Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

IT CAN’T BE FAT TUESDAY WITHOUT JAMBALAYA

Posted: February 17, 2015 in Food, Recipes, seafood, shrimp
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Back in the 80’s, I worked at a radio station in Mobile, Alabama. My New York buddies thought I was crazy to move to the South, but that’s where the job was. When they realized that I was only a 2-hour ride from New Orleans, I wasn’t so crazy after all! What a great town. I spent every possible weekend there: the food, the music, the people…

When I moved to Rhode Island, I really missed all the fun of the Big Easy. So I decided to have a Mardi Gras party every year. I’d invite 80+ people, and I cooked all of the dishes myself. (Not bad for a single guy!) I made all the classics: red beans and rice, crawfish etouffe, gumbo, and jambalaya.

I still can’t imagine a Fat Tuesday without it.

 

image

For the seasoning mix:

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

I find it easier to measure and chop all the ingredients before I start cooking.

I find it easier to measure and chop all the ingredients before I start cooking.

 

 

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions, in all

1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery, in all

1 1/2 cups good quality chopped ham

1 1/2 cups chopped andouille sausage (Here in RI, I use local Portuguese chourico from Mello’s in Fall River, MA)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)

3/4 cup tomato sauce made from pureed whole tomatoes

2 cups uncooked rice (I like Texmati brown basmati rice)

3 cups chicken stock

1 lb. peeled and de-veined wild-caught American shrimp

 

image

Over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan. Add 3/4 cup of the onions and 3/4 cup of the celery. Cook until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the seasoning mix, then the chopped ham and the chourico, and then the cayenne pepper sauce. Cook until the onions are a dark brown, about 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the remaining 3/4 cup of the onions and celery. Cook about 5 minutes.

Open a can (28 oz.) of tomatoes and puree in a food processor to make sauce. Add 3/4 cup of this and cook for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the rice, mixing well. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer covered over very low heat until the rice is tender but firm, about 15 minutes.

Remove the cover, toss in the shrimp, stir, then put the cover back on and cook for 5 minutes more.

 

Sometimes it’s hard to get wild-caught American shrimp at my local seafood store or supermarket. But for me, buying tiger shrimp or other Asian products is not an option. Once I learned about how they are farmed, I decided I’d never eat those shrimp again! Now I get my wild-caught Louisiana shrimp from a company I’ve been buying all my Cajun foods from for over 2 decades: http://www.cajungrocer.com. Not only will you find shrimp there, you’ll find many other Cajun classics: King cakes, Turduckens, andouille and alligator sausage, even live crawfish. And the price of their shrimp, even with shipping, is the same as the Asian shrimp you buy in the store. Make some room in your freezer, order large to save, and stock up on the real deal!

 

THE CLASSIC GALETTE GOES GLUTEN-FREE

Posted: February 14, 2015 in Food, Recipes
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Julia Child was my first guide for many of the go-to dishes that I still make today. My Mom and I would watch “The French Chef” on WNET, Channel 13, our PBS station back home in New York.  Later, I’d start buying Julia’s cookbooks, and I was lucky enough to not only interview her, but meet her just a few years before she passed away. She was a lovely, down-to-earth lady, and someone I’ll never forget.

The classic rustic galette was the first dessert I learned how to bake, straight from the pages of “Baking with Julia.” I generally stayed away from desserts because cooking them required a lot of exact measurements, and that just wasn’t my style of cooking. So when I saw that this rustic galette required none of those things, and yet tasted absolutely delicious, I realized I had found my dessert! And the galette was versatile: I could use whatever ripe fruit I could get my hands on, so it became a dessert that changed with the seasons.

With my wife’s dietary needs changing, I decided I’d attempt a gluten-free version of the classic galette. The original recipe for the galette dough was one that I could make a couple of days ahead of time, wrap in plastic and keep in the fridge. Then it was simply a matter of bringing the dough back to room temperature before I rolled it out, added the filling, and put it in the oven.

Gluten-free doughs, however, are a bit more high-maintenance. I found that making the dough ahead of time was not an option. I’d remove the dough from the fridge, only to have it fall apart in my hands, with the consistency of Play-Doh. I was still able to form it into a round shape, but it had no elasticity and it just crumbled in my hands.

I used apples, and couldn't even fold the dough over the sides because it kept crumbling. Despite the fact that it wasn't too pretty, it tasted great!

I used apples, and couldn’t even fold the dough over the sides because it kept crumbling. Despite the fact that it wasn’t too pretty, it tasted great!

So now I make the dough right before I want to use it. You can make the dough by hand, but I use a food processor.

 

 

For the dough:

3 tablespoons sour cream

1/3 cup ice water

1 cup all-purpose flour (I use gluten-free)

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into about 8 pieces

 

Everything looks better when you cover it with whipped cream!

Everything looks better when you cover it with whipped cream!

For the berries: (per galette)

1 1/2 cups mixed fresh berries or cut-up peeled fruit (I used apples)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon cold, unsalted butter

 

Stir the sour cream and 1/3 cup ice water together in a bowl and set aside.

Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in the work bowl of the food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse to combine.

Drop the butter pieces into the processor and pulse 8 to 10 times, or until the mixture is speckled with pieces of butter about the size of a pea. With the machine running, add the sour cream mixture and process just until the dough forms soft, moist curds. Don’t overdo it!

Remove the dough from the processor, divide it in half, and press each half into a disk. If you’re not using gluten-free flour, wrap the discs in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours.

If you’re  going gluten-free, line a baking sheet with parchment paper for each disc of dough. Put the dough on a lightly (GF) floured work surface and roll it into an 11-inch circle that’s about 1/8″ thick. Carefully transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. If it falls apart, just press it back together on the parchment. (It’ll still taste great!)

 

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and pre-heat to 400.

 

Spread the berries over the dough, leaving a 2 to 3-inch border. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the sugar over the fruit. Cut the butter into slivers and scatter it onto the fruit. Fold the uncovered border of the dough over the filling, allowing it to fold naturally onto itself as you lift it and work around the galette. It’s supposed to look rustic, so don’t sweat it. Dip a pastry brush in water, lightly brush the edge of the crust with it, then sprinkle the remaining teaspoon of sugar onto the crust.

Bake the galette for 35 to 40 minutes, until it’s golden and crisp. Move the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the galette cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temp. Use a pizza wheel or sharp knife to cut into slices.

 

A little whipped cream never hurts!

 

 

ROASTED PORK LOIN WITH CITRUS PASTE

Posted: February 9, 2015 in Carnivore!, Food, pork, Recipes
Tags: , , , , ,
2

The “paste” used in this dish is really more like a citrusy pesto that you smear all over the meat before cooking, preferably the day before. The citrus flavors work really well with the pork, and the initial high-heat cooking really gets the fat crispy and delicious.

image

Ingredients:

1 pork loin, about 8 lbs. (I use Berkshire pork)

 

zest of 2 oranges

zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

3 cloves garlic, through a press

1/4 cup olive oil

 

In a food processor bowl, combine the orange and lemon zest, the rosemary, sage, salt and pepper, and garlic. Pulse the processor just to mix, then turn it on and add the olive oil slowly, in a stream, until you get what resembles an oily pesto.

Score the fatty side of the pork loin with a knife in a diamond pattern. Rub the paste on all sides of the pork, but especially into the cracks of the fatty side.

Lay the loin down on a rack, raised off a sheet pan, fatty side up. Place it in the fridge, unwrapped, overnight.

The next day, about an hour before cooking, remove the loin from the fridge and let it come back to room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Bake the pork loin at 450 for 20 minutes, then cut the heat to 350 and cook until the pork reaches a temperature of 140 degrees (light pink). Let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.

image

There are few carbs in this preparation, because I use just the zest of the citrus and not the juice.

SPAGHETTI (SQUASH) AND MEATBALLS

Posted: February 4, 2015 in Food, Italian, Recipes
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

I always thought that spaghetti squash was a sort of “gimmick” vegetable. Who really ate this thing? I mean, if I wanted squash, I’d just buy a zucchini, chop it up and cook it. Why do I need a food that resembles another food I like?

Well, the answer to that question came to me when I could no longer eat the other food: pasta, because I was on a low-carb, no-carb diet. I was making meatballs and I was craving pasta. So I grabbed a couple of spaghetti squash at the store.

Cooking them certainly was easy. I washed them, cut them in half, and removed the seeds and membrane stuff with a spoon. I flipped them onto their backs, skin side down, and drizzled some extra virgin olive oil on them. A little sea salt and pepper, and then I flipped them back down, skin side up, on a sheet pan lined with non-stick aluminum foil. Into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30–40 minutes. When they were soft to the touch, I removed the sheet pan from the oven, flipped them back over again, and let them cool to room temperature. Then I simply spooned out the flesh, and it came out in strands, like spaghetti.

image

While the squash roasted in the oven, I made the meatballs. My wife is on a gluten-free diet, so I used gluten-free bread crumbs. The carb count of GF bread crumbs is about the same as regular bread crumbs, around 75 carbs per cup. I used 1 cup to make 25 meatballs, so they had about 3 carbs a piece. Not super low carb, but not awful.

Here’s how it went down…

image

For the balls…

1 lb. pastured ground veal
1 lb. ground grass-fed beef
1 cup GF breadcrumbs
2 eggs, cracked and scrambled

2 tablespoons dried parsley

2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon granulated onion

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

 

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and form into meatballs. Place them in a hot pan with 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Cook until the meatballs are browned on all sides.

 

For the sauce…

2 cans (28 oz.) of tomatoes, pureed

olive oil

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon anise seeds

 

In a large pot, saute the onions in a little olive oil until translucent. Add the pureed tomatoes and cook at medium heat until the foam disappears.

Add all the herbs and spices and mix well. Continue cooking on medium heat, lowering to a simmer if the sauce seems to be boiling too hard.

Add the meatballs to the sauce when the meatballs have been browned on all sides. Pour the entire contents of the meatball pan, including the olive oil and fat, into the tomato sauce pot.

Make sure all the meatballs are covered with the sauce. Place a lid on the pot, and simmer for at least an hour, until the meatballs are cooked all the way through.

image

To serve:

Scrape the spaghetti squash with a spoon and place a mound of it in the center of the serving dish. Top it with the meatballs and sauce. Grate some Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top, or do what I did this time, and cut a slab of mozzarella di bufala into small cubes and toss on top. A little sprinkle of oregano and olive oil for good measure on top.

 

CHINESE STYLE HONEY RIBS FOR THE BIG GAME

Posted: January 31, 2015 in barbecue, Carnivore!, Food, pork, Recipes
Tags: , , , , , ,
1
I was going to post my “deflated meatballs” recipe, but I decided to go with a classic for the big game! No need to freeze my butt off outdoors for these amazing ribs. I can stay in the kitchen. As the glaze cooks down, it gets sticky, gooey and delicious.
 image
For the marinade:
 ¾ cup soy sauce
 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
Other ingredients:
5 lbs pork ribs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks (3”)
1/2 cup honey
4 cups chicken broth
Mix the soy sauce and the hoisin in a bowl, and set aside. These are the marinade ingredients.
If the ribs are large, cut them into individual pieces. If smaller, cluster 2 or 3 ribs together. Place in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain.
Place the ribs on a sheet pan lined with non-stick aluminum foil or with a rack and coat with the marinade. Let them sit for 10 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the ribs in sheet pan for 30 minutes.
While the ribs are baking, start the sauce in a large non-stick pan or pot: combine the lemon zest and juice, star anise, cinnamon sticks, honey and chicken broth. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer.
When the ribs have finished baking, add them to the sauce pot and simmer (covered) for at least 15 minutes or until the rib meat is tender.
Turn the heat on high, uncover the pot and cook until the sauce is reduced to a glaze that coats the ribs. Reduce the heat as the sauce thickens to avoid the sugars in honey from burning. When the ribs are sticky and gooey, they’re ready!

 

LOX AND BAGELS….WITHOUT THE BAGEL

Posted: January 30, 2015 in Food, Recipes, seafood
Tags: , , , , ,
1

I’m past the halfway mark in my 30-day low-to-no carb diet right now. Although nothing beats a New York City bagel, it’s just not on the menu. So I went with organic Romain lettuce instead.

I removed the thick central stalk from several washed lettuce leaves, then cut each half in half, placing the lettuce on a large plate. Then I stacked: a small cube of cream cheese, followed by a slice of hard-boiled egg, followed by a thin slice or two of onion, a few capers, and finally, the lox. Each lettuce leaf made a bite-sized wrap.

image

 

 

Delicious? Yes. But I still missed the bagel.

 

BLUEBERRY CORNMEAL BUTTERMILK PANCAKES WITH LEMON ZEST

Posted: January 28, 2015 in breakfast, buttermilk, Food, pancakes, Recipes
Tags: , , , , , , ,
3
January 28th is National Blueberry Pancake Day! And this is my favorite pancake recipe by far.
All it takes to make this recipe gluten-free is to substitute the cup of all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour.
 image
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 large egg
3 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter, slightly cooled
1–2 teaspoons avocado oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, preferably wild, rinsed and dried
Whisk the flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl
to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, lemon zest, and melted butter into the buttermilk to combine.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients in the bowl. Pour in the milk mixture and
whisk very gently until just combined. Do not over mix. A few lumps are OK.
Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil and use a brush to coat the skillet
bottom evenly. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into 3 spots on the skillet. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the
blueberries over each pancake. Cook the pancakes until large bubbles begin to appear,
about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Using a thin, wide spatula, flip the pancakes and cook until they’re golden
brown on the other side, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer.
Chow down immediately!
image

NOT QUITE CARBONARA

Posted: January 25, 2015 in bacon, carbonara, Food, guanciale, pasta, pork, pork jowl, pork jowls, Recipes
Tags: , , , , , ,
2

Pasta is not something I’m currently eating on my low-carb diet. But it’s a great recipe I wanted to pass on to others.

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the toughest to execute well. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is one of those dishes. All you need is pasta, olive oil, raw eggs (separated), guanciale, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and pepper. (Real carbonara doesn’t use cream.)

You boil the pasta. Chop the guanciale (cured pork cheeks or jowls) and saute in a pan with the olive oil. Do not drain the fat. Drain the pasta and drop it into the pan with the guanciale, adding about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Shake it around for a minute and remove from the heat. Add some of the cheese and the egg whites, season with pepper, and mix the pasta well. Separate into bowls, making a nest with the pasta. Add an egg yolk to each, sprinkling more cheese on top. What could go wrong, right?

There’s a lot to be said for finesse!

I make my own guanciale. I buy Berkshire pork jowls and cure them. Then they go through a drying phase for a few weeks before I wrap and freeze them in chunks. Whenever a dish calls for guanciale (my daughter loves it on pizza), I simply unwrap some, let it thaw, then chop it up and saute it. The fat in the pork jowls is very different from other parts of the pig, and there’s no replacing that flavor. When making Spaghetti all Carbonara, some cooks replace the guanciale with pancetta or bacon, but that’s not for me.

It’s also important to note that this dish relies a lot on fat, so good fat is really important. Berkshire pork fat has good fat. Organic butter has good fat. And the cheese? Parmigiano-Reggiano isn’t called “The King of Cheeses” for no reason!

I decided to make a Not-Quite-Carbonara dish. I say “not quite” because I left out the eggs, which my daughter doesn’t like. It still came out pretty damn good…

image

 

 

1 lb. pasta (we like bucatini over spaghetti)

1 lb. Berkshire pork guanciale, chopped into small (1/4″) cubes

olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted organic butter

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

black pepper

 

Boil the pasta to the just-before-al dente stage.

In a large saucepan, heat the guanciale and olive oil until the fat has rendered. Do not drain the fat. Turn the heat off, add the butter and let it melt.

Drain the pasta and drop it into the pan with the guanciale, stirring the pasta around to coat with the ingredients. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup of the Parmigiano-Reggiano and season with pepper, still mixing.

Distribute the pasta into individual bowls, making sure everyone gets the tasty bits of guanciale. Sprinkle some more of the Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. Serve immediately.

image

 

CITRUS-RUBBED RIBS

Posted: January 22, 2015 in Carnivore!, Food, grilling, pork, Recipes, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
2

On my low-carb/no carb diet, I can enjoy pork, chicken, beef…any carnivorous delight I choose. What makes them bad for me is the rub and sauce that I put on them, which usually has a good amount of sugar. So I came up this alternate pork rib dry rub recipe.

I used the juice of two oranges in this recipe, but it’s mainly in the marinade which is later poured off. With 5 pounds of ribs, I think the carb intake is minimal. Using the orange zest adds extra citrus flavor.

image

Zest and juice of 2 oranges

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons seasoned salt

2 tablespoons good quality (not the expensive stuff) balsamic vinegar

5 lbs. Berkshire pork ribs (I like the St Louis style)

 

In one bowl, combine the zest of 2 oranges, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 3 tablespoons of seasoned salt. Combine so that the zest dries out. Set aside.

Cut the ribs into smaller pieces. I like making double-rib cuts and not single. Place all the ribs in a large Ziploc bag.

In another bowl, combine the juice of the 2 oranges (about 1 cup) and 2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar. Mix the two well then pour into the Ziploc bag with the ribs to marinate for at least a couple of hours at room temperature, or in the fridge overnight.

Pre-heat the oven to 450°.

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil with extra over the sides. Remove the marinated ribs from the bag and lay them down on the foil, trying to keep them in one layer.

Sprinkle both sides of the ribs with the orange zest, salt and pepper seasoning. Rub it into the ribs well. Fold the foil over, wrapping the ribs tightly.

Placed the sheet pan with the ribs in the oven and cook at 450° for 30 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 325.

Cook for 2 hours more, then open up the foil and cook another hour.

 

Of course, if you’re not on a low carb diet, feel free to slather these bad boys with your favorite sauce. My grapefruit barbecue sauce would work well with these: http://wp.me/p1c1Nl-qX

GUILTLESS FRIED FISH

Posted: January 18, 2015 in Food, frying, New York City, pasta, Recipes, restaurants, seafood, travel, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

It’s always a challenge when you’re on a diet. I’m going no alcohol and low-carb to lose some weight. (Down 6 lbs. in 5 days so far.) My wife needs to include gluten-free food in her diet, though she can have a few carbs. Fish is a great source of protein, and we love it sauteed in a little butter and olive oil with Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic seasoning on it. But let’s face it, that gets old after a while, and we all know there’s nothing tastier than fried fish.

Rather than using a heavy beer batter like I used to do (damn good and easy to do:http://wp.me/p1c1Nl-en), I came up with a very light gluten-free-flour-based seasoning that gave the fresh-caught local fish we bought incredible flavor and crunch without a carb overload and without gluten. Damn good, and I have to say, you’d never know the difference.

There are many gluten-free flours out there now, and all you need to do is substitute them cup-for-cup in any recipe you have. I’ve tried Bob’s Red Mill (OK), King Arthur (better), and Pamela’s (very good–what I used for this recipe.) I’ve just ordered the latest: Cup 4 Cup, created by chefs that include the famous Thomas Keller, which we tasted at Mario Batali’s Del Posto restaurant in New York City recently. They have about 12 different pasta dishes on their menu, and each one has a gluten-free option using the Cup 4 Cup flour. They were fantastic!

image

 

1 cup flour (all-purpose or gluten-free)

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon granulated onion

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon paprika

2 eggs

fresh locally caught fish fillets of your choice (I used fluke and ocean perch)

Organic GMO-free canola oil or avocado oil for frying

 

In a flat bowl you will use to dredge the fish fillets, combine the flour, salt and pepper, parsley, oregano, granulated onion and garlic, and paprika.

In a separate flat bowl, scramble the 2 eggs.

Pour about 1/2″ of the oil in a pan and heat to medium-high heat.

Dip the fish fillets first in the eggs, coating well. Then dredge in the flour mixture, pressing down on both sides, so the flour mixture really sticks to the fish. Then shake the fillet lightly to remove the excess flour and gently lay the fillet in the hot oil. Fry until golden.

We made a quick and delicious tartare sauce using mayonnaise, dill pickle relish and Maille sauterne mustard.

 

Older Entries
Newer Entries