Basic Pantry List.

 Recently someone was telling me about what they were planning to cook for dinner. As they started to explain what the protein was and the cooking style, I asked if they had any stock to add some moisture, use as a flavor base, as well as to make a sauce. The answer was ..... What is stock?

  This is one of the main reasons I started this blog. Some of you might not know the difference between "stock" and "broth", and what exactly they are. Stock and broth are very similar and both are simmered with meat and/or bones, and usually some vegetables and aromatic herbs, then strained. (Though in the case of vegetable broth, meat is not used.) They’re both utilized as a base for soups, sauces, and gravies. However, there are some generally accepted differences between stock and broth. Stock is predominantly made with bones and some of the fat or grizzle that is left on the bones. For example.... Every time I cook a Turkey or 3, I will clean off all the meat and add all the bones in a simmering pot of water. Broth, on the other hand, is usually made with pieces of actual meat,vegetables, aromatic herbs, and usually cooked longer to create deeper layers of flavor, so it’s richer. and tastes more like a finished product that can be served on its own. Finally the biggest difference for me is that I limit the amount of sodium in my stocks, using a minimal amount if any salt. Broths on the other hand require seasonings to enhance the finished product. Now I get the fact that not everyone is going to take the time to make stock and store it in the fridge every week ....( I do , but then again I like to control everything....) So you can always use box stocks that are sold in every supermarket. There are some with celebrity endorsements, and some that have special, extra seasonings etc....I would always just get the plain old organic beef, chicken, or vegetable stock from Wegman's if I need to supplement what I have at home. But stock/broth is not the only thing that you should always keep on hand

 












 Bouillon cubes and base are also great to have available. In a pinch you can make a soup, or a base for a sauce, but be careful to not add too much salt to your broth.  Bouillon tends to be very salty or briny.... Even the low sodium ones are highly concentrated solid little cubes of flavor, that dont often need any more seasoning.

 I am not a fan of pre-made preservative laden products, But I have used things like "onion soup mix" to add flavor to something that I am cooking. I am not proud of it, but sometimes you have to use whatever is available.

 Aside from stocks and broths...... Here is a basic pantry list of what to always have available.

Canned Goods

Canned or Boxed Soup / Stock
Canned Fish....Sardines / Tuna etc...
Diced Tomatoes
Crushed Tomatoes
Tomato Paste.... In a can or tube.
Beans....dried on canned.

Dried Herbs / Seasonings

Italian Seasoning

Salt .... Sea Salt / Kosher
Pepper....Tellicherry / Black / White / Crushed Red
Cinnamon..... Sticks and Powder
Whole All Spice
Whole Clove
Ground Coriander
Cardamom
Bay Leaves
Old Bay Seasoning

Dressings

Oil's ....Olive or Grapeseed
Vinegar's .... Red Wine / Balsamic / Champagne.
Dip Mixes.... Onion Soup etc...
Bread Crumbs & Panko

Dry Goods

Rice.... Arborio / Carnaroli / Forbidden /Nerone
Pasta
Quinoa
Nuts
Seeds
Dried Fruit
Dried Vegetables

Baking

Arrowroot
Whole Wheat Flour
Stevia... Liquid / Packets
Sugar.... Raw / Brown / Turbinado
Cocoa Powder
Vanilla Extract
Raisins / Currents


 Notice that I didn't add Parsley / Thyme / Oregano to the list of seasonings ..... Thats because you should buy them fresh and use them when needed. You shouldn't keep dried herbs and spices for more than a year. Anytime after that and the will more than likely loose their flavor.

 Now all of these items are merely suggestions based on what I use daily.You can adjust accordingly based on the style of cooking as well as your ability level.   

 So get started, and If you have any questions please post your comments.

Eataly / Les Halles

Part 2 Les Halles.

  If you move a couple of blocks uptown to Les Halles, you will enter into another unique world of food. Les Halles is a little more of what I have come to expect from a fine dinning establishment. Les Halles is a "brasserie", which is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed, upscale setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. A brasserie can be expected to have professional service, printed menus, and, traditionally, white linen, unlike a bistro which may have none of these. Typically, a brasserie is open every day of the week and serves the same menu all day. I know it's not The London, Le Bernardin, or Per Se, but I really wanted to experience dinner at a place that I know so much about, thanks to Anthony Bourdain. Now I know thats sounds all fanboy like and all, but the truth is that I am a fan of Bourdain, as well as anyone else that has busted their ass in a professional kitchen or at home, cooking great food for lots of people. Unlike Eataly, which has that open european market feel. Les Halles is dimly lit and the dinning room is a bit cramped with tables , but spacious enough to enjoy you meal. I guess the only complaint I would have is that, it is a bit noisy in the dinning room but deal-able. Being that it was a Saturday the place was packed, and the kitchen seemed to be moving along with the demand of the dinning room. Our appetizers came out quickly, and I got to have a dish that I havent had since I was a kid. My old man would once in a while make me Escargot when I was around ten or so. That was around the time in my life where my dad and I would eat what most people that dont know good food would consider heinous and disgusting. Now I have been in many French restaurants since I was ten, but never really felt the need to order Escargot, but tonight was different. I saw that item on the menu and everything else seemed not as enticing. Of course everyone that was at the table did not care for a taste of "snail awesomeness"...Oh well, more for me.

 
 Our entrees were timed very well, so no one had to wait too long for a dish to be served before we all could eat. That is one of my biggest pet peeves when going to a better than average restaurant. The host/hostess shouldn't seat a table if the kitchen cannot time the food properly for that table. The staff that work at Les Halles are pros. The flow of waiters and servers, seem to be completely in sync with the kitchen....Well at least while we were there. The entrees and specials all looked great, but I wanted to have a steak done perfectly, so I ordered the Filet de Boeuf, Béarnaise. A beef tenderloin with a Béarnaise sauce. Served with a salad and their award winning "Steak Frites".













It was perfect. I couldn't have had a better steak unless I cooked it myself...

 Aside from the beautiful filet, I got to try a bit of everyones dishes and they were all outstanding. The Confit de Canard is one of my favorites. A crispy duck leg confit with a frisée salad, and truffled potatoes. The Steak au Poivre was done perfectly, it reminded me of my latest version of the dish and what I need to do to improve on it. Steak au Poivre is a lean steak coated with cracked black peppercorn and served with a Cognac pan sauce. That dish will be featured here on this blog, Facebook, as well as my YouTube channel in the near future. Probably the highlight of the evening was when my wife Liz ordered the alway exciting "Crepes Suzette". This dessert dish is prepared and flambeed for you table side, and at Les Halles this is even more entertaining due to the full dining room. From beginning at Eataly to ending at Les Halles, I had an amazing time with friends and family. We enjoyed So many great meals, snacks and drinks, that I wish we could do this everyday. Sadly we can't, but we can all learn from our culinary experiences, try to replicate some of the dishes at home, and focus on eating well and eating healthily. Check out the links below, and try to visit these places when you can.

http://leshalles.net/
http://www.eataly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhqpKuKU1w0

Eataly / Les Halles

Part 1 Eataly.

 There is nothing like a great meal at a highly acclaimed restaurant, or a nice snack and outstanding wines in a unique Italian market in the middle of Manhattan. These are the experiences that I try to make time for in my life. Sure I could go out to a local restaurant and celebrate my birthday with family and friends, but this year I dragged them with me to one of my favorite places in NYC and a restaurant that I have wanted to go to for a very long time but never had the opportunity until now. First we went to Eataly for snacks/wine and some shopping. Eataly is a slice of heaven here on earth as far as I am concerned. The fact that you can do everything from have a snack or a meal, get groceries, fish, meats, and fresh pasta while walking around with a glass of wine is uniquely cool, and very Euorpean. They offer the best of Italian imports that you really cant find anywhere else. Now I know that I could probably order any of those things online, but I like to see the product, inspect it, read the label, and discover things that I have never tried before. For example ...I found a "brown" Canaroli rice that I cant wait to make a Risotto with.

 

 Next we decided to grab a snack at "La Piazza". A beautiful etoneca with standing tables that offers so

 many tasty things to snack on. There are so many great things to choose from, but my favorite thing there is the "Grande Piatto Misto Di Salumi". A variety of cured meats, amazing cheeses, flavored honey's and fresh bread that will discourage anyone to buy salami in a plastic container ever again. The only thing that made this snack better was the wine. A glass or two of the Barolo Serralunga and you will forget that your in New York City. I know that its a bit pricy for a glass, but I firmly belive that life is to short to drink shitty wine.

 This snack was followed up by probably the best gelato I have ever had. In the market area, there are so many cool imported spreads, preserves, and honey's, as well as the housemade gelato. If you go to Eataly you shouldnt leave without tasting this amazing treat. My favorite so far is the "Salted Caramel", but I think I need to try all of them before I make a final decision. Right next to the gelato is Eataly's Caffe Lavazza, located right at the Fifth avenue entrance. There you can get a variety of great coffee beverages, but for me a "Doppio Espresso" is all I need to venture off to the next part of the evening. Now we leave Italy and walk a few blocks over to France...

It's been a while...

So it's been awhile since my last post.... OK more like a couple of years since my last post, so I thought it might be a good time to go back and recap some of my best and worst "food experiences" of the past couple of years. These "food experiences" will be both about restaurants that I have frequented as well as my own cooking. Now I am certainly not a professional food critic, but I do have a better than average understanding on how the food industry works. Since I was about five or six years old, I had the amazing opportunity to be around some great chefs and home cooks. They took the time to explain some of the things that most people take for granted or dont know or care about when it comes to food. For example, when I was five, my dad and my uncle were planning a big gathering of family and friends and needed to feed about 50 to 60 guests. So they concluded that they would go to a local farm (I wish I could remember the name of it...Oh well), and get everything that they needed for this party. Turns out the farm trip turned into a crash course in how we as a society get our food. I have been hearing this term a lot lately "From the Farm to the Table". That has got to be be the biggest load of bullshit these giant processed, frozen, preservative filled, boldface lying food corporations could ever serve up. The truth is that no matter what the package says, its a more likely that those Sweet Peas or Corn that come in a bag, are from a different country, and has been frozen for a lot longer than you may think. The true sense of the phrase " From the Farm to the Table" is a hell of a lot more expensive, and is not as available as the other crap. The best thing any of us could do for our health is read the damn label. If there are more ingredients than just the "Sweet Peas" in the bag, I wont buy them. People have said to me in the past,"but buying organic produce is too expensive. I would rather save some money and buy the stuff with all the pesticides and chemicals". You could do that, just make sure you sock away enough of the money you saved for you future chemo treatments. I know that not every pesticide laden onion is going to lead to some type of cancer, but if you think back on how many people we all know and lost due to some horrible disease, it would only make sense to not ingest those chemicals and pesticides and give yourself a stronger and healthier chance of not having to deal with these diseases. So back to the farm. Now when I have told this part of the story to people before, I usually get a response like, "oh that must have been terrible for you" or "thats cruel how could your dad do that to you". I never felt that way. In hindsight I feel that my dad taught me one of the most valuable lessons any one could learn. Part of the farm trip included a visit to the slaughterhouse, to get some farm raised lamb and beef. I witnessed how chickens are euthanized, and how a cow becomes a porterhouse. The thing that we didn't witness was the lamb. My father chose to do that himself... at home. Now my old man grew up on a vineyard in Argentina. He knew more about wine than anyone I have ever met, but this was the first time that I knew of when he also took on the role of butcher. The Lamb lived with us for a couple of days until the day before the party, Thats when my mom told us that we couldn't go play with the lamb in the basement. After my dad butchered the lamb, he butterflied it and stretched it across what looks like a crucifix. A cross made of metal with sharp ends that you stick in the ground over an open flame. It was the coolest, most archaic thing I have ever seen. You have seen concepts liks this in movies and tv shows set back in medieval times, I got to see it in my back yard. Although I was upset that my new pet was gone, I understood that it was there to feed us. And as I ate all the things my dad cooked that day, I came to realize that this is where our food comes from and this is how our society should be eating. I don't mean that we should be slaughtering animals in our homes, but we should embrace the true meaning of "From the Farm to the Table" Now that was a long time ago, and there are a lot more options for people like me that live in more urban areas, such as food stores that carry certified organic produce and proteins. My choice is my local Wegmans in Woodbridge NJ. They have a wide variety of organic produce that is reasonably priced. The meat and fish departments are outstanding as is the knowledgeable staff. It helps when you get to know the people that work there and they help guide you towards the products your looking for. If you do go there, say hi to Chef Marvin who is usually cooking some amazing tasting seafood dish for folks to sample. Another option is a CO/OP for produce. There is a health food store close by that offers its customers with an option to buy into the CO/OP and receive a variety of fresh organic fruits and vegetables for a weekly or monthly fee. Not bad considering that all the hard work is being done for us. Its up to you as the consumer to make the choice to eat better and healthier or continue the cycle that in my opinion is what has killed off a good part of the generations before us.

Homemade Summer Harvest Ravioli

I want to start this entry off with an invitation to all of the people that think they know how to cook Italian food, or their great aunt whatshername makes "The best meatballs and gravy ever". The fact is that most Italian dishes are rustic, simple peasant like meals that were made with ingredients that are cheap or easily available. That being said, it is still my favorite style of food to cook. I have had long drawn out discussions with so many people about food from the north, food from the south, the types of tomatoes used, is it sauce or is it gravy? (Sorry folks but cooked tomatoes will always be sauce, If you add some sort of meat to the tomatoes while its cooking then I guess you can call it gravy). The bottom line is, regardless where any of your ancestors are from, good food is the only objective here. (My family comes from Naples, so we know everything lol).

This is a simple recipe for making ravioli and tomato sauce from fresh garden tomatoes (not pre cooked in a can), and some flour and water. The first thing is the "sauce". I found the best way to get the most out of your sauce is to dice up 3 or 4 tomatoes and get them into a pot with two finely chopped garlic cloves and a tablespoon of fresh basil. The next step is a bit of a short cut, but you get the same result faster. Now I have had some of my friends make fun of me for using this product and some that praise it as I do, but for years now I have used the "Magic Bullet" in my kitchen with no issues what so ever. I also have recently been using the "Bullet Express" which is the larger machine that is more like a food processor. Regardless of what you use, now is the time to throw as many tomatoes into your food processor as you can and crush them into a nice thick raw sauce. You can also add any other seasonings into the processor to save some time. I will stick with the herbs and spices I added earlier. Now add your raw sauce into your sauce pot, mix and let it simmer. You can cook out your tomatoes for about one and half hours due to the fact that they are fresh and not pre cooked in a can.

Now comes the fun part... Time to get floury, is floury a word? Anyway, the first thing you need to do, is make sure you have the room or counter space to roll out your dough, or else this could end up taking a real long time. Step 1. Mix your flour with water. Step 2. Chase whoever is near you around the house with your gooey swamp monster from a Scooby Doo cartoon looking hands and howl at them in a ghost like manner... You can skip step 2 if you like. You should mix you flour and water sparingly. If you over work the dough you start to create a higher levels of gluten, and will make your pasta a bit tougher. So the key is to lightly mix the two components together until all the flour is incorporated into the ball of dough. Some of you may have noticed that I never mentioned using eggs in my flour mixture...That's because its a summer ravioli, the egg would make the dough too heavy and dense. So to lighten the noodle you just use water. Out of a five pound bag of flour, I used about half for my dough. That rendered about 200 2 inch ravioli, with a big ball of dough left over (about 100 or more in that ball). That should be more than enough for any family. Now let the dough rest for about twenty minutes, this gives you time to apologize to any one you chased around the house, stir your sauce, have a glass of wine(your gonna need it). Now you can make the filling. The filling that I used for this dish is sticking with the summer theme. It's a mixture of ricotta cheese with grilled chicken, fresh basil, and lemon zest. The chicken should be shredded so it can be incorporated into the cheese without it being too lumpy. Now you can use any form of chicken you want. For this recipe I used two rotisserie chickens. They are easy to work with and have minimal fat, so you can use most of the bird and not have any greasy nastiness affect the filling. You can use both the white meat as well as the dark meat in your cheese mix. Finely dice up 1 cup of fresh basil(you can add some more if you like). The zest of two large lemons and the juice of one half lemon, and mix everything together. Cover and let the mixture set.

Okay,you have your sauce simmering, your cheese filling is mixed and the dough has been resting long enough. So, LETS GET READY TO MAKE RAVIOLI!!! That should wake the dough up a bit. First and foremost... Don't forget your flour. You have to flour everything. Your table, your rolling pin, your hands, your friends, your rolling pin again and again. It is of the utmost importance that the dough does not stick to anything. For years now, I have been using a plastic mold for folding the ravioli. The mold is a circle cutter on the bottom and it bends in half on the top to fold the little dough disc you just cut. These types of plastic cutters/fold and press devices are sold in most cooking stores. I also in the past have done the manual fold over technique, as well as the two sheet method , which is when you roll out a long sheet of dough, set your filling in individual little mounds all over the sheet, salt and water around the mounds...(I will explain the salt and water in a bit). Then roll out another sheet, place it on top of the first sheet and the mounds, manually press around the mounds, use a round cutter, add more salt and water along the edges, use the tines of a fork to further press in the edges of the ravioli and create a design pattern. That my friends is ludicrous. Now I know that before there was any form of advanced cooking technology, this is how it was done, but we live in the modern world, so use your gadgets if you got em. Now I can't tell you where the salt and water concept came from, but that method was taught to me to ensure that the edges of the noodle don't come apart. If you know the two spoon technique, then this will make sense to you. If you don't this might sound stupid, but I will explain it as best I can. The only way to truly understand it, is by trying it. The concept is simple, you use a spoon to scoop up the cheese mixture and use the second spoon to shape the mix into a more rounded mound. This will give an even amount of filling every time. You could also use an ice cream spoon if you are making larger ravioli.
Place the filling closer to one edge as opposed to the center of your disc so its easier to fold. With a small brush or your finger rub a small amount of the salt and water mix around the edge of the disc and fold. PRESTO!!! You just made a ravioli. Now repeat this 199 more times!?!?!?. Now fresh pasta cooks really fast, so make sure your water is boiling, and remember to season your water with salt, pepper, and anything else you want to add...(It's the last chance to give the pasta any flavor of its own before adding the sauce). The ravioli will float to the top of your water in about two to three minutes. Now since we have gone to all the trouble to make ravioli and sauce from scratch, it would be a bloody shame to just dump sauce over the cooked noodles and call it a day, wouldn't it? When you get a pasta dish in a restaurant, it is usually finished in a saute pan. You remove the pasta from the boiling water and place it in a hot pan while adding sauce. This technique is used to marry the flavors of the pasta and the sauce. It completes the dish. Again it would be a shame after all this work to just have an incomplete, lackluster dish, due to skipping what is in my opinion one of the most important steps if not the most important step in this whole process. I finished the dish with some grilled chicken breast, grilled broccoli. You can add any other protein you like.

A little side note ....
I wasn't planing on making this dish at all, when my wife turns to me in the market and asks if I feel like making fresh ravioli. That was at five o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. We ate at at eight thirty that night. It may seem like a long time, but considering the amount of food being made from scratch, I'd say that it was worth it.

This meal may seem a bit overwhelming to someone that has never made fresh pasta before, but the truth is... It takes a lot of time, it is physically demanding, and it can become frustrating for a myriad of reasons, but there is nothing that you can create in your kitchen that is any more rewarding than this meal. Sure it may take some time, but its all worth it when you and your family sit down to eat what you hand crafted for them.

Better late than never "Cedar Plank Salmon"

As per usual, I have been way too busy to write a new entry. But I assure you that I still found time to cook, and that is the point of this blog. I guess when people try to cram to many things into their daily lives we tend to overlook some of the small but important things. That being said I chose this recipe because its a great meal that can be cooked by anyone and also can be found pre prepped in many supermarkets and food stores.

The first step to this dish is the cedar plank. You must use cooking grade cedar that does not have any chemicals or that has been treated in any way. The cedar at Home Depot will probably make you ill if you try to cook with it. The plank should be submerged in water for about an hour so the wood expands a bit and for the water to integrate some moisture into the wood so it wont flame up on the grill...(Your salmon should not look like it's in the fiery depths of hell). I used a two pound fillet of a beautiful North Atlantic Salmon. Now how the salmon is cleaned varies based on personal taste. Some would rather the skin be removed prior to cooking,(If you don't know how to remove the skin properly, your fish monger can do it for you) I prefer to leave the skin on, I feel the skin helps retain a bit of moisture in the meat of the fish and it helps create a fat barrier between the fish and the wood.



Some of the wood will char a bit during the cooking process and will give the fish a great smokey smell. The salmon was rubbed with a mixture of brown sugar and finely chopped garlic, freshly cracked black pepper, the juice of half a lime and a tea spoon of olive oil. Rub both sides of the fish gently, aggressive rubbing might break down the fish too much. Let the fish rest for a few minutes so the rub can do its magic, this gives you time to clean and prepare the asparagus and the mushrooms. The asparagus is grilled, so all you have to do to it is brush it with a little bit of olive oil and some sea salt. The mushrooms are coked in a sauce pan and reduced down into a gravy with some butter, white wine, and shallot's. Pre heat your grill on high for ten minutes then add the salmon, close the lid of your grill and reduce the heat to medium high. If you are using a charcoal grill, move your coals to the back of your grill and place the plank towards the front to even out the temperature. Cook until the temp reaches 130 degrees internally and remove it from the grill, let it rest for about 5 to 7 minutes...(The fish will still be cooking internally for a few minutes, so let it cool down for a bit). While the fish is resting, you can throw the asparagus on the grill for a few minutes. It doesn't take long for them to cook. I finished this dish with some sliced avocado with a little lime juice and a fruit that if you can find it in your local store, you should try it. The New Zealand Red Tamarillo is one of my favorite side dishes for its tartness, color and texture. I choose to use the tamarillo in this dish due to the fact that the fish had a sweet brown sugar glaze and the tamarillo would offset the sweetness in a different way that some citric acid would. After the salmon cools, slice it in two inch pieces. Place a spatula or a thin knife under the fillet and try to remove the fish while leaving the skin behind, it should peel right off. Squeeze some fresh lime juice on top and sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the plate and serve. This is a fun and a not so ordinary type of salmon meal that will certainly impress anyone you are serving it to... Now go cook !!!!

Brown Sugar and Black Pepper Rub.
2/3 of a cup of light brown sugar.
1 1/2 Tbsp of cracked black pepper.
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped .
1/2 Lime (juice only).
1 Tbsp of olive oil .
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the dry ones, and rub the mixture on the fish. Let the salmon stand with rub on it for at least 5 minutes.

Mushroom Sauce
14 to 16 small to medium size white button mushrooms...(Or two 8oz pre sliced packages will work as well).
1 small shallot finely chopped.
1 cup of white wine.
3 Tbsp of butter.
Rinse and slice the mushrooms, add them to a pan with 1 Tbsp of butter and the shallot. Let the mushrooms sweat out for a few minutes then add the rest of the butter and the wine. Add some fresh parsley, cover and reduce the heat to medium low until the mushrooms reduce into a gravy like consistency.

If anyone has a question on this or any other recipe, please see the comment section on this page .

Thanks
Dan

World Cup Party ...

The people that know me, know that I have a big mouth. This time my big mouth had me cooking for about 30 people for the FIFA World Cup Final game between Spain and the Netherlands. It all started when I was at my friends son's second birthday party. I was discussing international soccer with some friends over a few cocktails....This is always the point when I open up my big mouth and commit myself to something. So I blurt out "I will throw a World Cup Final party, and cook dishes that represent the two teams in the final game". I immediately thought...what if the two teams in the final are Algeria and Ghana? I never tried to cook anything that resembles authentic cuisine from either country. So for the next three weeks that followed I struggled with what was I going to cook and what teams were going to be in the final. As much as I wanted Argentina to win it all(I cook a lot of Argentine dishes), it came down to Spain and the Netherlands. Spain was easy, there are so many dishes to choose from, The Netherlands on the other hand was a bit harder. Now I start doing research, and thinking about who I am cooking for, I realize that many of the traditional dishes from The Netherlands would not go over well until I discovered Slavinken (Bacon Wrapped Pork Parcels). I thought that this might work but I wanted to tailor it for my guests as well as put my own flair into it. I altered the recipe a bit by adding ground beef to the pork, also using a simple chimmichurri dressing to help bind the meats together. I choose to grill the parcels almost like a hamburger as opposed to cooking them in a pan. The grill allowed me to cook more at once and add a nice smokey flavor to it. I also put a cast iron skillet on the grill to cook the bacon, It added a real nice edge to the already smokey flavor of the bacon. To complete the dish I steamed white and green asparagus and baked (on the grill, in a roasting pan)red "new" potatoes and purple potatoes. A funny little side note...While my guests are watching the game and eating...(and I'm running around like a madman), one of my friends asks "Why are the potatoes purple?" The only answer I could come up with was "I don't know". Yes I admit it...I do not know everything, but now I do. They have the same antioxidant makeup of a blueberry, albeit taste and look like a potato. They were originally cultivated in Peru, but can be found all over the world. Finally with the help of a friend (Thanks Dan), we made a Hollandaise sauce for the asparagus.

Now on to Spain.

There are so many different things one could cook that are indigenous to Spain, and my first thought was Seafood. Now I wanted to cook a lot of food for a lot of people, but didn't want it to be to generic. My first choice was to use Cod fillets, but when dealing with fresh fish, you have to go with whats available. So I went with theses really nice Whiting fillets that I baked on the grill in an oval terracotta casserole that was given to me by a friend. Terracotta bake-ware is a traditional vessel for Spanish and Portuguese cooking. I used a simple dressing of olive oil, the juice of two lemons, 1 cup of "Vinho Verde" (A very dry Portuguese white wine), and 1, 11 oz jar of capers. I let the fish slightly cook in the marinade for a few minutes, then took out the fillets and placed them on the grill for a quick sear and returned them to the casserole. Simultaneously I had two large stock pots with 50 giant Northern Cherrystone Clams steaming in 3 cans of beer, 4 tbsp of butter and some fresh Thyme. Over the years I have come to realize that not everyone is willing to experiment with food or be willing to try something different, so I also threw on some chicken breast marinated in the same chimmichurri dressing on the grill, as well a some traditional Bratwurst. So I unfortunately did not get a picture of the Whiting with the clams,(there was too much traffic around the table to try to plate at that time). Everything was served family style due to the fact that there were too many people to seat, and everyone was focused on eating and watching the game at the same time. Now just to keep up with the theme of this blog... Everything I cooked is all natural whole foods, I only used organic fats (extra virgin olive oil, and organic butter), all the seafood, meat, and poultry as well as the produce was fresh. Some of our guests asked if they could bring something such as an appetizer or snack...I said sure as long as its a healthy non processed dish such a fresh cheeses, artisan breads, and a vegetable platter. Yes this was a long day of cooking, but anyone of these meals can be prepared in less than an hour individually. Actually the amount of time I spent cooking, with some help was about two and a half hours, for all that food that's not too bad. Of course the clean up is the worst part.
If you're anything like me, and let your big mouth get you into situations like this one...Don't stress, keep your focus and go cook something!!!!


Dan

Directions for Slavinken.

4 lb ground pork (preferably 80%/20% lean)
4 lb ground beef (preferably 80%/20% lean)
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp fresh marjoram (or 1 tbsp dried)
1 cup of Chimmichurri Dressing

Directions for an authentic Argentine Chimichurri Sauce.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup freshly chopped Oregano
1/2 cup freshly chopped Parsley
4 Garlic Cloves very finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

3 16 oz packages of bacon or prosciutto
(you can never have enough bacon !!!)


Mix the ground pork, beef and herbs. Add salt and pepper (don't add too much salt, because the bacon is salty).
Wet your hands and form small sausages with the ground pork and beef mix.
Brush grill grates with olive oil and place parcels evenly. Cook over a medium flame for about 5 minutes per side, remove from the grill and let them rest for 5 minutes. Wrap bacon strips around each one .

Directions for Hollandaise Sauce.

3 lbs butter (clarified)
6 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly minced parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in the top of a double boiler. Stir in butter and beaten egg yolks. Whisk together. Add salt and lemon juice. Cook over boiling water in a double boiler until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and beat with a whisk until light. Stir freshly chopped parsley, if desired.

Directions for Whiting in white wine and lemon sauce

6 lbs of fresh Whiting fillets (boneless and skinless)
1 cup of white wine (Vinho Verde)
1 11 oz jar of Capers in water
4 tbsp of freshly minced parsley
The juice of two Lemons
4 tbsp of olive oil
salt and pepper

Cook the fish in a oval terracotta casserole (if you don't have one, use any other type of high heat bake-ware) for a few minutes. Remove the fish from the sauce and place on the grill for a quick sear. Return the fish to the casserole for a few more minutes and serve. You can add some more fresh parsley, or lemon zest at this point.

All the recipes are for making large amounts of food, you can adjust the ingredients based on how much of the main ingredient you are using.