SASHIMI COCKTAIL WITH TUNA AND SALMON

Sashimi Cocktail

“New style sashimi in a martini glass”

I've always enjoyed Nobu's "New Style Sashimi" and have been making it for at least a decade.  This is a little bit of  a spin on the dish, but the underlying ingredients are there.  Sushi-grade tuna and salmon are served with a yuzu and a soy vinaigrette, lightly cooked with a combination of warm oils, then topped with soy and bamboo smoked sesame seeds, paddlefish caviar, pickled ginger and wasabi, garnished with a salmon skin crackle.  The "garnishes" are the fun part.  The salmon skin crackles are a very tasty garnish--sort of like the "olive" in a martini.

Ingredients

·         8 oz. Sushi-grade Salmon, skins reserved

·         8 oz. Sushi-grade Tuna

·         4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

·         4 Tablespoons Yuzu Juice

·         2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic

·         14 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

·         4 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

·         1 Tablespoon Soy Sesame Seed (or White)

·         1 Tablespoon Bamboo Smoked Sesame Seed (or Black)

·         2 Tablespoons of Paddlefish caviar (or the real stuff )

·         1/4 cup of Daikon, shredded on a Japanese spiral slicer

·         2 Scallions cut on the diagonal

·         8 pieces of Pickled Ginger, for garnish

·         Fresh Wasabi Root, grated on a shark-skin grater (or the tube stuff) for garnish

Make the salmon skin crackles:  Cut salmon skins into 1-inch strips. Heat a sauté pan.  Add about 2 Tablespoons of the oil and fry salmon skins until very crisp. Remove from pan; place on paper towels and set aside.  When cooled down, thread onto stainless steel or bamboo mini skewers. This is the garnish.

Mix the soy and yuzu juices with garlic; set aside.

Cut the salmon and tuna into 1/2" chunks. 

Combine the olive oil and sesame oil in a nonreactive small saucepan. Set over moderately high heat and bring almost to a boil (about 200°); the surface will shimmer. Remove from the heat and  set aside.

To make the martini (or plate):

Line the bottom of four chilled martini glasses with the shredded daikon. Place equal portions of salmon and tuna in each glass. Drizzle the soy/yuzu/garlic mixture on each serving.  Then, pour the warm oil mixture on each one to "lightly" sear the fish.  Sprinkle the scallions and  both sesame seeds on each.  Add a dollop of caviar and about two slices of ginger, and another dollop of wasabi on each.  Garnish each with a salmon skin crackle. Serves 4 

SALMON FIVE (HUNDRED) AT FIVE

I am a lover of sushi. Been one since my number-two friend introduced me to it back in the late 70's.  So, this means that I do NOT like ANY fish that is over cooked, over cooked or over- cooked.   One fish, in particular, that is difficult to find -- cooked properly -- at many restaurants (unless you're at Le Bernardin or Morimoto or Nobu) is salmon.   Actually, I retract that statement as I recall my comment of yesteryear, "The best  fish that I ever  had (prior to visiting the three restaurants mentioned above) was served at a steak house. "  During those days, I would order "salmon black and blue. " The ONLY time that I ever visited a steak house back then was on business trips.

So, during the past decade, or more, I started making my own (very, very) simple salmon dish.  It was a healthy and a perfect alternative when I was home alone and didn't want the $4.25 "Greek salad" from the take-out joint across the street from my gym (which, by the way, was very good, too--that's another story).

I love to call this dish "Salmon Cooked Five at Five" but in actuality, it is "Five Hundred at Five."  The salmon is cooked in a 500 degree oven for five minutes.   It is served over mashed potatoes, or lentils or rice and drizzled with a fresh scallion (or chive) oil.

My local fish monger always has a full salmon available to select the perfect portion size.  I would indicate to him how thick to cut the salmon and ask him to remove the bone but keep the skin on.  Can't get fresher than that.  If that's not  available, then salmon fillets could work here, but ensure that the skin is on.   It's that simple.  Here goes.

Serves 2
Two 6 1/2 oz salmon fillets, about 1-1.5 inches thick, skin on
Unsalted butter to rub on pan
About 2 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4 inch chunks

Rub butter on pan.  Place salmon, flesh side down, on pan.  Evenly spread out butter chunks on salmon skin. Set aside and let rest until salmon gets to room temperature.

Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes.  If salmon is thinner than 1-1.5 inches, adjust baking time. 

Remove from oven;  let salmon rest for about 1-2 minutes, then peel back and remove skin (use this to make a salmon skin crackle -- another story).  Remove salmon from tray, flip it over and place the fish on a bed of mashed potatoes, lentils or rice (uh oh...other stories).  Top with scallion oil.  Recipe follows.

SCALLION OIL
3/4 oz of scallions (green part only)
4 oz of grapeseed or canola oil
1/8 Teaspoon Maldon salt (or Kosher)
Chop scallions.  Place scallions into blender with oil and salt.  Process until the mixture forms a thick, creamy consistency.  Pour into small saucepan and heat.  Drizzle over salmon.

GINGER AND GARLIC FRIED RICE WITH EGG

I’ve adapted this recipe from JGV’s book, Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges.  It has become one of my favorite ways to serve a take on fried rice, and I’ve enjoyed making it with several varieties of rice—jasmine, red jasmine, bamboo, long grain, short grain, etc.  Every time, it always turns out to be a very tasty dish.   I always serve it with a fish protein.
 
¼ cup grape seed or canola oil
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger
Pinch of Kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 cups of day-old cooked rice (jasmine, bamboo, red – whatever you have on hand), at room temperature
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
¼ tablespoon grape seed or canola oil (must be neutral)
1 large egg
Sauté half of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the minced garlic and ginger and season (very) lightly with salt.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and browned (see photo).  Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a large deep skillet over medium-low heat.  Add scallions.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Ensure they are tender but not browned. 

Add rice to the scallion mixture and cook, stirring well, until heated through.  Season to taste with salt.  Remove from heat.  Remove rice from pan and place into a bowl about 5 inches in diameter.  Invert bowl onto a serving plate.  The rice will unmold into a dome.  Drizzle the sesame oil and soy sauce around the mound of rice.

Put the canola oil in a non-stick skillet and fry the egg, sunny-side up, until the edges are set, but the yolk is still runny*.  Put the egg on top of the mound of rice.  Top the mound of rice and egg with the garlic and ginger crisps and serve immediately.

*If you’re not comfortable with the “sunny side up” raw egg yolk, then, as the egg is cooking, break up the yolk to cook to make a “scrambled egg”.  Put this fully-cooked egg on top of the rice mold and add garlic and ginger crisps.  Serves 2

Quail Stuffed With Foie Gras and Topped With Wild Mushrooms

Whenever I visit my favorite butcher shop in NYC (Ottomanelli & Sons), I like to stock up on certain proteins that are never available at my local grocery stores.  Boneless quail is one of those items. And the mini frozen packages of foie gras is another.  All of Ottomanelli's products are very high quality and, although these particular proteins are frozen, they are very good.  So, basically, my comment is that “I have quail, on call” whenever I have a package in the freezer.

One dish that I like to make using the quail, when stuffed, is with foie gras and wild mushrooms.  This is a dish to make only once a year, typically in the dead of winter. Recently, I made the dish but "forgot" to include the wild mushrooms in the stuffing, so I opted to make a wild mushroom  topping with baby portobello and shiitake mushrooms.  This recipe is adapted from Chef Waldy Malouf of the Beacon in NYC from his book, The Hudson River Valley Cookbook.

Quail Stuffed With Foie Gras and Topped With Wild Mushrooms
THE FILLING:
8 oz. skinless and boneless chick breast
1 egg white
2 oz. Port
4 oz. light cream
1/2  tsp kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (combined)
Freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/8^th of a teaspoon
4 oz.  foie gras, cut in 1/4 inch dice
1/4 # spinach, blanched, chopped and squeezed as dry as possible
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

THE PROTEIN:
4 boneless quail (available from Ottomanelli & Sons Prime Meat Market )
4 slices of duck (or turkey) bacon
4 teaspoons unsalted butter

THE BRAISED WILD MUSHROOMS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 Teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 # assorted wild mushrooms -- portobello, shiitake, etc.
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock -- preferably homemade -- NEVER the stuff in a can or a box or, worse, a cube

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

THE QUAIL:
Make the filling:  put the chicken, egg white, and  port in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.  While the processor  is running, add the cream, salt & pepper and grated nutmeg. Mix in remaining filling ingredients.  Put mixture into a pastry bag or a quart-size plastic bag (where you would cut the corner to mimic a pastry bag).

Lay the quail on their backs and using a pastry bag (or the plastic bag), squeeze the filling mixture into the cavities of each one, restoring their whole, plump shape.  Cross their legs to close in the stuffing.  Then, starting at the head end, wrap a piece of bacon around the sides of the quail and back to the head end to cover both openings.  The quail should be resting in a bed of bacon.

Place quail in oven; after about 20 minutes, dab about a teaspoon of butter on each one, and continue to roast for another 20 minutes.  Check for doneness.   Then, turn off oven; and let quail rest in oven.

THE MUSHROOMS:
In a large pan, heat 1/2 cup of the butter.  Add shallots, garlic and thyme.  Add mushrooms and saute until lightly browned.  Add wine and continue to cook until wine is absorbed.  Add stock; stir well and simmer until liquid is reduced and thickened slightly.  Season with salt and pepper and add butter.

THE FINALE:
Remove quail from oven and top with mushroom mixture.  That's it.

CRAB SALAD SANS MAYO

This is a crab salad that is made without mayonnaise. Hard to believe, but it can be done…and tasty, too

2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped (minced, actually)
1 shallot, chopped
1 tomato, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 cup of basil leaves (no stems)
¼ cup of evoo
2 tablespoons of sherry wine vinegar
1 # of crab
Combine the garlic, shallot, tomato, basil in blender and chop some more. Add oil and vinegar. If you’d like to, add a pinch of salt (Kosher only, please)/pepper. Dressing is set now.

Add about ¼ to ½ cup of the dressing to the crab to moisten it.
That’s it. Be creative. The salad is mayo free and healthy. Enjoy!!

Put this on a bed of lettuce, romaine, watercress, whatever you feel would go well to create a healthy dish.

HERB- CITRUS ROASTED CHICKEN

• 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) chicken
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, fresh
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage, fresh
• 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary, fresh
• 2 tablespoons chopped thyme, fresh
• 4-5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 1 lemon quartered
• 1 lime, quartered
• Dash of black pepper, preferably butcher block
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 celery stalks, stripped of the fine threads and cut into long strips
• 2 carrots, peeled, and cut into long strips
• 2 onions, yellow, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch rounds.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Fill a large (more than 5 quarts) pot with water. Bring to a boil. Let the boiling water sit for about 5-10 minutes. Place the chicken into the pot to “cleanse”. Let chicken stay in the warm water bath for about 5 minutes. Remove chicken and pat dry. All of the “elements” would be removed at this point and you will have a very clean chicken.

Take the herbs and mix with the melted butter. Rub the butter-herb mixture under the skin of the chicken and inside the cavity. Also, add the lemon and lime quarters and garlic inside the cavity. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes while you prepare its roasting pan bed of mireproix

Make a mirepoix bed in the roasting pan, consisting of the celery, carrots, and onions. Then, Place the rested chicken on top of this. Drizzle olive oil and Pepper on top of chicken and inside the cavity.

Place chicken (in the roasting pan) in the oven. Then, after every 15 minutes, turn chicken’s roasting pan one-quarter of the way --clockwise. Until done. About 1 hour and 15 minutes. After chicken is roasted, remove from oven and let sit for about 20 minutes. This has to be the best chicken you’ve ever eaten. Clean, fresh, nutritious and full of flavor.

Home Fried Potatoes With Herbs

Home Fried Potatoes With Herbs

I won the NBC Today Home Chef Challenge for this recipe in Nov of 2011.  See link:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45479491/ns/today-food/t/secret-home-chef-winners-home-fries-duck-fat/
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45479491/ns/today-food/t/secret-home-chef-winners-home-fries-duck-fat/

I ate breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants in the City and enjoyed the best-tasting home fries that I’ve ever eaten.  I asked the server what was the underlying component of the dish that offered the unique taste.  He said that the potatoes were cooked in “duck fat.”  Since then, I’ve devised my own recipe for, what I believe, is the best home fries on this planet (sorry, Jersey Diners, but…I am bias…also, I am a born soul from Jersey…not the shore).

I’ve tried this recipe several ways;  Either using purchased duck fat or sautéing duck bacon first, then making the potatoes in the amount of duck fat renderings from the duck bacon, which is very good and a nice supplement to the dish.  I remind you that this isn’t something to eat every day.  It’s more of a treat than anything else.  But, well worth it in the long run.

Home Fried Potatoes With Herbs

4 Idaho Potatoes – about 7 oz. each

½ Teaspoon salt

½ cup of duck fat – could be purchased or the duck fat rendered from duck bacon.  Both work well.  I like using the bacon which could be used to add a protein to the dish.

6 pieces of duck bacon (if not using purchased duck fat)

1 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (if needed)

1 tablespoon of Herbs De Province*

Rosemary sprig for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Peel potatoes.  Dice into ½” pieces.  Rinse.  Add to pot with salt and enough water to cover.  After water comes to a boil, lower heat and let potatoes cook in salted water for about 7 minutes to soften slightly, but do not overcook.

While potatoes are cooking, make the duck fat, either of two ways:

1)  Melt the ½ Cup of purchased duck fat; or…2) cook (and render the duck fat from) about 6 pieces of duck bacon.  If using duck bacon, after completion of cooking, remove duck bacon and let drain on paper towels.  Keep warm.

When the duck rendering is ready, turn off heat and prep the potatoes.

Drain the potatoes really well—as dry as possible.

Turn on heat again for the duck fat and then slowly add potatoes.  Cook on a low heat.   If the mixture is dry, add a few pieces of unsalted butter.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt and Black Pepper.  Turn potatoes as they brown on each side.  Add Herbs De Province on each side as potatoes continue to cook.    After potatoes are golden brown, remove from pan and let drain on paper towel.  Transfer to serving plate.  Add spring of rosemary and top with duck bacon (if using).

*Herbs De Province – An assortment of dried herbs that are used in Southern France.  Typically, I wouldn’t use dried herbs, but in this instance, there is an exception to my rule.  I make my own HDP, which consists of dried:  basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage, and thyme.