this, use a sharp, wet knife. Just wet the knife in cold water. Gently slice and plate. Keep in mind this is a very dense and rich cake so one serving is fairly thin.

Rich, uncious, dark chocolate. Guys, you got this. Happy Birthday Yvette!

Cooking poor, eating rich

Get your grub on

Ciao

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Easter. Shhh It's Wabbit season.

 

 

Here's the deal. I have a slightly evil sense of humor. I also really like pushing buttons. Put that together with my culinary sense of adventure and you end up with me doing the kid-hate inducing thing you should never EVER serve at Easter. Unless you're me.
Rabbit used to be common. It still is in the mid-west but just mention it to most Americans and they'll make the ookie face. It's a good lean meat, try it. My version is Italian in origin and uses shallots, dry white wine and lovely fresh herbs. Really easy to do, you'll see.

 

First up, buy a rabbit. I have a source with our butcher at my real job so he brought some in for me. Have him ( or her ) divide it up for you. Point is, rabbit bones are murder on knife edges. I learned that the hard way years ago. Better the butcher's knives get the notches than yours.

 

Mise en Place

One rabbit, divide all pieces into as many smaller pieces as possible. Bone in.

Seasoned flour, salt, black pepper, pinch of Paprika

Finely grated Parmesan

6 large Shallots, quartered

A piece or two of bacon or salt pork, no wrong answers

1 bottle dry white wine. Chardonnay, Fume Blanc...whatever ya got

Bunch of fresh Marjoram

Some Rosemary

Same with Oregano

Also Thyme

Remove leaves but save those stems, tie them together and add those to the pot later. Big fancy Chef word for today is Bouquet garni.

Splash of Olive Oil
Wide ribbon Pasta, pick one.

Start heating up your pan and add your pieces of pork belly, cook those alone for a couple minutes and add a splash of oil

 

Combine the cheese with the seasoned flour. Dredge all pieces 'o' Peter Rabbit and shake off excess.

Start browning off the bunny pieces. Light gold brown

 

For now remove to the side.

 

In the same pan dump in the shallots and start browning those off.

Put the rabbit pieces back add the herbs and dump in the wine to cover. We're braising aren't we? Make sure to scrape up the yummy brown stuff on the bottom of the pan. Check your seasoning ok?

 

 

Thing is rabbit has some tough leg muscle as you might imagine and to make it edible a long cooking time is the order for the day. Bring to a good simmer, cover, and braise until tender. Depending on the size of your egg and jellybean shilling hasenpfeffer this can go anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.

That's ok, gives us time to par-cook the pasta. Boil, drain..blah blah. Gently add the pasta to the pan. Toss lightly.

 

Plate up and garnish with any herbs you have left over.

Let the kids know what they're eating maybe AFTER they hunt for eggs.

Have a blessed and peaceful Easter

Cooking poor, eating rich

Get your grub on

Ciao

 

 

 

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Surviving Lent with prostitutes and anchovies. Puttanesca

Who said dinner during Lent has to be boring? 

This dish is one of my all-time favorites. It's got a great story behind it. In Italian Puttanesca means "whore" isn't that a scream? The story is that this was prepared afterwards to fortify the "customer" before his journey home to the wife. It's a simple, salty, peppery dish of easy to find items in any Italian kitchen. So easy it takes less than an hour to make. Time is money, for prostitutes and Chefs alike. 

 If you don't like Anchovies you're in big trouble. 

 Chef Nick does Pasta alla Puttanesca

Mise-en-place

1 pound of pasta, any shape you like but I prefer Linguine or another strand type

about 8 or so fresh Tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, smooshed

4 Anchovy fillets 

some chopped up Kalamata Olives
1-2 TB of Capers, chopped.
big pinch of red chili flakes
any appropriate fresh herbs, I like Oregano

First step, de-seeding the Tomatoes. Most recipes don't have this step but I just don't like the look of all those seeds floating around in my sauce, if it doesn't bother you then skip ahead. All you need is to core first then cut in half. Squeeze gently over a wire-mesh strainer to remove seeds. This sounds wacky but it's a trick I learned from my old boss Paul Poblate. The flavor of Tomato is actually in the gel that surrounds the seeds, so whenever you remove seeds, strain out the liquid and add it back in at some point. Brightens the whole dish.

and just assemble the rest of your ingredients. 

Now some friendly words about Anchovies. 

I grew up on Anchovies. It's an Italian thing. The salty-fishy-hairy stuff was always a big treat whenever the family got together. I'll just never-ever understand why it generates so much hate. It's a small fish from the Mediterranean that is then dried in salt and packed in oil. It's terrific and such a big part of this dish you just can't make it without. I eat them right out of the can. I also refuse to order pizza from a place that doesn't have this as an option. Seriously. Please, give them a chance. Sing with me. Anchovies Anchovies, they're so delicious, I loves 'em better than all the other fishes. 


Yes, please cook off the pasta before-hand. This sauce is so quick you'll need it fast.

 Next to your stove you have something that looks like this...

Heat up a large pan. HOT if you can't touch it, it's ready. Add a splash of Olive Oil, then the garlic. 

Toss it around and add the Chili Pepper flakes. Be careful not to burn, just take it the point you start to see some color on the garlic. Then add the Anchovy. It will start to dissolve almost instantly. 

Add all the Tomatoes with a good pinch of Black Pepper and a scant pinch of Salt (you don't need much 'cus, yeah Capers and Anchovy have a ton of salt already)

We are still on high heat, the Tomatoes will start to break down (if you saved your tomato gel, add it now) 

Just watch now, once the Tomato stops looking like just chopped Tomato, add the Capers and Olives and any fresh herbs, again, I used Oregano. Still on high heat. Let that all cook down to remove as much water as you can, turn down heat to low. 

Here's why it's smart to pre-cook the pasta. Unlike Americans, Italians know that you add the pasta to the sauce, all that carry-over heat will force the sauce into the pasta and Italian cooking is all about getting the most out of everything. Another good tip, add a splash of the pasta water into your pan. 

That's it friends. Plate that up. Italians always-always-always have bread on hand. Garnish with some chopped herbs if ya like. Admit it, you'd visit a prostitute if you knew you'd get served this after. 

Cooking poor, eating rich

get your grub on

Ciao