Simple Soba Noodles with Sesame Five Spice Tuna

There are days when you are craving flavor but you are also craving something simple.  On these days I look straight to Japan.  A place that has perfected quick, simple, super flavorful dishes.  

Last night I decided to use japan as my inspiration for a simple meal.  

I wanted to bring together a few key flavors as separate items on a plate:  Dashi, Soy Sauce, Mirin, Sesame, and Five Spice.  I instantly knew what i wanted to do!

I wanted to make something with Soba Noodles!  Soba Noodles are served with a Soba Dipping Sauce called Tsuyu.   Tsuyu is made with Dashi, Soy Sauce, and Mirin.   Three of the flavors I craved.  For those of you that don't know what Soba Noodles are, they are a buckwheat based noodle that is served cold.  It can be served hot in soup as well but I love it cold.   One of my favorite things about Japan was getting good food fast in the train stations.    Soba noodles were a big part of that.   

I wanted a light protein that was prepared simply with the Soba Noodles and that is when I decided on tuna.   My plan was to get a nice few pieces of fresh tuna and season them with chinese five spice powder that my lil sister picked up for while travelling in Thailand.   I wanted to add a layer of sesame flavor so I whisked together a marinade from tamarin sesame dressing, olive oil and chinese five spice powder.  I quickly pan seared the tuna on each side and let it rest.

I paired all of this with a simple salad with mixed baby greens, chopped purple cabbage, and chopped white cabbage.  I lightly tossed it with some of the tamarin sesame dressing and dinner was ready.

I plated it on some beautiful long plates that I have in the house and I was ready to eat!    Everything was so fragrant and delicious.  A simple meal, very flavorful, and a taste of Japan.  YUM

Total prep and cook time: 15 mins.

Amount of Delicious: AWESOME

i <3 japan

Gumbotto Recipe - My Rendition of a Gumbo Inspired Risotto

The other day I was watching Food TV and gumbo was featured a few times.   It was the day of Snotober in the NYC so I figured that I wanted to do something warming like gumbo for dinner.    Sadly then two shows later Food TV did something on risotto.  I wanted to make that as well!   It then hit me to try to make a gumbo inspired risotto.

Now I know there are plenty of recipes for Gumbo Risotto but I just wasn't in the mood for the tomato base.  I decided to just take the key ingredients I like of gumbo and incorporate it into some form of seafood risotto.   So here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

2 andouille sausage
4 diver scallops
6 tiger shrimp
2"x1" block of slab bacon
1 salmon fish head
1 extra large shallot
1 yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
bunch of fresh cilantro
chili flakes
4 cups fish stock
4 cups of water
2 pinches of paprika
1/2 stick of butter
2 cups of risotto rice
kosher salt
cracked black peppercorn
half of a fresh lemon
some parmesan reggiano
olive oil

Here was the plan.  I wanted to make my own fish stock base by putting a fish head in 4 cups of water and bringing it to a boil.    I removed the fish head and add 4 cups of store bought fish stock to it.   Whamo!   Fresh fish stock sorta.

I must admit the kid in me was excited to just be messing with a fish head :)

lol.

I then uncased the andouille sausage and cubed the bacon.  I tossed the andouille and bacon in the sautee pan with olive oil and made sure the sausage was brown and the little bacon cubes were nice and crispy.  I seasoned that to make sure the flavors come together.  Once the meat was done I took it from the pan and set it aside.   I added the shallots, garlic, and chili flakes into the sauté pan in the meat grease.   A little bit of seasoning to bring it together.  Once they were lightly sweated I tossed in the risotto rice and lightly toasted it for 2 mins.  I deglazed the sauté pan with two ladles of fish stock and began to work the risotto.

Good risotto is "worked."   You ladle in more and more stock and in between ladles you are tossing and moving the risotto.   When you do this the rice releases its starch and the risotto comes together much much more creamy.   "Working risotto" is a bit of a trick you need to practice and learn but once you hit your stride.  But when you do hit your stride you get AMAZINGLY creamy risotto.   This is why risotto is a comfort food....  it is made with love and care.

You work anywhere between 8-12 ladles of stock in to make a risotto.   You add some parmy cheese into it about 2x while you are working it.  Add enough cheese to add flavor but dont overwhelm it as you are going to put some cheese on it at the end.  You really got to make sure the risotto has the right creaminess and right texture.  This just takes practice!

I then heated up another sauté pan and dumped in the butter.    I tossed the scallops and shrimp in salt, pepper, paprika and a bit of fresh squeezed lemon.  I tossed them in sauté pan and spooned the hot butter atop them.    The shrimp I cooked to just done and took out.   I let the scallops get that perfect brown crust to them and took them out nice and done.   You really got to be careful not to overcook the scallop and shrimp.    The get rubbery if you over cook them.   This also takes practice.

I then finished the risotto by folding in som fresh chopped cilantro, the cooked andouile sausage and bacon.  

I plated the risotto down first with and on top of it put a bit of fresh parmy cheese and fresh cilantro.  I then added the scallops and shrimp to be served along side of it.

What I got was simply delicious.    It had the flavors of gumbo that I was graving and the risotto I was seeking.  Yum Yum Yum.   I have never made the gumbo risotto recipes that are online but let me tell you that this Gumbotto is worth making.

YUM YUM GUMBOTTO

Lobster Roll From The Red Hook Lobster Pound Food Truck

Yesterday while walking around Park Slope we noticed something wonderful!  The food truck from the Red Hook Lobster Pound. 

We couldn't resist hitting it up as we have been to the Red Hook Lobster Pound to get fresh lobsters and they were amazing. 

We decided on getting the Maine style lobster roll and hurried home with our bag of goodies.

What did we get?  PURE SINFUL GOODNESS.   I have never had a lobster roll like this.  Now I must admit I have only had lobster rolls 2x.  The first time was delicious and from the Brooklyn Fish Camp.   But this lobster roll from the Red Hook Lobster Pound Food Truck is something else.   It lasted about 2 minutes in my possession but I was able to snap some pics before devouring it.   Enjoy

 

YUM YUM LOBSTER ROLL

GREAT JOB RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND FOOD TRUCK!

Camarones Criolla Torta - Puerto Rican Inspired Shrimp Toasted Sandwich

I was watching food TV and Andrew Zimmern was doing a piece on the Caribbean.   They showed food from Cuba, and Puerto Rico and I began to dream of cocina criolla - Caribbean cuisine.  

It was time for me to make some good ole fashion Puerto Rican food.   I don't know a bunch of recipes but I remember the flavors from being a kid.   It ain't that complicated!

In the episode Andrew Zimmern catches a lobster and it got me thinking of seafood and criolla cooking.

So this is the plan I came up with.   I wanted to make some quick and easy Puerto Rican style shrimp.   I am sure there is a recipe for this somewhere but I wanted to go with my pasta flavor memories to whip this up.   

I first took out a nice aluminum caldero (pot).   I put in a few tablespoons of olive oil with 2 teaspoons of Achiotina.  This is a must have in your kitchen if you are going to try creole cooking.    It is essentially lard with Annatto.   Annatto is the spice that reminds me the most of my childhood.   I used to watch my Abuelita (grandma) and Abuelito (grandpa) cook up some delicious Puerto Rican food for me.  My Abuelito always wanted his food colorful.  Annatto brings a WONDERFUL red color to the dish.   He used to say to my Abuelita "more color more color" and they used to go at it over the stove.    Love love love those memories.

Once the oil was all hot and filled with "more color" *giggles* I tossed in some Recaito which is a cilantro based sofrito.    As soon as this hits the pan your nose thinks "Puerto Rico".   This stuff is an amazing cooking case.  AMAZING.   I got that toasted and cooked up and then tossed in 3 chopped up garlic cloves.  Garlic = PUERTO RICO.

I cooked the base down and you know its done once you smell it.  It smells like a Puerto Rican restaurant.   If you don't know what that smells like than cook it until before the garlic goes brown.   I cut the shrimp down and cleaned them up.   I tossed them in my base and very quickly cooked them.  Finally I tossed them in some fresh squeezed lime juice and salt.  Acidity to cut to lard it wasa cooked in.  What did I get some Camarones Criolla!  Camarones Criolla once again is Puerto Rican style shrimp.

Now from here on in I go off in my own direction.   I remember my Abuelito making this salad.  It was a simple one but it reminds me so much of him.   He has since passed but this style salad will always put a smile to my face and remind me of that sweet man.   xoxo

The salad was simple...lettuce, garlic, and onion mixed in olive oil and vinegar seasoned with salt and pepper.   I wanted to do a play on this so I came up with the following idea.   I was going to garlic quick pickle some cabbage and carrots.  This would be my bite and acidity.  It would also take through the garlic flavor.   I then cut up a green tomato and coated one side with oil and tossed the non oil side on a very hot grill to give it nice char marks and give it that oh so delicious grilled flavor.    I would serve the two together and this would be served on top of the shrimps.

Next step was the bread.   I halved a nice halved sandwich roll.  I coated the open bread sides with butter and tossed it on a smoking hot grill to give it some nice char with the buttery bread goodness that it already was.

I then started assembly.    Bread down and shrimps go down first.   I then put a nice piece of jalapeno pepper jack cheese.  I gave that a quick coating of chipotle mayonnaise and tossed it in the broiler to melt the cheese.  I took out the melty shrimp goodness and topped it with a slice or two of tht delicious grilled green tomato.   I finished it with a topping of that garlic quick pickled cabbage and carrots.

I served it along was some fresh tostones.  Fried green platanos from Castillo de Jagua in park slope with their disturbing delicious garlic green sauce.     

What did I get? Sabor!   Pure deliciousness.   Good lord of mercy.  This sandwich was one of the ages!  I loved it.  Pure pleasure I tell you pure pleasure.    Here is the final pic

Don't need to go to PR when you can bring PR home!

Viva Boricua!!!!

Red Hook Lobster Pound - ROCK LOBSTER

I realized the other day that in all my years of cooking I have never made a lobster!   I know how absurd that sounds but funny enough I am not the ultimate fan of lobsters.  I mean I like them but I don't LIKE LIKE them as most lobster lovers do.    So given that I like em and I have never made em it was time to MURDAH ME A LOBSTAH.  LOBSTAH MURDERAH.  woot.

Ok ok ok I digress.

I looked online for good places to go in brooklyn and all signals pointed me to the Red Hook Lobster Pound.  From blogs to yelp this place was the place to apparently go.  I usually dont buy into the hype but I figured since lobster lovers are truly lobster lovers I would trust the reviews.   I called them to see if they were open and had fresh lobsters and they in fact did.  The funniest part was their hold music was "ROCK LOBSTER!"   hahahahhahaha

I rented "Bentley" the zip car from the union ave car lot which was awesome.  He's a beemer.  What says luxury like driving a beemer to go buy some lobster.  What what!  

Our first stop was to buy something to crack the lobsters shell.  We didnt have one and I found the most awesome of lobster crackers in the home goods store on 7th and 2nd st.    Check it out!

I mean come one!   This lobster cracker screams LOBSTAH MURDERAH.   Yum.  Ok moving on.

The next step was I must go get myself some lobsters.   We drove to the Red Hook Lobster Pound and went on in.  Now to be honest lobsters are kind of intimidating.  I will admit it!   I read about how to cook and prepare them online but was still a bit nervous.    Well the staff at the Red Hook Lobster Pound was awesome!   They put me right at rest by telling me how big I should get em, how long I should cook em and all that goodness.  Thanks Red Hook Lobster Pound!   You guys rock!

We picked up two 1.5 lb lobsters and one big pot to cook em in.   I had a nice big pasta pot but felt like I want something a bit more substantial in case the lobsters fought back.   Which btw they did!

I boiled the pot of water and added a ton of salt to make it taste like sea water.   I throw in some Old Bay (not sure if I even tasted this so dont reccomend for others) and then took out my 2 lobsters.    I grabbed the first one and stuck him in face first.  He was NOT happy about that.  I kind of had to jam him in the last couple of inches because he clinched up his arms to try to prop himself out of the boiling water.   The 2nd lobster was the real fighter.  This guy was GANGSTA.   He fought from the first touch into the water and was a little punk.   I was born in Flatbush Brooklyn though.  NO LOBSTAH IS GOING TO GET ME!

BOOYA.

15 minutes later I had some lobster and boy was it delicious!   They are messy little critters and I think that is fundamentally why I don't like like them.  In addition there taste is kinda 1 dimensional in my mind.  Maybe it is just me.  All in all I recommend going to Red Hook Lobster Pound and getting a lobster.   Next step.  MURDER.   After that pure deliciousness!

I served my lobster with some roasted potatoes tossed in lime, olive oil, sea salt and fresh cilantro to bring some earthy brightness to the dish.  I definitely recommend balancing the lobster flavor with something bright.  It was a beautiful pairing.

Taleggio and Ossau-Iraty Cheeses Followed By Miso Tuna Skewers with Serrano Fried Rice

Tonight we went over and shopped at Union Market.    We got the idea of making some miso tuna skewers with roasted pepper fried brown rice.  We decided to start the meal by grabbing some new cheeses to try.    I recently had some Grayson so I was defintely in the mood for stinky sweet cow cheese :) 

Stinky cow based cheese is so friggin amazing.    It is sweet and fruity and buttery.   I love pairing stinky cow cheese with some sort of fruit sweetness to balance the funk factor and bring out the fruitiness of the stinky cow cheese.

So we put down a hunk of Taleggio which is stinky goodness.    I paired it with a raspberry jam to bring out its fruit flavors and level out the buttery component.

Your experience with the Taleggio is pretty awesome.   The first thing your palette recognizes comes from scent and it is the funk.   Next you bite into the bread and get the creaminess of the cheese.   The tangy funk is subdued by the fruit jam but then it manages to break through at the end.   The fruit jam brings out the fruity goodness of this cheese.   All of your flavor guns fire euphoric levels of happiness into your brain.   Wow.

I paired the Ossau-Iraty with some whole seed mustard.  This is a great raw goats milk cheese.   I like it but need to spend more time with it and not pair it with such a dominant ingredient like whole mustaards seeds.   Lesson learned.   It was delicious but it could of been any kind of cheese with the POW of the mustard.

We served it with some paddelfish caviar to bring a fish component to it to our meal as we are going to be having sweet miso tuna and I wanted to remind myself I am eating seafood all meal.

Absolutely a perfect way to make your belly smile!

For the main course we cooked up some grilled Miso Tuna skewers with fire roasted Serrano chile fried brown rice with fish sauce.

YUM YUM MISO TUNA!!!!

 

 YUM YUM SERRANO FRIED RICE

Simple Techniques....Great Results

So I wanted to take the time to really say how much I am enjoying food lately.    Last year I took the time to learn some techniques and really open up my mind to foods I hadn't eaten before.    I also took the time to learn some basic techniques.    Michael Symon always talks about learning techniques and he could not be more right!  Once you learn it you can begin to create with it.   So I just wanted to say YAY about one of my favorite techniques....BUTTER POACHING :)  YUM  The picture you see here is a very simple butter poached lemon sole with lemon zest, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.  Pure deliciousness!

Coconut Ginger Taragon Cockles and Grilled Shrimp with a Shaved Fennel, Tomatoe and Pomegranate Seed Salad w/Orange Pomegranate Vinegrate

Today we decided to go walk around and do some shopping and pick me up some boots and video game goodies.  I got myself a PlayStation3 Move for Christmas so wanted to get another game and a remote charger.    I digress....

While shopping we managed to work up an appetite so we decided to stop by Union Market and pick up some goodies to make ourselves lunch.   I started stumbling around and getting ideas and I picked up a relatively long list of recipes to concoct a nice, bright and refreshing lunch on this soggy winter day.

So check it out....Here are my ingredients:

One Baby Fennel

18 Cockles

6 Shrimp

1 Orange

Sea Salt

White Wine Vinegar

Ginger

Saardines

Pomegranate

Taragon

Tomatoes

Serrano Chili

Coconut Milk

I decided I wanted to start by making Coconut Ginger Taragon Cockles and Grilled Shrimp by simply cutting up ginger, the chili, some taragon and putting it in some coconut milk with the cockles and the shrimp.   Once the shrimp was nice and orange I moved it to a VERY HOT grill so I can give it some nice char marks and give the shrimp a bit more bite.

Then I shaved the fennel and quartered tomatoes for the salad.    I picked out some cranberry seeds and mixed it all up.   I whisked together a vinagrette with olive oil, juice of one orange, pomegranate juice/seeds and white wine vinegar.   I tossed it all and sprinkled some sea salt and cracked pepper on it.   

I finished the dish by garnishing the cockles with some fennel and plated it up.  Here is what it turned into :)

 YUM YUM

My wife tasted the salad and said "You need to make this like EVERYDAY"

hehehe