Memorial Day

Yet another Memorial Day is in the books, a time for us to reflect on all those who have served and a signal that the summer season is just about upon us. Besides being a good time to reflect, it was also a good day for me to rest: I love days with little planned, probably because my restaurant days are so structured. I scrambled all week the week before just so that I wouldn't have to work on Monday and could just stay home with Ann. And that is always a good day!

We did have plans to go check out a wine bar in Warrenton, but Ann hasn't been feeling all that great and was not up for the trip. So, she came up with plan B: Bloody Marys at home. While we were out erranding, we bought a can of chipotle salsa (two actually) and a can of tomato purée (and some ribs for dinner). I love horseradish in mine, but I forgot we didn't have any at home, but still, these bloodies were not too terrible, seasoned with chipotle salsa, sriracha, a touch of Old Bay (for the celery seed in it), lemon juice, lime juice, and olive brine. We always start with tomato purée (or make our own in the blender) rather than tomato juice so that the drink still has some thickness and body once we add the vodka. We do not like watery drinks. Or small drinks!

Chipotle Bloody Mary! Happy Memorial Day!

For Memorial Day dinner, Ann had mentioned ribs a few days ago and I thought it was a good idea, but then on Sunday, she started talking about some cold good-for-you cellophane noodle salad. No! Not on Memorial Day! It's gotta go on the grill and it is not supposed to be remotely good for you. I didn't have time or the opportunity to score some decent ribs during the week, so we had to put up with what we could find at the market. Ribs, American-style St. Louis ribs thank you very much, are not much of a hit with the largely Hispanic and Asian crew that shops at FoodMaxx, so we settled for some chopstick-friendly spare rib nuggets, the same cut that I wanted, just cut into pieces.

Barbecue Riblets

I threw a quick dry rub onto the riblets and put them in a very slow oven (200F) for about five hours, covered with foil. The dry rub is a bit of this and that—nothing planned in advance—from the spice cabinet: cumin, pimentón, oregano, basil, cinnamon, dry mustard, salt, and pepper. And probably a bunch of other stuff that I have forgotten. Yes, I slow roast the ribs in the oven and then smoke them after they are done. I am not a professional ribmeister nor do I have a rig in which to slow cook my ribs over hardwood all day, nor am I inclined to get one. But I make damn good ribs regardless.

Dry Rub Before Roasting

After they came out of the oven, I threw together a quick three-ingredient sauce that was simply outstanding. A can of chipotle salsa, a third of a can of rice vinegar, and a couple squirts of agave nectar. A sauce to remember. I've made a lot of sauce in my life. This one is awesome!

Best Three-Ingredient Sauce Ever

At dinner time, I heated the outside grill to very hot and put the ribs on to smoke and crisp up. Once they were good and crisp, I tossed them in the wet sauce Buffalo Wing style and we devoured them at the table out on the patio. I have always been a dry rub kind of guy and sometimes I like a little sauce on the side if the sauce is not too sweet. This was an excellent compromise: great flavor and no burnt sauce!

Post-Barbeque Soft-Serve

And after dinner, Ann suggested (insisted?) that we run up to the neighborhood soft-serve joint and stand on line to get a cone: vanilla waffle cone for me, raspberry-vanilla swirl with sprinkles for Ann. Junior pain-in-the-ass-boy was in a full-fledged teenage snit (we "forced" him to eat ribs with us: he should be so lucky again!) so he didn't want to go and we didn't feel disposed to bring him anything back. As lactose-intolerant as I am, this will probably be my one and only cone of the year. But it was so worth it!

Annie, great day and great ideas! Bloodies, ribs, and soft serve: all your ideas. I'm always happy to oblige and if I don't have to think about what to make (like I do all day every day at the restaurant), that is just fine by me!

Strawberries!

First Strawberries of 2014!

It was a long, brutally cold winter in which we lost a lot of plants and shrubs and which delayed our strawberry season later than I have ever seen before. But it was so worth the wait! Ann and I ate these for breakfast, straight out of the bowl with two spoons, on Sunday.

Barbequed Chicken with Tom and Ann

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Tom and Ann invited us out for barbequed chicken. Tom is a master of his Big Green Egg ceramic kamado grill and I was really looking forward to our ride out to Capon Bridge to taste his chicken.

I'm really, really disappointed in my camera. I made a special trip by the restaurant to pick it up on the way to Tom and Ann's and it let me down. Of the 40 frames I shot, only two were in focus. I don't understand it: all the frames I shot the next day were in focus. It's almost as if the focus indicator doesn't work at times. I had a gorgeous photo of Tom's corn dish in a deep cast iron pan and all four frames were out of focus. Grr.

White Bean Spread

When we arrived, Tom had set out a batch of a hummus-like white bean spread and a tray of cheeses. Carter ate well over half the white bean spread and all the bread himself, the little glutton. It was a great afternoon to sit back, relax, sip some wine, and entertain Mr. Levi, who is really blossoming since coming to Tom and Ann's from the shelter.

Speaking of wine, Tom opened two California Sauvignon Blancs, an Oregon Pinot, a Central Otago Pinot, and a Bordeaux. I brought along a sappy green apple Cötes de Gascogne Blanc for a starter wine.

Levi is Most Happy

Tom Grilling Chicken

After snacking on cheese and white bean spread, we moved on to lunch proper of barbequed chicken (dipped twice in Tom's homemade sauce and caramelized on the hot grill), a delicious corn bake with bacon and cider vinegar, and some potato salad that I made. My Ann made some delicious chocolate cupcakes with a goat cheese frosting.

My Ann Made These Chocolate-Olive Oil Cupcakes with Goat Cheese Icing

Great afternoon spent on a gorgeous day with good friends. Thank you once again Tom and Ann for your great hospitality.

Steak Salad

We set out last evening to have skirt steak, grilled corn, and a salad, yet by the time we got hungry enough to worry about dinner, Ann suggested just making a salad out of everything, which we did. While I was slicing the corn, Ann made the salad and the dressing (which was really, really good: lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper). I'm not much of a steak eater and I love salads, while Ann loves steak, so dinner worked out pretty well: Ann ate the steak and I ate the salad!

Skirt Steak Salad with Raw Corn and Tomatoes

Pork and Snow Peas

I got up super early yesterday and as a result, I was home from doing all my paperwork by noon. My last stop before home was FoodMaxx where I scored some ground pork and snow peas for lunch.

Pork and Snow Peas

I got a large sauté pan hot and tossed in a half pound of prepped snow peas* along with a splash of water so that they would steam. Removing the steamed snow peas to a big bowl, I then put a half a pound of ground pork in the pan with a touch of oil and stirred while cooking. When 2/3 done, I added about an inch of ginger root, finely minced, and 6-8 garlic cloves (this is what we call a little), also finely minced. After stirring for a minute, in went the remaining ingredients: a diced orange pepper, a half a cup of mustard stems preserved in chile oil (cutely labeled "tasty-vegetable-go-with-meal"), half a bunch of green onions in one-inch slices, and about a dozen to fifteen garlic chives from the garden, sliced. After tossing together for a second, I splashed the pan with a touch of soy sauce and plated.

Delicious, light, low carb, quick, and moderately healthy. Not bad for a Monday lunch out on the patio with my wife.

*To prep all edible pod peas, snap the ends off, being sure to pull any fibrous strings running down the seams.

Crab Guacamole

Life is Good! Crab Guacamole and Pacíficos

It was a busy day in our backyard yesterday. Baby rabbit was hopping in and out of the brush line behind the house and all the birds were making various runs at the feeder to secure food for their babies. Barn swallows were constantly winging the backyard trying to nab bugs on the go. The chickadees kept ferrying loads of suet from the feeder back to their babies in the nest box around the corner of the house. Swarms of goldfinches flitted from the feeders to the treetops and back-and-forth and all over, serenading us non-stop.

Meanwhile, the mockingbirds chased off anything to get anywhere near their little cedar tree where they must have a nest. Poor squirrel had most of the fur on his back plucked by the time he could get away from the angry mockingbird. The robins patrolled the grass and caught lots of worms and then stealthily worked their way around us to the nest right overhead in the pergola as red winged blackbird proclaimed one of the feeders his very own, flashing his epaulets and making his "chack chack" call. It was a very busy day in our backyard. And a great day to be alive and sharing it with Annie.

Ann asked me to make crab guacamole, so we grabbed a can of jumbo lump and some cilantro from the walk-in and stopped by the supermercado for a couple avocados, a couple limes, and a six of (I want to say cheap at this point, but $10 is not cheap) Mexican beer. I rarely drink beer and I never buy it at retail, so I kind of had sticker shock. I'm not advocating Pacífico as a good beer: it isn't. But as a vehicle for a wedge of lime on a warm day outside, it hit the spot!

Food Porn! Chipotle-Garlic Guacamole, Cilantro-Lime Crab, Tobiko

I make crab guac from time-to-time in the summer at the restaurant as an appetizer, and as something to munch on outside on the deck, it is hard to beat and couldn't be any simpler to put together. At the restaurant, we make big batches of cilantro-lime vinaigrette with which to dress the crab and we plate it in a ring mold so that you can see the layers better. But at home, who cares?

Cilantro-Lime Crab

1 pound jumbo lump crab
2 tablespoons very finely minced cilantro stems
zest of one lime
juice of half a lime
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients well and season to taste. Let stand to marinate while you assemble the guacamole.

Chipotle-Garlic Guacamole

I kind of feel stupid giving a recipe for guacamole. Basically, you throw in anything you want with mashed avocados.

2 avocados
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 chipotles in adobo, finely minced
1/2 cup finely minced cilantro
3/4 cup diced tomato
lime juice, to taste
salt, to taste

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mash together with a fork. I like my guac with a little texture. You can make yours as smooth or as chunky as you like. I like a little spice in my guac and I like the smoky flavor of chipotle, so I put in one entire chipotle per avocado. You may not want that much. I would have put in some green onions, but I didn't have any. There are no rules. Make your guac how you want it.

For plate-up, ring mold discarded as too fancy for the back yard, spread the guac out over a plate and mound the crab on top. I like to throw a little tobiko and cilantro on top for garnish and I just so happened to have a tub of tobiko in my fridge from last week's summer rolls.

Enjoy with somebody you love!

Mother's Day/Fettucine ai Frutti di Mare

Yesterday was a kind of lazy Mother's Day and the unfortunate day when soon-to-be 15-year old Carter decided that spending time with his mother was not in his game plan, so Ann and I spent a pleasant afternoon in the back yard, sipping Vinho Verde and watching the robins and doves come and go from their nests on the nesting platforms attached to the top of our pergola.

Hamming it, Movie Star-Style!

When it got too hot in the late afternoon sun, we came in and watched a movie and then I started in on this dish of fettucine ai frutti di mare after the bucatini version on the cover of last month's Saveur. Ann specifically requested this dish for Mother's Day and I was fortunate to have the necessary ingredients in the walk-in.

Speaking of Saveur, if you look closely at the cover version, it appears not to be the same recipe as described inside the magazine, while the photo accompanying the recipe does appear to be from the actual recipe. These things happen, the logistics of photography and editorial writing being what they are. But the recipe and photos I don't care about, just the idea. I don't need a recipe to make this dish.

As you can see below, unlike the stylists at Saveur, I spent absolutely no time with my tweezers artfully arranging this joyous mix of pasta and seafood for the camera! But I will tell you this: Chiarello's recipe in the magazine has nothing on this. I guarantee in a blind tasting that my version will whip his, but I sure wish I had a pound of perciatelli laying around for this pasta. Fettucine was the best that our grocery store could provide. Note to self: order a case of perciatelli!

Fettucine ai Frutti di Mare

This is not the easiest pasta for a home cook to try, but I encourage you to try it anyway. The cooking is quite simple, but each seafood, the pasta, and the sauce need to be cooked separately for best results, so the complexity is merely in having to cook a bunch of things.

I handled it by steaming the clams first and then putting them into the pasta bowl, covered with a towel to keep them warm. Next I steamed the mussels. Then in the pan in which I would ultimately make the sauce, I just briefly cooked the squid with garlic and extra virgin olive oil until the squid just plumped up, seconds only.

Removing the squid to the pasta bowl and covering it with the towel, I refired the pan to make the sauce. In went four ounces of Peruvian-style chorizo and a minute later about six cloves of slivered garlic, three Calabrian peppers, a half a cup of grilled and marinated fennel, and a handful of tiny capers. A minute later, I put in the shrimp and two cups of halved grape tomatoes.*

Meanwhile, the fettucine were cooking away and as they neared readiness, I put a half a cup of the pasta water into my sauce, mixed it well, tasted for seasoning, and poured it over the seafood already in the pasta bowl. The drained fettucine went in next with a big handful of chiffonaded basil and I gave it all a big toss.

The result was simply outstanding. One of the best pasta dishes that I have ever eaten. Happy Mother's Day Annie!

*Don't get wrapped around the axle about quantities. This is a "just do it" sauce with no right and no wrong. Just do it.



My New Love: Peperoncini di Calabria

I read somewhere the other day that Calabrian peppers are all the rage on menus this season. I'm not one to follow trends but I am a chile fiend so I decided to discover why people like them so much. I bought a gallon of them and fell in love after I popped a couple in my mouth. They are spicy, salty, and a touch smoky. The heat is great, falling somewhere in the range of Thai bird chiles, but where birds don't have much flavor, these peppers have excellent flavor. Love them!