Culinary Fool

Copper River King

23-May-2007

It’s the time of year that many of us have been waiting for…… The Copper River fishing season is open! Last week the first fish were flown in and met with pomp and circumstance at the airport. Since then they have been making their way to local fish markets and restaurants.

Each year the price per pound gets a little bit higher. There are some that say the price isn’t worth what you get. That could be true, but I just have to have some! The amazing silken quality of this oily (in a good way) fish is so amazing. The King are my favorites but I’ll also indulge in Sockeye, too, as it is priced a bit better.

As with other fish, I really like to make sure the flavor of the fish comes through and so I don’t do a whole lot to it before grilling it (my favorite way to cook these babies).

I really like a Blueberry and Basil marinade that I first created several years ago. Although it is dark colored due to the blueberries, it is very light in taste. Also, I don’t use the marinade as a soaking solution but just lightly baste it on the fish while it’s cooking. Then I usually serve a little of it on the side for those who want a bit more.

The other thing I like about this recipe is that at this time of year I’m trying to clear my freezer from any leftover fruit from last year – need to make way for this year’s crops! So this is a perfect way to use up any blueberries you have hanging around.

I’m afraid this is one of those recipes that I measure by eye and taste – but as I’ve mentioned before you want to come up with something you like so this is a good place to start. This recipe makes enough for 1 – 2 pounds of salmon.

Blueberry and Basil Marinade or Sauce

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced onion
2 – 3 tsp brown sugar
Balsamic vinegar
Fresh lemon juice
Fresh basil

Put the blueberries, garlic and onion in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until berries have popped and onions are getting tender. Add the sugar to taste. Add balsamic and lemon juice until the sauce is thin but not runny. Check the taste again to see if you need a bit more sugar but the sauce should be a bit tart – more on the balsamic side than on the sweet side.

You can either tear up the basil and mix it into the sauce at this point or, what I prefer to do, is tear the basil into medium sized pieces and place it on top of the salmon – it should sort of stick to the surface. Then paint the salmon with the sauce.

Place on a hot grill over medium high heat. The thickness of the salmon and the size of the pieces will determine your cooking time. As soon as you see the "white stuff" (it’s actually called albumin protein*) coming to the top surface remove the fish from the heat. It should still look a little uncooked in the center if you cut it open immediately.

* Many years ago at a cooking class I took from Tom Douglas he taught this little trick for knowing when the salmon is done. I’ve seen lots of people (on the Internet) looking for ways to keep the protein from forming but as long as you take the salmon off right away, it doesn’t look bad and it’s a perfect way to tell when it’s done!

You can serve whatever your heart desires with the fish – a perfect vegetable at this time of year is asparagus. If you are looking for a good wine, one of my favorite combinations is a big Pinot Noir. There something about the Pinot/Salmon combination that I think is perfect. And it’s especially good with this blueberry sauce as Pinot often has a strong berry or cherry flavor. There are lots of good options but I opened a bottle of Domaine Serene for my dinner. It’s a bit on the spendy side but when you are paying $28/pound for the fish, who’s really counting?

I had some salmon leftover and the following day I used it to make a scrumptious version of a fish taco. I grilled some Walla Walla Sweet onions (tossing them with a little olive oil and fresh thyme). Once they were caramelized I warmed the fish just a little. Then I heated a flour tortilla on the grill, smeared a little of the leftover blueberry sauce on it, added the onions and fish and wrapped it up for a quick lunch. If I’d had some cabbage on hand I might have shredded a bit of that to include, too!

If you want to check out this salmon, don’t dally! Copper River season only lasts a few weeks with the King season shutting down earlier than the Sockeye.

French Cheese Tasting at the Seattle Cheese Festival

22-May-2007

In addition to the cooking class at The Harvest Vine I attended one other seminar at this past weekend’s Seattle Cheese Festival. I wasn’t actually scheduled to take it but then M called me as another friend wasn’t feeling well and they had tickets for the “Tour de France des Terroirs”, a class focused on French cheeses and understanding how terroir affects the taste and characteristics of each cheese.

The class was led by two very interesting and knowledgeable instructors. Laure Dubouloz of Herve Mons Affineur Company and Francois Keautret, Vice President at Peterson Cheese Company. The first thing I learned is that an affineur is a person who finishes cheese. So the farmer or cheese coop starts the cheesemaking process and gets the cheese through it’s first month or two of life and then they are handed off to a company like Herve Mons for the final aging. These affineurs will have caves in one or more locations, where the cheese is stored and, depending on the type of cheese, the may also complete the final washes or other processes necessary to get the cheese to its ready-to-be-sold state.

For this class we sampled twelve cheeses from six regions in France. We were also provided with a selection of wines to go along with the cheese.

For each region, Laure and Francois would talk about the influences in the region that affect the animals used to produce cheese, the local flora that might impact the flavor of the cheese and other elements such as climate, history or terrain. It was very interesting! Then we would try one or more cheeses from that area. Generally, for each region we tried cheese from different animals – cow, goat, or sheep and sometimes a blend from two.

The six regions we “visited” were: Normandy; Loire; Jura; Savoie; Pyrenees; and Auvergne.

This was a really great class and I think I may have a new way of participating in the cheese festival! I loved the amount of information and the ability to really taste and learn about each cheese, plus the information they provided for us to take home was very complete and will be a useful reference in the future.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!

First of the Year

21-May-2007

I generally try to wait for the first Seattle area strawberries to come on the market before I buy them. But every now and then I have to jump the gun and buy California strawberries. Normally I am disappointed when I do – the insides are white and they aren’t as tasty as I was expecting.

On Saturday night I was at a party and someone had brought a big platter of berries, bananas, truffles and creme fraiche. And the berries were really good. So yesterday I took a little trip to Costco (after finding out that’s where they were from) and picked myself up a little 4 pound container of them.

They are making me pretty happy today.

Cooking with Cheese at The Harvest Vine Restaurant

20-May-2007

The Seattle Cheese Festival kicked off Friday afternoon with a few cooking classes taught by local chefs. Although all three classes sounded interesting I knew immediately which one I was most interested in taking. If you have ever been to The Harvest Vine, the tapas bar in Madison Valley, you’ll know exactly why and if you haven’t been there it’s high time you checked them out.

At The Harvest Vine, Chef Joseba Jimémez de Jimémez works magic in a tiny kitchen as he brings the tastes of his hometown of San Sebastian, Spain to this Seattle neighborhood. The menu is comprised of tapas, the small plates of Spain. He brings in many authentic ingredients to create these beautiful, tasty, creative morsels. And because the plates are small, any dining interlude here can encompass a multitude of experiences. There’s also a great wine, sherry and port menu to check out.

I am particularly fond of small bites in general but especially those of Spain so I was very excited to have the opportunity to learn from Chef.

Friday at noon found ten of us lining up along the copper-topped bar that surrounds the tiny kitchen. As seems to always be the case, I sat between two very nice women, one who works at the cheese counter for Metropolitan Market and the other a photo editor for Microsoft. Foodies are a very diverse group of people!

Chef started the class with background information about the Cheese Festival, his background and the Basque region and then we got down to the demonstration and sampling!

The first dish featured beautiful, fat white asparagus that, unfortunately, are shipped in from a grower especially for the restaurant so not available to us. However the dish can be prepared with the smaller white asparagus that are available locally or even a green version.

The simplicity of this recipe, as well as the others, is part of the appeal of these dishes. Basically the asparagus were topped with a flavorful béchamel sauce and then a little grated agour cheese, a sheep’s milk cheese. Chef used a kitchen torch to melt and lightly brown the cheese before serving.

Next up was a dish I wanted to rush home and replicate! I could see making this for breakfast, lunch or dinner! The only thing that might change would be what you served along with it.

The dish started with sautéed oyster mushrooms (including garlic and onions). Chef started out with the mushrooms on the plate but the recipe suggests starting with toast made from a nice country bread. I think you can’t go wrong either way. The next layer consisted of eggs fried until the whites were just set but the yolks still golden yellow liquid.

Those were topped with a few slices of Serrano ham, quickly fried in the same pan and then the whole dish was topped with grated Gabietou cheese.

Our third and final dish of the day, falls into the category of pinxto (canapé or appetizer). It was simply toasted bread, topped with a layer of blue cheese (in this case bleu cheese de Bearu from the region), a thin slice of lightly roasted pear, a little more cheese and then walnut pieces. The pintxo are placed in a hot oven for a couple of minutes – just long enough to get the cheese melting. (These were very similar to a version I made for my Holiday Party in December.)

All of these little plates brought together amazing flavors and textures yet were fairly simply prepared allowing the wonderful ingredients to really shine.

Chef offers other classes and wine dinners from time to time so you may be able to experience the magic on your own. And, of course, you can always drop in for dinner and try a few things out. Sitting at the kitchen bar is a great experience – even when there isn’t a class in progress.

And, good news! A new location is being planned to open in late summer in the Belltown area – at least if the permitting process allows. This new location will feature pintxo options and will have a standing bar such as the traditional locations in San Sebastian. Located at 2nd and Blanchard it will become part of a new dining trifecta including Zoe, the "old" star of that corner, and Tavolata another newcomer about 1/2 way down the block. With those three options that will be a corner I’ll be strolling often.

A few more photos from the class and from a previous meal there can be found here.

The Harvest Vine
2701 East Madison
Seattle
206.320.9771

It’s Time for the Cheese Festival

17-May-2007

Don’t forget the Seattle Cheese Festival is this weekend! The primary activities are on both Saturday and Sunday: cheese tasting; wine tasting; a scavenger hunt and chef demos.

There are also several seminars you can attend. I’m getting a jump on it all by taking a class on Friday with Chef Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez at his restaurant, Harvest Vine, which I am very excited about! If you’ve never been to Harvest Vine put in on your list of places to go. There’s also a movie at the Seattle Art Museum, The Cheese Nun, about Sister Noella Marcellino, who is an artisinal cheesemaker and an internationally known expert. She’ll be leading a discussion at the completion of the movie.

If you go make sure to check out all of our local producers who are really producing some gorgeous cheese! And, of course, this is your opportunity to try cheese from all over the world. Just a little piece of advice – take a deep breath and just go with the flow. It gets pretty packed, although I’m expecting them to have made improvements in traffic flow again this year. Last year was much better than year one and I think this third year will see even more improvement.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

13-May-2007

I love mint. And I happen to have an abundance of spearmint growing in my yard. It’s hard not to have an abundance of mint if you have any at all, as it’s one of the most pervasive plants around. I use tons of it in the summer but am always looking for new ideas.

So this week’s ice cream experiment from David Lebovitz’ book, The Perfect Scoop, was his recipe for Fresh Mint Ice Cream. And I am happy to report that is is very good! I decided to add a bit of chocolate to create that combination made in heaven. David has some recipe ideas and suggestions in his book but I happened to have a jar of Fran’s Dark Chocolate Sauce on hand and decided to use it.

As I was scooping the ice cream from the ice cream machine into the storage container I just poured in some of the chocolate sauce every now and then. (As you scoop it out it will look more ribbon-like.) Once completely frozen it’s the perfect blend of sweet, refreshing mint and dark decadent chocolate.

It’s a bit hard to tell in the photo but the ice cream is a lovely light shade of pistachio. There is just enough green so that you know it’s not vanilla but is not that fluorescent green we’ve come to associate with mint.

It’s another good reason to buy the book: Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments

Boka Kitchen + Bar

11-May-2007

I had a meeting at Boka Kitchen + Bar last night. I keep meaning to spend more time there. They really have a creative list of cocktails and little bites. I need to go back again soon.

You can read my first impression here.

Boka Kitchen + Bar
1010 First Ave
Seattle
206.357.9000

Blueberry Bread Pudding

09-May-2007

One of the things I hate is not using up all food that I’ve purchased – especially if it’s something I really like! But sometimes it happens that I can’t quite get to everything before it begins to get past the prime eating stage. With some things I will try to pop them in the freezer but sometimes I forget or don’t realize that they were on their way out until it’s too late.

That just happened to me with a lovely baguette from Tall Grass Bakery that I purchased at the U-District Farmers’ Market this last weekend. This morning I was going to slice off a few pieces for a little toast with my tea but when I started to slice the loaf I realized that it was pretty dried out but not yet hard as a rock! So I decided to make a sweet bread pudding. And this is one of those times when having fruit in your freezer really pays off!

Each year over the growing season I freeze whatever local produce I can get my hands on – some of it comes from family and friends, some from Farmers’ Markets. Even if you don’t have access to local produce or don’t have the room to freeze and store it there are lots of good alternatives at your local grocery. Keeping just a couple bags in the freezer can really help out.

Adjust this recipe based on how much bread you have to use – this one is just based on what I came up with this morning.

Blueberry Bread Pudding

3 cups bread cut into 1" cubes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp white sugar
Pinch of salt
Fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw them)

Mix the cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, white sugar and cinnamon. Add a pinch of salt.

Put the bread cubes in a medium sized bowl, pour the cream mixture over the top and toss well.

Let the bread sit for about 30 minutes so that it can absorb much of the liquid.

Meanwhile butter 3 – 12 oz ramekins. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Add a layer of bread and then toss in several blueberries. Add another layer of bread and more blueberries. Repeat until the ramekin is full, ending with blueberries. Pour any remaining liquid over the bread in the ramekins. Sprinkle each ramekin with a little brown sugar.

Place ramekins in a flat baking dish and then fill the dish about half way with hot water.

Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, until the pudding is solid. Remove from the oven and serve warm or at room temperature.

Shrimp on the Barbie

09-May-2007

You’ve seen this sort of preparation before but last time we were sautéing them on the stove. Now that spring has sprung it’s time to grill shrimp on your grill!

Again, the preparation is super simple – peel the shrimp but leave the tail and last section of the shell intact. (This becomes a nice little "handle" when it’s time to eat them!)

Toss the shrimp with a little olive oil, finely minced garlic (or use a garlic press), and some hot pepper flakes.

Thread the shrimp onto skewers (keeps them from falling through the grill and makes them easier to turn).

Place the skewers over medium-hot heat (either coals or gas burner) and grill for just 2 or 3 minutes per side. As soon as the shrimp turn pink turn them and when the second side is pink remove them from the grill.

Serve with salad, a side of rice, grilled bread or just eat them all on their very own! Whatever sounds good to you!

Estrella Family Creamery

08-May-2007

So can you tell I’ve been in cheese mode lately? I always love cheese but I really get inspired when meeting all the producers at the local Farmers’ Markets. I think I became aware of Estrella Family Creamery just last year, although it may have been two years ago. They were at the Cheese Festival (coming up in just a couple weeks – are you ready?) and I fell in love with several of the samples they were offering. The one pictured is Red Darla a strong, smooth, earthy cow’s milk cheese. The have a couple of blues that I adore and one they call Guapier, which is like the French Morbier, that I buy often.

Their site lists locations where you can find their cheese.