Katie's Back! Feast

Katie, my partner in complicated cooking crime (see our past feasts: sushi, offal, around-the-world, & summer), is visiting from Scotland, where she's been living for the past year and a half. We designed a meal that highlighted seasonal ingredients, since she's been missing California produce. Unfortunately we were a bit too ambitious; we prepared 8 courses but our guests could only stomach 6. Nixed courses were a salad with arugula, heirloom tomato, avocado, and black radish, and a cheese course pairing Iberico with Bosc & Comice pear and Fuyu persimmon. We did manage to eat the following:

Spanish White Gazpacho with Grapes

Seared Duck Liver with Fig and Rosemary

Bay Scallop Ceviche with Avocado and Smoked Turkish Pepper

[photo missing]

Crispy Calamari, Baby Artichokes, Eggplant

Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Puff Pastry

Skirt Steak with Spicy Roasted Pepper Sauce and Savory Chimmichuri

Tingly Spicy Stir Fry

I know these are not the most appetizing photos, but I made this in a hurry and it smelled so good that I wanted to get around to eating it as soon as possible. This is an easy way to use up veggies that need to be cooked. I had some string beans and an eggplant on hand, but other things would be delicious in this too-- broccoli, kale, spinach, chard, bok choy, etc. 

Unfortunately I've been a bad blogger lately, and I didn't write down what went into this. But it was something along the lines of 1/2lb ground beef, 1/2lb ground lamb, cubes of roasted eggplant, green beans cut into halves or thirds, shittake mushrooms, garlic and ginger; all that cooked in a sauce of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and garlic chili paste. When I took it off the heat, I mixed in some toasted ground szechuan pepper for its delicious tingly spice.

Quick Pickles

All you need to make these delicious "quick pickles" is something to pickle (cucumber works nicely) and some vinegar and spices. I chopped-- and sliced-- some "Mediteranean pickling cucumbers (the small bumpy ones) and stuck them in a jar with a teaspoon of sugar, a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, a chopped serrano chili, and some cilantro; I covered them with rice vinegar, gave the jar a good shake, and stuck it in the fridge for a day or two. The result was perfectly crispy, vinegary, spicy pickles!

In the photo above, I roasted cubed eggplant in the oven, tossed it with sesame seeds and bits of seaweed, and put it (and some leftover green beans) on top of steamed rice. I topped the whole thing with pickles and some of the pickle juice, which dripped down into the rice sushi-style. It made for an easy and delicious lunch.

Eggplant Noodle Salad

This is a really easy dish to throw together for a light lunch, and you can add whatever veggies you like. You can also fry the eggplant; I baked it to make it a little lighter. I cheated a bit by buying pre-mixed, pre-julienned carrot and radish at a Vietnamese market in Chinatown that I am now in love with. That's also where I got the culantro, which is like cilantro only a lot more awesome. You can definitely substitute the western stuff if it's easier to find.

You'll need:

rice stick or bean curd noodles (rice stick are pictured)

julienned carrot

julienned daikon radish

1 long purple eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds

4 leaves culantro, chiffonade

12 leaves mint, chiffonade

juice from 1 large lime

fish sauce

rice vinegar

a pinch of sugar

crushed peanuts

2 thai chilies, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (if baking eggplant). Place eggplant rounds on greased cookie sheet and brush with olive oil. Bake about 10 minutes, then flip; bake 5-10 minutes more, until golden on both sides.

Cook the noodles according to directions. Drain well and toss immediately into dressing.

While noodles are cooking, combine lime juice, rice vinegar (just a splash) and fish sauce (quite a bit) to taste, sugar and chilies in a bowl big enough for the noodles. Add mint and culantro. Add carrots and daikon radish. Toss in the eggplant and noodles when they're done, and top with peanuts.

Tomato Garlic Chicken with Fried Eggplant

Perhaps this was inspired by an old recipe I just posted, or by the bowl of cherry tomatoes going soft on my counter, but it was really quite delicious and summery. You can omit the eggplant if you're eggplant-phobic or something.

You'll need (serves 4):

8 chicken thighs, bone-in (remove skin & fat)
1/2c flour
2T aleppo pepper (or paprika, if you can't find aleppo, but it's not the same)
2c cherry tomatoes, halved, and some other tomatoes too if you want
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Thai chilies
1c basil, in chiffonade
2 small Italian eggplants, or 1 medium globe eggplant, cubed
grapeseed or canola oil
olive oil

Salt and pepper chicken and sprinkle with aleppo pepper. Toss in flour, shaking off extra flour but reserving it. Heat 1T grapeseed + 1T olive oil in a heavy skillet big enough for all the chicken and place chicken former-skin-side down, in one layer, when the oil is hot. Let brown over medium-high heat-- this should take a good 15 minutes. You want a nice dark golden crust. Then turn the chicken over and cook on the other side for a few minutes. Be sure not to let the oil or chicken burn-- if the pan looks dry, add oil.


When the chicken's done remove it to a plate. Turn down heat to medium and add tomatoes and garlic, stirring to absorb fond. Add the chilies. The tomatoes will quickly release their liquid; cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens.


Then return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, nestling each piece into the sauce. Cook, uncovered, about 45 minutes, until the sauce is thick and the chicken is cooked through.


Turn off heat and stir in basil.

While the chicken is cooking, heat 2T grapeseed oil in a heavy pan (cast iron is great here) over medium heat. Toss the eggplant cubes in the leftover seasoned flour and then fry them until crispy on all sides and squishy in the middle, stirring occasionally and adding salt to taste (salt is important here).


Serve the chicken alongside brown rice, topped with fried eggplant.

Ginger Soy Salmon with Rice & Eggplant

This is incredibly easy and uses a minimal number of ingredients. The salmon and eggplant use the same marinade, which is then reduced into a thick and flavorful sauce. Katie & I make a great cooking team.

You'll need:

2 thick, center-cut fillets of salmon
1/2c soy sauce
1/4c minced ginger
5 cloves garlic, minced
2T chili sauce or sriracha (optional)

1 eggplant
1c jasmine rice

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Mix soy sauce with ginger, garlic, and sriracha.

Remove pin-bones from salmon using tweezers. Place salmon in ginger sauce.

Slice (unpeeled) eggplant into 1/4-1/2" rounds. Spoon some sauce onto every slice and place in a baking sheet (it's ok if they overlap a little). Put in hot oven.

Put rice on to cook.

When rice is almost ready, place a baking sheet in the oven. When it's hot, take it out and place the salmon on it, skin side down. Be sure to get most of the ginger pieces off the salmon so they don't burn.

Turn the oven down to 275 degrees. Put salmon in. If the eggplant isn't done cooking, you can cover the pan with aluminum foil to help it cook faster (we had to do this).

The salmon should be ready in about 10 minutes, depending on how you like yours cooked. We think it's best rare.

Lamb, Eggplant, and Feta Pasticcio; Seared Scallops with Arugula Walnut Pesto & Balsamic Drizzle

Seared Scallops with Arugula Walnut Pesto
& Balsamic Drizzle

Wine: 2005 Domaine Talmard
Macon-Chardonnay

Lamb, Eggplant, and Feta Pasticcio

Wine: 2006 La Vieille Ferme
Cotes du Ventoux

Or: The dinner Suzanne & I made to celebrate our temporary culinary freedom from certain picky eaters.

To make the scallops:

Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and a little sugar. Heat some oil. Sear them on both sides. Deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar; stir in a pat of cold butter; drizzle on top of scallops. Serve over arugula walnut pesto-- a puree of arugula, toasted walnuts, 1 small shallot, and olive oil.


To make the pasticcio:

Saute 1 chopped onion & 5 cloves chopped garlic; add 1lb ground lamb and spices (cumin, cayenne, etc). When the lamb's brown, add some red wine and let it cook away. In the meantime, roast an eggplant and then mix the soft eggplant flesh in with the cooked lamb. Make a basic 2-3c bechamel and stir in 1/2 lb feta. Mix the feta bechamel with the lamb & eggplant and 2 beaten eggs, and then mix it all with some slightly undercooked pasta. Pour it into a gratin dish; sprinkle with breadcrumbs & parmesan. Bake at 425 degrees until set and golden & crispy on top.

Creamy Eggplant & Wild Mushroom Pasta

Besides having a bag full of wild mushrooms in the fridge, I made this because I had leftover eggplant bechamel. It's not essential to the recipe, though-- you can make some bechamel from scratch (super easy) or just use cream.

You'll need:

lots of wild mushrooms-- they really cook down, so overestimate. More delicate ones are better for this recipe, though I usually advocate shiitake.
1-2 large shallots
1 T crushed red pepper
1T butter
pasta (I like the corkscrew kind with this recipe)
leftover bechamel-- or make a new one; or use 1/4c heavy cream
grated Asiago or other semi-strong hard cheese


Boil water and cook the pasta as you make the sauce.

Clean the mushrooms really well-- you don't want sticks and stones in your pasta. If the ends are dry, cut them off. Then dry the mushrooms well. Slice the shallot(s). Heat the butter and add shallots; saute 2 minutes on medium heat, then add mushrooms, red pepper, and salt & pepper. The mushrooms should release water; cook until almost dry.

Add cooked pasta with a little of the cooking water. Stir in the bechamel and cook to heat through, or cream (if using) and cook until thick, 2-3 minutes.

Top with lots of grated cheese on serve on warmed plates.

Hunkar Begendi (Sultan's Delight) Turkish Lamb Stew with Creamy Eggplant Sauce

This is Claudia Roden's recipe; it's a basic lamb stew, with onion, garlic, and tomatoes, served over butter-toasted rice and surrounded by an eggplant bechamel. The sauce is so good that you can serve it with any stew. It's rich, creamy, and mild-flavored, so it won't interfere with the main dish. It would probably be good over pasta with some more pepper and cheese. Here's the sauce recipe (we changed it, just a little, from Roden's):

You'll need:

3lbs eggplants
juice of 1/2 lemon
4T butter
3T flour
2c milk
salt, pepper
1/4t freshly grated nutmeg
1/2c grated kasseri or asiago cheese

Prick the eggplants all over with a sharp pointed knife so they don't explode all over your oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Place the eggplants on the foil and bake until very soft, turning halfway through, about 30 minutes. Remove and carefully lift off the skin. It should come off very easily (if it doesn't, the eggplants aren't done). Put the flesh in a bowl of water and lemon to preserve the color while you work. Then put the eggplant in a strainer and press out as much liquid as possible. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and whisk constantly, 2 minutes. Add the milk in a stream, whisking. Bring to a boil; the mixture should be thick. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add eggplant and puree with a hand blender if you have one (this isn't necessary, but makes for a much smoother sauce). Add the cheese and stir to melt. Taste; add salt and pepper as necessary.

Beef and Eggplant Stew

This is an intensely flavored stew very loosely based on an Epicurious recipe. It's very easy to make and you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.

To feed two hungry people, you'll need:

1lb beef stew meat
1 large globe (regular kind) eggplant, peeled and cubed to about the same size as the meat
1 large onion, thinly sliced
flour
5-spice powder (or cumin, if you don't like 5-spice)
cayenne or chili powder
2T oil for browning
4 cloves sliced garlic
4 inches of lemongrass, cut in half lengthwise and pounded to release yummy juices
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1c red wine (merlot or cab or whatever dry-ish wine you have on hand. cheap is fine)
1/4c hoisin sauce
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes with juices
2 bay leaves

Wash, dry, and trim the meat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, 5-spice powder and cayenne. Dredge in flour and brown in very hot grapeseed oil on all sides in a deep heavy skillet.

When meat is dark brown, push it to the edges of the pan and add the onion. Turn heat to medium-high and saute onion about 15 minutes, until golden brown and wilted.

Add eggplant and garlic, mix to combine, and saute until eggplant begins to color, being careful not to burn garlic.

Add 1c wine and bring to a boil, scraping to release the fond (the stuff stuck at the bottom of the pan).

When wine reduces by half, add tomatoes, hoisin sauce, ginger, and lemongrass. Reduce heat to a simmer; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is fork-tender and sauce is thick, about 1.5 hours.

Remove lemongrass and bay leaves. Serve over brown rice.

Around the World, Two Ways

Around the World, Two Ways

November 18, 2007

This was a feast to rival our last.
For more lovely photographs by Karen,
or a slideshow of the cooking process, see here.

We wanted to do every course two ways-- roughly an "east" and a "west" (except hors d'oeuvres). All food is from the Saturday Berkeley Farmers' Market, Monterey Market, Tokyo Fish, and the coffee/tea market next to Monterey. All wine is from Vintage Berkeley.

Katie & I shopped & cooked
Karen made the delicious souffle you see in the "Oranges" course
and took all these gorgeous photographs
Katharine brought aperitifs and desert wine
Ridwan brought the fish course wine
Gus brought the pork course wine


Thank you to everyone for making this a delicious meal.

~

Hors d’oeuvres

Shiso leaf and beet with goat cheese and spiced almond

Watermelon radish chips with arugula-walnut pesto and filet cubes

~

Campari & Soda
~

Fish

Miso tuna tartare on daikon ribbons with
sesame sprinkle, nori chips, tobiko and wasabi cream

Arugula, smoked trout, and fennel salad with horseradish cream

~
Jean-Marc Brocard Petit Chablis 2005
~

Butternut Squash Dumplings

Almond sage ravioli with amaretto brown butter
&
Green curry wonton with lemongrass
coconut reduction and Thai eggplant
~
Jean-Marc Brocard Petit Chablis 2005

~

Pork Belly

Thyme roasted with zesty applesauce and celery remoulade
&
Five spice with papaya salad and spicy dipping sauce

~
Borgogno Barbera d' Alba 2006
&
Weingu Niklas Sudtiroler Lagrein 2005
~

Oranges

Chinese Orange Surprise

Grand Marnier Souffle
~

Royal Tokaji 2000
~

Ground Turkey with Roasted Eggplant

Puncture a couple globe eggplants and roast until soft in a 450 degree oven (about 30 min). When cool enough to handle, peel and slice into strips lengthwise.

Saute sliced onion and shittake mushrooms. Add chopped garlic and diced serrano chile. Before garlic browns, add ground turkey, salt, pepper, 2 T soy sauce, 1 T dark soy sauce, 3 T fish sauce, 1 T sugar, the juice of 1 lime, and a splash of mirin. Saute, stirring, until turkey is cooked. Add eggplant and sliced ginger. Add garlic-chile sauce if desired. Cook until eggplant starts to break down, about 5-7 minutes. Serve over rice or quinoa.

Chicken with Mushrooms in an Eggplant Basil Cream Sauce

Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs (bone-in is ok). Remove all fat and cut into small pieces (about 3/4 in). Salt and pepper; dredge in flour. Heat oil until shimmering in a non-non-stick pan. Brown chicken pieces on one side. Flip and stir in one medium diced onion, 4-5 cloves sliced garlic, shittake mushrooms sliced in half, and one peeled and diced eggplant. Stir until chicken is brown on all sides. Deglaze pan with dry vermouth. When all brown bits are scraped off, add chicken stock to cover and 5 sprigs of fresh thyme. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and cook at a gentle simmer for 20-30 minutes, until sauce thickens and chicken is tender. Remove lid, turn heat up, and reduce sauce by half. Stir in 1/2 bunch of julienned basil and a splash of cream. Turn off heat.

Serve with quinoa, cooked in mushroom broth (if using dried shittakes) or chicken broth.

Summer Feast

We began at the Downtown Berkeley Saturday Farmers' Market, where we bought what looked good. Then we hit up the Cheeseboard, Andronico's, and Vintage Berkeley, an excellent wine store on Vine where they helped us make wine pairings with our menu. A full day of cooking later, this was our meal:

First Course

Heirloom tomato salad caprese with Basil and fresh Burrata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrata)

Second Course

Fatted Calf Rabbit Rillettes with Toasts and Daikon Radish Sprout salad, served with Dijon and Stoneground mustards

Baby Yukon Gold potatoes sauteed in rabbit fat, fresh thyme and rosemary, and roasted, served with garlic aioli

Third Course

Grilled pizzetta with eggplant caviar pissalidiere, served with sweet red peppers


Slow cooked okra in Heirloom tomato garlic reduction

Fourth Course

Thai-style grilled white prawns on kale, avocado, and mango salad

Fifth Course

Prosciutto-wrapped Black Mission figs stuffed with Manviso drizzled with Tan Oak honey

Wine

We drank an Uvaggio Vermentino 2006 from Lodi, CA with the first two courses, and a Gargola Tempranillo Blend 2003 from Merida, Spain with the rest of the meal.

green tea buckwheat noodles with thai-style ragout

marinate small cubes of tempeh in light coconut milk, panang curry paste, and thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves for 1-2 hours.

saute finely sliced onions, shittake mushrooms, and thai eggplants (quartered) in canola oil, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. once onions are translucent, add tempeh, marinade, and sliced garlic. saute for 5 minutes, then add pea shoots and pre-soaked seaweed. mix and add buckwheat noodles. mix until sauce is distributed and serve.

no food in the house but an eggplant and some oldish mushrooms:

cut eggplant into small cubes. peel cloves from one head of garlic and smash slightly. cut spring onions in half. mix all with olive oil, salt, pepper, peppercorns (the 5-baie mix), and sprinkle dried thyme on top. roast in hot oven until eggplant is soft and brown, then add quartered tomatoes and roast until they start to disintegrate. saute shittake mushrooms in a pan with some olive oil and add roasted veggies. cook covered for 10 minutes, then add zest of 1 lemon and cook until tomato disappears. add water if necessary. add chopped cilantro, cook 30 seconds longer, and serve on top of bulgar wheat. would go well with poultry or fish.