Carrot, Parsnip and Arugula Salad

A nice addition to this salad is avocado. Peel, slice in 1/4 inch slices and gently toss with the carrots and parsnip and place on arugula. Lovely in the summer or any time for that matter!

Sea Bean Salad

This recipe will make enough for two small appetizers or one large salad. Omit the speck for all vegetarians. You can adjust red pepper flakes to be less or more spicy. Drizzle a little more olive oil around the plate.

3 oz sea Beans
2 Kumato tomatoes
4 Parisienne or baby carrots
1 bunch Hon Shemiji or similar mushroom
Mirin
1 oz of speck, diced into 1/4 inch pieces
Juice of 1 navel orange/slice and reserve peel and pulp for blanching water
Lemon garlic vinagrette
1 sprig rosemary
1 inch cube of ginger diced
1 mashed garlic clove
Extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Separate clustered mushrooms and place in a small bowl. Pour enough mirin to cover and marinate for about 1 1/2 hours. Drain and pat dry on paper towels.

Cut off heads of carrots and blanch until soft in salted water with rosemary, ginger, mashed garlic clove and reserved orange slices. Use a paper towel to gently rub off skin and slice in half lengthwise. Parisienne carrots are small and round while baby carrots about 2-3 inches long. Either one is fine.

Slice tomatoes into 6 wedges.

Use 1 tsp of oil and saute diced speck on med high (you can adjust the heat if they are not getting crispy, only takes a few minutes and speck is more delicate than bacon) until crisp. Blot on paper towel.

Rinse off sea beans and thoroughly dry off.

Make vinagrette, swap juice of about 1/2 lemon for vinegar, and pinch of red pepper flakes and olive oil. This modifies the recipe and will make extra dressing which you can use on another salad.

In a bowl large enough to hold all ingredients, gently toss everything together, except for speck. Do not salt as sea beans are very salty. Plate and sprinkle crispy speck on top.

Zucchini Spaghetti Puttanesca

Zucchini "Spaghetti" Puttanesca

This is a great dish for summer zucchini but I like to make now because the flavors are robust and satisfying any time of year. Also it is a gluten free vegan dish.

3 anchovy filets

3 heaping tbsp large capers, rinsed, drained and patted dry

4 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, smashed

20 pitted Kalamata olives, sliced in half length-wise

2 large zucchinis, julienned with a mandoline or sliced very thinly to resemble spaghetti

2-3 Plum tomatoes, cored and diced; use flesh only 

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Generous pinch red pepper flakes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Parmesan Reggiano cheese or Piave, grated to taste

Place anchovies, garlic and lemon juice in a mortar and pestle or a very small food processor and blend until smooth but still ever so slightly chunky; add this mixture to zucchini "spaghetti" with the olives, capers and pinch of red pepper flakes. Quickly and gently toss all ingredients, season to taste and serve immediately or zucchini will start creating liquid and wilt. Arrange on a plate and use as much freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano or Piave cheese on top as you like. Enjoy! 

Quick Appetizer

Partner's olive oil and herb cracker, cream cheese or creme fraiche with scallions, slice of tomatillo, smoked Scottish salmon, coriander leaf, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt. Simple and elegant.

New Recipes

Bay Scallop Crudo

This is not the typical way to make a crudo. In this case, it's more like a ceviche but just as delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb super fresh bay scallops

Juice of one Meyer Lemon (strained)

Juice of two Clementines (strained)

1/2 of a Thai Green Chile-sliced very thin (use more if you like spicy)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp finely chopped chives

1 doz ripe yellow grape tomatoes (sliced in half)

Salt to taste

Directions:

Combine and gently stir together all of the above ingredients and let sit in fridge for about an hour. Stir every ten minutes. Adjust seasoning right before serving. Serve immediately. This recipe is also delicious with large scallops, thinly sliced.


Serves 2 or 4 small portions

Carrot, Parsnip and Arugula Salad

Ingredients:

16 oz carrots and parsnips (I used mutli color carrots for presentation)

1 tbsp Caraway seeds

1 tbsp Coriander seeds

1 tbsp Cumin seeds

Arugula (use enough for four servings, use your judgement)

2-3 cloves of garlic (mashed or put through a press)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Extra Virgin Olive Oil to coat veggies, use liberally

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Combine all spices and garlic in a mill or mash them in a mortar and pestle; add oil to make a thin paste. Peel carrots and parsnips. Massage spices, oil and garlic mixture into veggies. Salt and pepper generously to taste and roast on 425 degrees until the veggies are soft and slightly caramelized. Remove and let cool to room temperature. 

You can easily adjust all ingredients to make more, or use more spices and garlic to adjust the flavor.

For the salad, toss the arugula with our lemon-garlic vinagrette (see recipe on meal #4 of our "Seven Meals for Seven Days" post). 

Arrange the veggies on top of the salad on a plate for family style or single servings. A sprinkle of pink 

salt is nice with it as well.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

BF&C

Turkey Tetrazzini

After three days of eating turkey, it needed a make over. So, I made turkey tetrazzini, it can be eaten with rice, boiled potatoes or pasta. I prefer egg noodles. This is a warm, cozy, comfort food-kind of dish. Waste not, want not.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

Big sprig of thyme

Nutmeg

Cayenne pepper

Salt and black pepper

4-6 cups diced turkey

6 oz. Parmesan Reggiano or Asagio cheese

10 oz. mushrooms (I used half white and half shitake mushrooms)

1 tbsp. butter

Dash of chicken broth

1-2 lbs. egg noodles

Chopped parsley for garnish

Melt butter over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk until incorporated for a few minutes. Slowly add 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup of milk. Add a nice big handful of thyme, nutmeg and cayenne pepper (use as much nutmeg and cayenne as you want -- always taste your product) and stir constantly until mixture has thickened. Basically, you have just made a bechamel sauce. Continue cooking sauce for about 5-7 minutes over medium-low heat, then remove thyme. Add 2 cups of broth, add the turkey and mix together. Turn up heat to medium-high and bring up to a low boil and lightly boil for a few minutes to incorporate flavors. Stir constantly so it doesn't burn. You may have to adjust your heat.

For Mushrooms:

In a separate saute pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, a pinch of salt, and the dash of chicken broth. What I mean by a "dash" of chicken broth is a quarter of a cup. Continue cooking mushrooms by stirring until they are soft enough to add to turkey mixture.

Roasted Whole Branzino with an Herb Garlic Rub

A branzino is a European sea bass, ranging from 1-3 pounds and has firm white flesh. Great for grilling and roasting. Here, I roasted it with a garlic and herb rub and it is the easiest thing in the world to do. 

1 Branzino, gutted; if you don't know how to do this, have your fish monger do it; leave the head on for presentation

Rosemary

Thyme

Oregano, use as much as you want of these 3 herbs

3-4 garlic cloves

1 1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Enough extra virgin olive oil to create a paste

1/2 lemon sliced into 4 slices

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with rack in the center of the oven. 

Make 4 scores with a sharp knife in the fish on both sides. Remove desired amount of herbs from the stalks and process in a small food processor with garlic, salt and pepper and just enough olive oil to create a paste. It will take about 1/8 cup of olive oil. Smear the inside of the fish with the paste and then continue smearing the paste over both sides of the fish.

Place the 4 slices of lemon into the cavity of the fish and place in a roasting pan that is just large enough to hold the fish. Place in oven and roast for 25 minutes.