Oh, Rice

I think, volume-wise, I eat more white rice than any other food.  I love basmati, arborio, glutinous, calasparra, jasmine, vialone nano, and so on and so forth.  I enjoy brown rice as well, but would probably loose my cool if I could no longer have each and every variety of white rice.

If you follow the rice train of thought, it would make sense that I really enjoy Asian food as well.  Europe uses a fair amount of rice, but not like many of the Asian cultures.  I realize that saying "I like Asian food" is kind of a big blanket, but I really don't discriminate.  I have a special place in my heart for every cuisine from Vietnamese to Burmese to Japanese.

Recently, I learned from a colleague how to make onigiri.

Not that it's super complicated, but in spite of my love of rice I hadn't come across them before.  Onigiri are simple hand made rice balls with various fillings inside or with garnishes folded into the rice.

To start, cook off some Japanese style medium grain white or brown rice (a good introductory rice for this would be Niko Niko Calrose).  While the rice is still warm, dip your hands in lightly salted water (or cheat like me and buy a $4 mold from the Japanese market, which you would brush with the saltwater).  Form the rice into balls or triangles, placing a dab of some pungent flavoring in the center.

Some typical fillings are umeboshi, kombu relish, bonito flakes or salted salmon.  Really, you could use anything intensely salty or sour to provide a counterpart to the rice.  And alternatively, you could fold in something like cooked salmon, green onions, or sesame seeds into the rice before shaping.

You can serve these immediately after shaping, or chill them for a bit.  At any rate, partially wrap each onigiri with a piece of nori right before serving.  It provides some extra flavor and a nifty handle.  You can put out some soy sauce, pickled ginger, or wasabi to accompany the onigiri if you must have something, but I like them plain.

Quite Possibly the Best Cake Ever

I've always been a fan of raw apple cakes.  My mother made a very tasty one when I was growing up and it was my favorite dessert.  It was even relatively healthy and could easily be made vegan.  It's definitely the best vegan cake I've ever had, and I still use her recipe when I simply need cake but have no eggs.

This, boys and girls, is not her recipe...  While hers is just as good, this one is loaded with butter and simply irresistible.  It is not vegan, and it is not healthy; I figure this is the uptown version of the down-home cake of my childhood.

The following recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan.  For those of you who don't know, she's a food writer and cookbook author who splits her time between the States and France.  Her recipes are reliable, approachable, and a great way to expand your baking prowess without having to break the bank on specialty ingredients.  The only changes I make are to cut the apples smaller and use brandy instead of rum.  Enjoy!

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake 

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 large apples (if you can, choose 4 different kinds)
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
3 tablespoons dark rum
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan and put it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.

Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1- to 2-inch chunks.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apples, turning the fruit so that it’s coated with batter. Scrape the mix into the pan and poke it around a little with the spatula so that it’s evenish.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.

Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan. (Open the springform slowly, and before it’s fully opened, make sure there aren’t any apples stuck to it.) Allow the cake to cool until it is just slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then run a long spatula between the cake and the pan, cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment or wax paper, and invert it onto a rack. 

Carefully remove the bottom of the pan and turn the cake over onto a serving dish.  Serve with lightly whipped cream if desired.

It Feels Like Cheating

This spring, my husband very enthusiastically covered every available inch of our property in raised garden beds.  Everyone said he was crazy.  And "geez, there's just two of you, how are you going to eat all that?"  Now, they're all jealous.  Really jealous.

It's now October, and we are so sick of eating zucchini, green beans, tomatoes and basil that we want to cry.  There are still perhaps twenty japanese eggplants on the vine and a full bed of potatoes that we're working our way through.  I haven't bought produce in months, and honestly, it feels like cheating.  It's a lot of work in bursts, but much less than we thought.

Tonight I just couldn't resist taking a photo of our dinner.  With the fall sunlight coming it, it really was picturesque.  We are having peruvian and yellow potatoes roasted with thyme and shallots, beet salad with walnut oil and sherry vinegar, and braised organic chicken thighs with tarragon, lemon, and honey.  Aside from the chicken and the dry goods, all of it came from the garden.

Before roasting...

Before eating...

Reminders of Spring

I always thought of strawberries and rhubarb as quintessential spring flavors- peaking in June and a faded memory by the time summer ends.  Not so for me this year!  Here it is, approaching mid-September, and my strawberry patch has produced a goodly amount of fruit, and my friend's rhubarb plant needs thinning...

To bring these two ingredients together with a seasonally appropriate flavor profile, I decided to make a crisp (you know, crisp like a fall day etc).  I made the streusel with brown sugar, flour, blanched almonds (ground coursely), and some powdered ginger to give a little zing.

I'm going to refrain from posting a proper recipe because, to be honest, I estimated everything.  But, I will suggest a few ideas that will help keep your next crisp, well, crisp:

- choose your thickener wisely; flour takes longer to thicken and loose it's starchy flavor than refined starches (such as corn or potato) do, and the faster you can secure your liquid, the less soggy your topping will be.
- if you're using a high moisture item (like rhubarb), think about macerating it with some of the sugar for about an hour, then draining off some of the excess liquid.
- consider baking your fruit mixture for about twenty minutes before adding the topping; this will reduce the overall moisture content in the filling.
- make sure to use enough topping to make a rather thick layer; there will always be a soggy bit right next to the fruit, so if you want any crunchy bits, you have to put quite a bit

Urchin On My Hands

My hands are irreversibly stained.  The kitchen smells of the sea.  And everyone is full to the brim with luscious sea urchin.  Following are some photos of how to clean an urchin, and then my recipe for Sea Urchin En Cocotte.

First, you cut the shell.  At the top of the globe, there is a soft spot you can use to start the process.  Make sure to use sturdy kitchen shears- not a knife!  The shell of the urchin will dull a knife blade faster than you'd think possible.

You can either cut a round out of the top (the proper way), or cut down the side and split the urchin open (the faster way- especially if you're going to puree some of the roe).  This is what a peek at the roe is like:

Next, scoop out the roe with a spoon, then rinse in cold salt water to clean:

Now, you're ready for the recipe.

Sea Urchin En Cocotte
(all quantities are approximate)

two large sea urchins (about 2.5# total), cleaned

1/2 T shallot, finely minced

2 T heavy cream

1 T dry sherry

1 T butter

salt to taste

1 T chives, finely chopped

1 lemon

crostini to serve

1.  Preheat your oven to 500F.  Place two heavy ramekins in the oven to heat thoroughly.  

2.  Divide the urchin evenly in half- the pretty stuff and the less pretty stuff.  Keep the pretty stuff aside, and force the ugly bits through a medium sieve into a small saucepan.  Add the shallot, sherry and cream, and over low heat, bring just to the point where bubbles are starting to form around the edges.  Stir frequently and season to taste with salt.  

3.  When your sauce is ready and the ramekins are hot, add half of the butter to each ramekin (it should sizzle and melt very quickly).  Lay the remaining pieces of urchin in the hot butter.

4.  Spoon some of the hot sauce over each portion and return to the oven until just warmed.  Think of this as poaching, not baking.  It should only take about two minutes.  

5.  As soon as they come out of the oven, drizzle with a bit of lemon and sprinkle with chives.  Serve immediately with crostini.

    

Honey Almond Frozen Yogurt

Alright boys and girls, what do you do when you went to Costco and bought two gallons of yogurt, and then just wasn't in the mood to eat it?

My solution, and I think it's a good one, is to make frozen yogurt.  Usually I make a fruit flavor, like strawberry or peach but this time I broke from tradition.  I had some wonderful raw, local, vanilla-bean infused honey from Sweet As Can Be honey farms.  It's tasty, and even if you never get as far as the frozen yogurt, this honey is worth the purchase (try it on french toast, seriously). 

I paired this honey with Disaronno amaretto, some toasted almonds, and thinly sliced peaches.  The yogurt serves as the base, the honey is a sweetener and emulsifier, the amaretto adds flavor and keeps the mixture from freezing too hard, and the almonds and peaches garnish the finished dessert.

Flavor wise, the vanilla in the honey enhances the essence of the peaches, and the peaches in turn bring out the flavor of the almonds.  Almonds and peaches are closely related so they're always a sure bet.

Honey Almond Frozen Yogurt 
(all measurements are approximate)

2 c yogurt
1/4 c honey
3 T almond (or other) liquor
peach slices and toasted sliced almonds to garnish

Whisk the honey and yogurt together, adjusting the sweetness to your taste- remember to make the mixture a bit sweeter than you want it because once it's frozen, the flavor will be dulled slightly.  Mix in the liquor and freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

As a side note, if you wanted a more substantial dessert, put this over plain pound cake. 

 

Salmon, Leeks, and Butter

Baby Fennel and Leeks Braised with Vermouth and Cream

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon with Minced Shallots and Garlic

Beurre Rouge with Tarragon and Fennel Seeds

For the leeks and fennel:

Thinly slice one leek and one small fennel bulb per serving.  Heat a small sauce pan and add a bit of butter.  Sweat the leeks and fennel for a few minutes, then add a hearty splash of white vermouth (and, heck, make yourself a martini while you're at it).  Add one sprig each of marjoram and thyme, then cover the pan and let the vegetables melt.  Once the liquid is mostly evaporated, remove the herbs, add in heavy cream just to cover and let reduce, uncovered until thick.  Season to taste with salt and lemon juice.

For the beurre rouge:
Take one cup of red wine, one thinly sliced shallot, a few peppercorns, two sprigs of tarragon and perhaps a teaspoon of fennel seeds and bring to a simmer.  Reduce until the wine is syrupy and infused with flavor.  Strain your reduction and set aside.  Directly before serving, warm the reduction and whisk in some room temperature butter, one teaspoon at a time, until the mixture is thick and you have at least two tablespoons of sauce per person.  Season with salt.

For the salmon:

Take one four to six ounce fillet per person and remove the skin and bones if needed.  Rub the fish with olive oil, minced shallot, minced garlic and salt.  Place on an oiled sheet pan and roast at 400F until cooked to your desired temperature.  I usually cook mine for six to eight minutes.