Aroma Cucina

Roasted Salt Crust Fish

This recipe is for Stacey and Julio and I want to see some pictures when you make this!

Roasted Salt Crust Fish

1 whole fish, head on, bones in, guts cleaned, scales removed.
Approx 1 pound of salt  (use sea salt, but don’t some fancy salt, look for a good cheap sea salt. They do exist.)
3-4 thin slices of orange
3 sprigs fresh thyme, can also add basil and a sprig of mint

Sauce
¼ cup melted butter
Juice of the remaining orange
1 sprig fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 350F

Choose a whole fish like red snapper, orata or bronzini. If the fish are small, you will need one per person. It must be a whole fish otherwise the salt will leach into the fish. You are creating a moisture (steam) absorbing crust that will seal in the fish flavor, so don’t even be tempted to get a filet, or a bone less fish.
Slide the thin slices of orange into the gullet of the fish. They will be overlapping. Add the fresh herbs. It sounds a little odd, but a leaf or two of mint in the bronzini just lifts all the flavors, it’s wonderful.
Pour a good thick layer of salt in the bottom of a heavy roasting pan. I like to use ceramic, pottery style roasting dishes.
Arrange the fish or fishes in the pan and cover with all the salt, you want the fish to be completely covered by at least ½” of salt.
Roast until done. OK, here’s the somewhat tricky part because you’ll need to be estimating how long to cook the fish. A 1 1/2lb fish, in a preheated 350F oven will take about 25-30 minutes.  The outer salt crust will be hard and dry.

About 3-4 minutes before the fish is ready, melt the butter, don’t let it come to a boil, squeeze in the orange juice from the half of the orange that you have left, and stir the mixture with the fresh thyme branch.

Remove the fish from the oven. Show it off to the dinner guests because it does look pretty cool. Take it back into the kitchen and carefully remove the salt crust. It will easily crack off bringing the fish skin with it. Arrange the fish on a plate, pour the butter sauce over the fish and serve immediately.
A gorgeous crisp white wine would do very nicely, maybe an Old World Riesling, or a French Vouvray, or even a simple Grechetto from Italy.

Brandade de morue

Brandade is like fondue, one of those old school recipes that doesn't deserve to be forgotten.  Brandade de morue, is a union of potatoes and cod fish, one of the most solid marriages I can think of.  You get crunch that leads to hot moist yielding softness, all enveloped in heady garlic aromas. And it sounds great when you say it in French.  What could be bad? OK….there’s quite a bit of olive oil involved and some cream, but it’s still worth the indulgence now and then.

Like any classic recipe, there are literally thousands of variations. This is how I make mine.

Poached Lobster

After a month of rough, feed your face kind of cooking, I came back and immediately wanted to make something light, and complex with fresh ingredients. Poached lobster seemed like the perfect dish. I’ve made butter poached lobster and it is heart stoppingly rich and decadent, but that’s not what I was craving. Instead I played with poaching the lobster in court bullion, white wine and a bit ginger, then finished with some fresh lime peel. Served with some basmati rice, it fit the bill perfectly.  Next time I’ll highlight the citrus/ginger combination a bit more and cut back on the bullion, but poaching lobster is well worth the prep time involved.

To poach a lobster: place the live lobsters in the freezer for about ½ hour to 45 minutes, depending on their size. When they are really sluggish, take them out, lay flat on their backs on the counter and using a large, sharp chef knife, cut the lobster firmly down the middle from the head to the tail. Do it quick. Do it clean. It’s kind of creepy because the fins and claws will still be moving but the animal is dead, and lobsters don’t have a central nervous system so you have in fact dispatched the critter with the least amount of suffering.

Separate the tail, claws and body. Reserve the body (you can freeze it) for another use. Drop the tail and large claws into a pot of boiling salted water. Leave in the water for a maximum of 90 seconds. You want raw lobster meat, and it will not come out of the shell unless some hot water is applied.
Very gently remove the lobster meat and keep chilled until you are ready to poach it. Poaching will only take a few minutes, as you don’t want to toughen the meat.

Possible poaching liquids along with combinations I’d like to try:
Pure butter, pure delicious sin
Simple court bullion
Almond milk and finish with some shaved coconut and lime
Ginger broth finished with a little rice vinegar
Duck consommé with a bit of cardamom

You get the idea. Have some fun.

Fish Festa

Well, it was a Herculean task, but we managed to cook and eat all that phenomenal fish!
Here’s how it went down:
Thursday night was a crawfish and mussel stew with a little chorizo thrown in for atmosphere.

Friday night was a huge send off dinner for our friends Bob and Joyce who were leaving Snowbird in the morning. We went through the 10 pounds of mussels, in a spicy red tomato sauce, and the cod was roasted in a salt crust producing the silkiest soft fish. I’ll post the recipe in a bit, but this is an excellent way to conserve and concentrate all the goodness of a fresh, whole fish.  We debated what other fish this could work with, and we all want to know if it would work with a whole salmon, so if anyone experiments, let us know!

Poached Fresh Shrimp

The trick here is to find fresh shrimp; I mean shrimp that have not been frozen.  For this, it’s probably easiest if you move close to a shrimp producing body of water. That may not be so practical, but every once in awhile I can find them. Sometimes in NY’s Chinatown at a fish wholesaler, but the other day I scored at the Citta di Castello fish market. These babies were gorgeous!  They were huge, and with the most delicately colored tails.  Should you come across any fresh shrimp, try this. If you only have regular shrimp available, give it a try as well, and let me know how it works.

3-4 shrimp per person (whole, leave the head on, don’t get all squeamish! It helps keep the juices inside the shrimp body)
Parsley stems
White wine
Butter
Lemon wedge
Salt and Pepper

Take a bunch of parsley stems, or the whole parsley sprig and layer the bottom of individual ramekin type dishes with a good half-inch of parsley.  Cover the parsley with white wine, then cover the dishes with foil or a lid and poach the parsley for 20 minutes in a warm oven (300-325 degrees).  When it’s time to cook the shrimp, give them a little dusting of salt and pepper and arrange  in the poached parsley dish with a pat of butter on top. Reseal the dish and poach the shrimp for as little time as possible, maybe 3-5 minutes. Particularly with the fresh shrimp, you want them barely cooked to enhance the natural sweetness.  Serve with a wedge of lemon, some bread to soak up the juices, a crisp cool white wine, like a Grechetto, and some soft Brazilian style jazz in the background.

Shrimp Provencal

Shrimp Provencal

Shrimp
Butter
Garlic
Parsley
White Wine

You’ll notice there are no quantities given, just ingredients. That’s because everyone likes their Provencal a little different. Here’s how it worked out the other night.

5 lb shrimp (good size)
1 cup of butter
6 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 T finely chopped parsley
1 glass of white wine

This is a great “I’ve got a lot of people coming and not much time dish.”  There were 7 or 8 of us for dinner and I started about 15 minutes before everyone got there. Served with some rice, salad and a watermelon for dessert. Easy, satisfying, not much clean up. That’s pretty much a trifecta in my book.

Wash the shrimp and drain. Do not peel them. (Major time saver right there.)
Melt the butter over low heat, adding ¼ of the wine, as you will be cooking the shrimp in batches, unless you have a really big pan and a lot of low burner heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked shrimp to a serving dish and keep warm.  Cook the remaining shrimp, adding more butter and wine as needed.
When all the shrimp have cooked and are waiting patiently in the serving dish, toss the garlic and parsley into the butter/wine pan adding any remaining butter or wine.  Pour over the shrimp and your done. Told you it was easy.
This is best when eaten with your fingers, then you are meant to lick your fingers. Paper napkins might be a good idea; along with wine, friends and laughter.

Octopus Ragu

Octopus Ragu
Ingredients
1 octopus
1-2 cloves chopped garlic
1 chopped shallot
2-3 dried chilies, more if you like, less if you are a crybaby
Olive oil
1 can crushed tomatoes
¼ cup hefty, hearty red wine (like a Primitivo)

Arts and Crafts Supplies
1 paper bag
1 felt marker
1 pair scissors.

Tenderize your octopus. How, you may ask? Well, I have a Popeil Polpo Pulverizer that I was given as a gift (it’s a big brick), but if you aren’t that lucky, and don’t have an ocean with large rocks outside your door, freeze the octopus and then thaw it. Not as much fun as beating it with a brick, but it does the trick.

Cut your tender ‘pus into bite size pieces. Slice the head part into thin ribbons, discarding the beaky part in the middle, and the very ends of the tendrils.

Choose a good, thick, solid pan, like an earthenware casserole or a good Dutch oven.  Grab the arts and crafts materials.  Put the pot cover on the paper bag, trace a circle and then cut out 2 layers of circle (both the top and the bottom of the paper bag).

Gently warm some olive oil in the pan, add the garlic, shallots and chilies and when everyone has softened and started to mingle, add the octopus.  Cooking only for a minute or so, until you see the octopus bits start to stiffen, add the red wine and tomatoes. Give it a gentle mix. Turn the heat on low, cover the pot with your paper bag circles and then put on the pot lid. Don’t open the pot; don’t peek, for 45 minutes. That’s it. You’re done.
Serve over a bed of linguine or other thick pasta.  Have lots of bread around for sopping up sauce. Finish the dish with some chopped parsley if you like.

This recipe is adapted, with thanks!, from Judy at Divina Cucina, the source of many, many tasty things!
If you are looking for other pasta recipes, visit Ruth’s Once Upon a Blog for Pasta Presto Night inspiration.

Shrimp with White Beans

Shrimp with White Beans

This recipe is for Stacey! We were having dinner together last night, and we all realized what a gift it is to be able to just sit together, drink a glass of wine and talk.  Sometimes we just get so caught up in the hectic-ness of life that we forget to take a minute to just stop and enjoy each other.
So here is a simple recipe for Shrimp with White Beans, one of the world’s great combinations. You can make it in the time it takes to drink a glass of Proseco!

Ingredients for 2 people
12 large shrimp
3T butter, room temperature
1T fresh parsley for the butter mixture
¼ T finely chopped parsley for garnishing
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 cups of white beans
Salt to taste
Orange peel

You can use dried white beans, but you will need to soak them overnight and then simmer them until soft, about 4 hours. It is also quite acceptable to use canned beans.  Drain the canned beans, and reheat them in some chicken stock or salted water.

Place the garlic and parsley in the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped, then start adding the butter in small pieces. Process until everything is nicely incorporated, green tinted, and garlic scented.

Here is the only tricky part: Remove part of the shrimp shell.  Lay the shrimp flat on a cutting board, and cut lengthwise along the back shell (not the feet side!), carefully removing the top half of the shell, but keeping the tail intact.  Once you have done that, place a small amount of butter mixture on the underside of the shell, and then replace the shrimp on top of the shell. You are lining the shell with the butter mixture.

Broil the shrimp until done…1 to 2 minutes.

Strain the beans and place on a platter. Arrange the broiled shrimp on top of the beans, pouring any cooking liquid onto the beans.  Sprinkle with some chopped parsley, and some orange peel zest.

Great with an assertive white wine, or a young, mellow red wine.

Stockfish Ancona Style

STOCCAFISSO ALL’ANCONETANA
Stockfish Ancona-style

Ingredients: for 4 people
2 large stalks of celery
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion or leek
1 lb stockfish, baccala or dried cod
1 can tuna
8 anchovies fillets
5T capers
extra virgin olive oil
stockfish broth, enough to cover the ingredients assembled in the dish, about 2 cups, can substitute good quality chicken broth
½ lb small tomatoes, cut in half
2 lb potatoes
1 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper
rosemary
2 garlic cloves
5T parsley

Preparation:
Chop the celery, carrot and onion in brunoise.
Chop the anchovies, parsley, tuna and capers and blend together.
Combine all of the above ingredients, season with oil and set aside to let the flavours meld, about ½ hour.
Wash, peel and cut up the potatoes in wedges; season with oil, salt and pepper, rosemary and whole garlic cloves.  Set aside in a small bowl
Trim and clean the stockfish, cut into even-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper and oil; set aside. Use the scraps to make stock.  (If you have purchased dried baccala, the fish should be soaked in clear water for at least 24 hours, change the water a few times.  You rinsing out and eliminating the excess salt.)
Place the fish pieces spaced widely on an oven tray; take small amounts of the chopped mixture and cover each piece; add the potatoes to the pan to fill in the spaces; correct the seasoning, add equal parts white wine and stock to almost cover. It will be a fairly ‘soupy’ mixture.
Cut the tomatoes in half an remove the seeds, fill with a loose mixture of bread crumbs and  finely chopped parsley, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil). If the tomatoes are small, do not add to the dish when it first goes into the oven.  Wait about ½ hour before adding the tomatoes.
Put in a 425°F oven; continue baking for 1 ½ hours.  If the dish begins to look dry, cover with aluminum foil.  The dish is done when the potatoes are tender.

Sole with bitter greens

1-2 fillets of sole or other white fish
1 orange, thinly sliced...really thin
1-2 dry chili peppers, finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot or small quantity of onion, finely chopped
2 cups of clean fresh bitter greens (kale, chard, spinach, collard greens etc.)
2 T chopped walnuts OR 1 T chopped bacon or pancetta....it's a weird either/or, but take your pick!

Boil the bitter greens for 7 minutes in salted water, drain and press out any excess liquid. Combine with the chopped onion and walnut (or pancetta...don't do both...ok?).  Layer in the pan, give them an olive oil coating, cover and bake in the oven at 300 F while you go do something else for about 15 minutes or so. Set the table, make the salad, pour a glass of wine, you get the picture.
When its time to finish the dish and EAT, place a layer of sliced oranges over the bitter greens, add the  chopped chili and garlic. Now layer the fish on top on that and then a final top layer of oranges. Drizzle everything with a generous bit of olive oil, cover tightly and bake in the oven at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, until the fish is done.   Remove the top layer of oranges before serving...and have a little dish around to remove that middle layer of oranges. Slightly fussy, but worth it. Serve with a full bodied white or rose wine, or better yet, a light pinot noir.