Prosciutto wrapped Salmon with Lentils

   

   

I have to admit, I don't like salmon.  It's just a basic taste preference.  I know plenty of people who do, and it's certainly a perennial favorite, but it's not for me.  That does create a dilemma though when you should cook salmon.  Cooking, of course, can and many times should be for the other person.  The person who is to receive your craft, your efforts, your creation. And if you're doing something special for them, it should be something they like. That can get me into predicaments like Brussels sprouts, asparagus and salmon. None of them my favorite, but all of them popular.

    

In times like this, I reach for bacon. If you don't like the way something tastes, make it taste like something else, like bacon. So, you'll find bacon bits in my Brussels sprouts, with perhaps walnuts or pecans for crunch.  And salmon, wrap it up and cover it up.  Now, bacon is too thick to coat many things.  I hate those bacon wrapped scallops and shrimp, but that's because the bacon doesn't have enough time to cook without overcooking the seafood. To the rescue comes prosciutto.  The absence of smokey flavor won't overpower like bacon, and its thinness will allow it to cook in the same time the fish is cooked. I paired this dish with lentils, both as a hearty combination, but also admittedly as a further distraction for me. The result, something loved by all. Serves 2.

    

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 carrot, diced

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup lentils

2 cups chicken stock

1 bouquet garni

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp dried dill

salt/pepper

2 salmon filets (preferably thick cut)

4 slices thin-sliced prosciutto

    

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. For the lentil soup, add the oil to a medium pot over medium heat and soften the carrot and onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a minute more. Add the lentils, stock, bouquet garni and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, and cook for 15-20 minutes.

For the salmon, season with dill and salt and pepper. Wrap the filets with the prosciutto, tucking the ends under the salmon laid in a baking pan.  Roast in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the bouquet garni and bay leaf from the soup, and serve the lentils without too much liquid in a shallow bowl topped with the salmon. 

    

Pork with Pears and Shallots

   

   

Ever wonder why you love French Fries?  Yes, I know, because they are good.  But why are they good to us?  Are our tastes programmed to love salt and fat?  The answer many would say is yes.  Our prehistoric ancestors who won the climb up the evolutionary ladder did so because of the benefits of their love for fat and salt.  Storing body fat got us through lean times in the ancient world, and so those with a taste for it survived. Of course, too much of a good thing is bad, and we have modern waistlines and health conditions as a result. 

   

My question is, did we ever love meat and fruit? I personally love what we would now call savory and sweet. Savory goes to our love of fat, but is so much more.  Ever wonder why just about every Mediterranean dish starts with onion and garlic?  And sweet, only the truly odd do not have a sweet tooth for something.  But some people really don't like pairing meat and fruit. If there was anything available to our Cave Man ancestors to make their meals interesting, it was game over the fire with fruit from a nearby tree.  I personally love to combine fruit and meat.  I make a chicken and apricot tagine that is good year round.  Summers see fish and tropical fruits.  But Fall is my favorite, when roasts and game predominate.  This is the season for roasted meat, and of course fruit.  Apples with pork, cherries with duck, and this recipe for pears.  I love pears, most especially the juicy kind that drips from your mouth.  Mouthwatering is what I think of for savory, luscious dishes like this.  You have to love a recipe that calls for nectar of any kind.  And experienced cooks will know that cooking an onion brings out its sweetness.  Thanks to Bon Appetit for this recipe pairing shallots, pears and pork tenderloin.  Not only is it easy, but it is relatively quick, as well.  Good thing if you were a Cave Man roasting on a spit near an orchard and attracting meat-eaters bigger than you!

    

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

salt/pepper

1 pork tenderloin

3 large shallots peeled and cut into wedges length-wise

3 unpeeled pears, quartered and cored

4 tbsp butter

2 tsp flour

1 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth

3/4 cup pear nectar or juice

    

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.  Mix oil, garlic and chopped thyme in a bowl.  Season tenderloin with salt and pepper and then toss tenderloin, shallots and pears with garlic, thyme mixture. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pork and shallots, browning on all sides, about 7 minutes.  Transfer shallots to a platter and pork to a baking sheet.  Roast pork in oven until thermometer inserted into center reads 145 degrees F, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add pears to same skillet and cook over medium-high heat until brown on cut side, about 4 minutes.  Transfer pears to platter.  Add butter to the pan and melt.  Whisk in flower and allow roux to cook for a minute.  Add broth and pear mixture to skillet, scrapping up bits and whisking to combine.  Boil until sauce thickens.  About 5 minutes.  Return pears and shallots to sauce to reheat.  Slice pork and serve with pears and shallots.

     

Chicken in Riesling

    

    
These days, we all want to be special, do something special or feel special.  Perhaps we're insecure, or bored, or in need of a thrill.  In cooking, it's that special ingredient, say a Southwestern chili powder, an indulgent ingredient like pork fat, or maybe a decadent ingredient, such as foie gras.  Perhaps it's a special preparation - remember sous vide? Or ingredients from a special place, on a farm, organically raised, cage free, locally grown, any more stereotypes I'm forgetting?
   
This recipe is special for what's not in it.  And, by that, I don't mean fat, or sugar, or gluten, antibiotics, processed this or refined that.  No, this recipe has bad, as in good, things like wine, butter, carbohydrates and cream.  But really, there's not much more beyond meat and vegetables.  That seems to cover the main food groups: meat, vegetables, dairy and wine.  Yes, from this simplicity, true greatness is formed, greatness through simple goodness.  Refined comfort food maybe, simple certainly, even quick and easy.  One pot too if you are into that.  Through this recipe you learn how to create beautiful flavor without beautiful people from beautiful places - it's caramelizing, deglazing, wine, and braising, seasoning and herbs.  There's not a lot more to good cooking then that.
    
Ingredients:
1 chicken cut into pieces
salt, pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp butter
1 leek, diced
2 shallot, diced
1 carrot, cut into 1 inch pieces 
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb small red potatoes, peeled
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
     
Directions:
Rinse and dry the chicken pieces.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat oil with 1 tbsp butter in dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Brown chicken, in batches if needed.  Remove to plate.
Poor off fat from pot, then add remaining 2 tbsp of butter.  Add leeks, shallot, and season, cooking 5 minutes until soft.  Add chicken, skin side up, any juices from the plate and wine.  Simmer until liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes.  Cover and braise the chicken, about 20 minutes.  
While the chicken braises, add potatoes to a pot of water with salt, bring to a boil and cook until just tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain the potatoes in a colander and then top with parsley, turning over the potatoes to coat.  When the chicken is done, stir in the cream, warm and adjust the seasoning.  Add the potatoes and serve.
     

Not Momofuku Cod with Miso Sauce

 

   
Momofuku...MomoFUku...MomoFUKU...MOMOFUKU!!!  I just like saying that word, Momofuku.  The owner of the eponymous group of restaurants chose it because of another bad word it sounds like, and that word rolls of the tongue too.  I like to say it as would a B movie samurrai: short, clipped, strong - MomoFUKU!  The restaurants by that name are Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssiam, and Momofuku Ko.  Apparently, there are more, but I don't follow that scene closely enough. Those I do follow hold the chef David Chang and his craft in high regard, and on that basis I purchased his cookbook.  
   
On this night, I thought of preparing a meal with his cookbook, hoping to use some cod I had in the fridge.  Unfortunately, the name Momofuku was also chosen in honor of Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese inventor of instant Ramen noodles.  So, while David Chang's noodle-based recipes are world-class, they offer little hope for my cod filets I want to saute with a nice sauce. And, thus, a common dilemma is confronted.  We aspire to fashionable dishes and restaurants, but they may not fit our ingredients list, patience or skill-level.  

Still, that is no reason to prepare another chicken breast.  Searching further for a way to marry my cod with Asian fusion, I was saved by celebrity chef Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa.  His signature dish is black cod in miso.  Simple, elegant, flavorful, this was a dish I could do.  Its zen simplicity relied almost solely on cod, miso and sake.  Elegant in the preparation it suggested and I accomplished with ease.  Flavorful as I found at a sublime level, savory, unctuous, perhaps even that mystical flavor of unami.  

The original recipe from Nobu: The Cookbook displays just the piece of fish and dots of marinade.  I needed more than that for my special meal.  I chose a side of shiitake mushrooms, simmered in sake, as well as a bed of sauteed leeks, which I already had and needed to use.  Again, I also sauteed these in a little sake, and their color expressed well in the overall pallet of this meal.  Lastly, I kicked up the cod a little with a top crust of black sesame seeds.  Am I guilty of leaving the zen and embracing the bling?  I don't know, but that doesn't really matter.  I made it my own.  I do know that this meal tasted fabulous, the miso marinade reduced provided a perfect complement to the fish.  Momofuku will save for another day. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin (a sweeter and less alcoholic version of saki available in most Asian sections)
2 packets of miso soup mix
3 tbsp sugar
2 filets cod
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 leek, white and light green parts sliced into thin rounds
2 cups shiitake mushrooms
1 garlic clove, minced
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
salt/pepper
    
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix 1/4 cup of sake, the mirin, miso soup mix and sugar together to make a marinade.  Place it and the cod filets in a plastic Ziploc bag and marinate 30 minutes. Towards the end of the marinating time, warm 2 tbsp of butter in a medium pot over medium-low heat.  When melted, add the leak, 2 tbsp of sake and a little salt and pepper. Cover and soften the leeks, taking care not to allow them to brown.  Similarly, add the other 2 tbsp of butter to a medium saute pan and melt over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms, garlic, remaining 2 tbsp of sake and a little salt and pepper.  Cook the mushrooms allowing them to soak up the sake.  
   
Heat an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  Remove the filets and pat dry, reserving the marinade.  Sprinkle the sesame seeds over one side and press in to adhere.  Add the vegetable oil to the hot pan and when smoking, add the cod filets.  Allow the filets to saute for a few minutes and then put into the oven to roast.  Meanwhile, add the marinade to a small sauce pan over high heat and reduce to the consistency of a thick sauce. Check the filets in 5 or 10 minutes using a meat thermometer stuck into the fish for a few seconds and then held up to your tongue.  If it feels nice and warm, the filets are done.  Plate by placing the leeks down first and cod on top.  Spoon out the sauce and add the mushrooms on the side.  
   

Grilled Cuban Pork Tenderloin

   

 
Sometimes I just feel Cuban.  Do I actually know what that means?  No, not really.  But it's not about what I know.  It's about what I feel.  And tonight, I feel the night sounds of mambo echoing in the neighborhood.  I feel an open shirt searching for a cool breeze.  I feel the sweat on the side of my drink, dripping like the small of my back. 
  
And the smell, the smell is pork, grilling, caramelizing the lime and orange, the cumin, the oregano.  A Cuban pork recipe has all of these elements. Rice and beans goes on the side. The important thing is what's inside.  Not the pork, you.  Feel good, and it will taste good.  Feel like a Cuban by eating like a Cuban.  Serves 2
    
Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
    
Directions:
Trim any fat or silver tendon from the tenderloin.  Mix all of the ingredients in a Ziploc bag and add the tenderloin.  Seal and allow to marinate, from 30 minutes to overnight.  Heat a grill to medium-high.  Remove the tenderloin from the marinade and reserve.  Pat the pork dry.  Brush with 1 tbsp of canola oil and place on the grill.  Brown on 2 sides, a few minutes each, and then turn to an uncooked side.  Cover and turn the heat down to medium or 450 degrees if measurable.  Roast the tenderloin for approximately 10 minutes, longer if needed, until a meat thermometer shows the roast at 155 to 160 degrees.  Remove the roast and cover with foil, allowing the meat to rest and lose any remaining pinkness while still remaining juicy.  Meanwhile, bring the reserved marinade to a boil in a small pan over high heat.  Reduce by half or more to thicken to a glaze.  Add some sugar if desired to sweeten.  Slice into medallions and serve, topped with the glaze.
    

Turkey Meatballs and Pasta in Cream Sauce

     
 

    

What do our meatballs say about us?  Seriously, can you tell a person by their meatballs?  How many of us even admit we like meatballs?  Are they for kids, or low brow?  It's like meatloaf, the ultimate comfort food, and literally, little round meatloafs.  Are you a person that likes a traditional American meatloaf, you know the kind with ketchup?  Do you use beef, or have you graduated to a beef, veal, pork combination?  Do you grind this yourself or were you happy to discover that many meat cases are now carrying this pre-made?  Have you ever bought those Swedish meatballs at Ikea?  Have you ever actually eaten them?  Have you ever bought those gross turkey meatballs in the frozen section?  Do you feed those to your kids?

My choices reflects the person I want to be.  A beef meatloaf is good, but something I long ago abandoned in search of something healthier, and not as rich.  The Italians already knew this, and thus their lighter beef, veal, pork combination, but that can be a hassle.  I've tried turkey meatloaf, but have yet to overcome the blandness in taste and lack of fat.  I've tried herb combinations, traditional Worcestershire sauce-based and Italian with cheese.  Never been able to wrap my meatloaf in bacon, all that fat is why I don't do a beef meatloaf, and besides, I like my bacon crispy.  This recipe, from Cottage Living 2008 has it all:  turkey for health and convenience, garlic and onion for savoriness, Parmesan for that Italian feel, not just mushrooms, but shiitake mushrooms for a little sophistication, a cream sauce for a little indulgence, and my personal favorite, fusili bucatini, or what I call phone cord pasta.  So, whatever this may mean about me, know that my meatballs taste good.  Serves 4.

    

Ingredients:

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/3 cup milk

4 tbsp olive oil

1 cup scallions, minced

1 1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground pepper

8 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp flour

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 large egg

1 lb ground turkey

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsp minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 lb dried pasta, such as fusili bucatini, cooked according to package directions

    

Directions:

Combine the breadcrumbs and milk in a small bowl and let soak 10 minutes.  Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 1/2 cup scallions, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.  Add the flour, stir in and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the broth, whisk to combine, bring to a boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, 1/2 cup scallions, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, egg, turkey, garlic and parsley in a bowl.  Add the breadcrumb mixture and mix together, ideally with your hands and fingers, to combine.  Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat.  Form the meat mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs and fry in the pan.  After browning the meatballs on a couple of sides, transfer to the simmering stock mixture.  Cover and simmer another 10 minutes.  Add the cream and stir in 1/2 cup of Parmesan.  Add the cooked pasta and toss to combine, simmering a couple of minutes if needed to reheat.  Serve.