Fish en Papillote

Now that the MS Ride is over I feel like we can finally get back to cooking which means I can get back to writing about cooking!  One of the things I've really been enjoying lately is cooking fish and vegetables in parchment paper.  It is a super easy, quick, healthy and flavorful way to prepare food and while certain combinations give better results than others, you really can't go wrong!  Using filets of your favorite fish, fresh herbs and veggies served with pasta, rice or quinoa, the combinations are endless.

Parchment paper  is a type of cellulose paper that is coated with silicone. Its a great nonstick disposable surface for baking and cooking as it can withstand heat and won't burn or smoke in the oven. I like to use it to line baking pans, no need to grease the pan and clean up is easy.  But my favorite use is with fish, folding it into little self cooking packets.  You buy it on a roll (Whole Foods sells an unbleached parchment roll), just like foil or wax paper, or in pre-folded single serving oven bags.  I use both but find the roll easier when you are working with larger pieces of fish. But there really is no substitute for parchment, you can't use wax paper, and while foil gives a similar effect, you have to be careful using anything acidic like citrus or tomatoes.

Experiment with different flavor combinations like Shallots, lemon, herbs and butter with fresh cod or drum with olives, tomatoes and asparagus with a splash of extra virgin olive oil.  The main thing to remember is that your vegetable need to be sliced thin so they will cook properly in the 20 minutes and you need a hot oven, with most recipes calling for 400-475 degrees.

For this recipe I used ginger, shallots and garlic with lemon and carrots, but as I said, play around with your favorite flavor combinations and see what you like best! I served this with a side of classic Aglio, olio and peperoncino pasta using the recipe from one of my favorite bloggers in Rome, but I confess I did add the parmigiano cheese!  We also popped a bottle of 2009 Lioco Chard (we currently have the 2010 in the shop) that had been at the house for awhile.  Unbelievably good and perfect with the food!!!

SALMON IN PARCHMENT (EN PAPILLOTE)
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 Salmon Filet (1 ½-2 lbs.)
Parchment paper
2 lemons (one to slice, one for juice)
1 ½" piece Fresh Ginger minced
3 cloves minced garlic
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup white wine
1 shallot minced
Salt and pepper
2 carrots julienned

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400. Leave cookie sheet in oven to also preheat.

• Tear off sheet of parchment paper about twice as long as salmon filet. Place salmon in middle, skin side down. 
• Rub top of salmon with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mince garlic, shallot and ginger and rub on top of salmon. 
• Place thinly sliced lemon on top of salmon. Put carrots on top and around sides of salmon. Add dollops of butter on top of salmon and vegetables. 
• Add a big squeeze of  lemon juice and the white wine on top and seal parchment.
• Fold or staple parchment to seal (I like to fold and then tie the ends if the packs are pretty full), to allow salmon and vegetables to steam.
• Place packet on heated cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Quick Shrimp Pasta at the Beach

Every trip to the beach for us means doing something with fresh seafood.  And of course big, beautiful Gulf shrimp are the perfect source as they are quick to prepare and pack a lot of flavor.  I made this dish with sausage at home and loved it, so I decided to try it with shrimp and pancetta here at the beach.

I had gone to the olive bar at whole foods to get somethings for a picnic that I then forgot to bring with me, so I decided to make a pasta dish around the what I had bought.  I like those new little four compartment containers they have so I filled it up with the pitted castelvetrano olives, spicy Mediterranean olives, roasted tomatoes and mozzarella balls.  I tossed these in at the end and they lots of texture and flavor to this simple dish.

Once your pasta is cooked this literally takes about 5 minutes to cook and is really delicious.  We paired it with the Librandi Ciro Rosato from Calabria and it worked beautifully

serves 4
ingredients
-1 lb dried pasta (I like the lumonconi, but you could us rigatoni, penne, orchiette or any short chunky style of pasta)
-2lbs head on Gulf shrimp, deheaded, peeled and deveined
-1 ounce pancetta diced
-3 cloves of garlic sliced thin
-dried pepperoncini
-1/2 cup chicken or fish stock
-a splash of whatever white wine or rose you are drinking with your meal
-your favorite olives and stuff from the wf olive bar - I used 2 types of olives, mozzarella balls and roasted tomatoes - about 1/2 cup each, chopped to bit sized pieces
-salt and fresh ground black pepper
-handful of fresh basil chopped
-lots of grated Parmesan cheese

directions
-cook pasta to directions on package, drain and set aside.
-add olive oil to pan and heat to medium.  Throw in pancetta until just starting to brown on the edges, and the garlic and pepperoncini, and wait til they sizzle, about 10 seconds.  Add shrimp and fry until they just begin to turn pink.  Add stock and splash of wine, increase heat until shrimp are cooked through, but be very careful not to overcook.
-add cooked pasta, toss to coat it with the juices and cook for another minute.
-remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, stir in remaining ingredients and plate immediately.

Chef Thomas Wood's Chili Glazed Scallops

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting at the grill bar at Maximo's tasting wines with Antonio, Michelle Gueydan (she's been consulting with them to update their wine list and work with the staff), manager Eric Solis and chef Thomas Woods.  Our fourth annual "Tre Bicchieri" Italian Wine dinner will be at Maximo's next month so we were tasting through a number of potential wines and chef Thomas prepared a few dishes and sauces to accompany them.

As we began with the whites, he impressed us immediately with one of his signature dishes, Chili Glazed Scallops.  The fresh, gigantic sea scallops were cooked to perfection and served atop a bed of sauteed spinach and pears.  Equally as gorgeous is the wine we choose to pair it with, the 2008 Castello della Sala Cervaro della Sala, a very Burgundian styled Chardonnay from Umbria.  So if this first course is any indication of what will follow for the next four, we are all in for an incredible evening!

We'll be finishing up the menu and pairings this week and I'll post the information as soon as it is confirmed.  But as a special treat, Chef Thomas has shared the recipe with us so you can give it a try yourself before hand or just wait 'til May 18th at 7pm!

Chili Glazed Scallops

Chef Thomas Woods, Maximo's Italian Grill

Chili Glaze:
1 Tablespoon Garlic, Minced
1 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
2 Tablespoon Pomace oil (though any neutral cooking oil will work)
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Stock (Preferably fish, though chicken, shrimp, etc., will work)
1/4 cup White wine (Dry though whatever you’re drinking will work
just fine)
Pinch Salt to taste
Pinch Black Pepper to taste
4-2 ounces Diver Scallops
(seasoned and grilled)

Place oil, garlic and red pepper in a medium sauté pan on medium heat, making sure all ingredients are incorporated in the pan while in heating. Toast the garlic until golden brown. Deglaze pan with white wine, stock, honey and lemon juice. Incorporate ingredients in pan. Add butter, parsley, salt and pepper. Reduce contents in pan; sauce will visibly change (all bubbles will appear the same size). Drizzle glaze over the top of scallops.

Chef Woods serves this dish at Maximo’s accompanied with a pear and baby spinach sauté. Serves 2.

Eat Fresh! Support Local Fishermen and Farmers

Our trips to the local Crescent City Farmers Market, K-Jeans seafood and our own garden the past few weekends have netted in some really memorable meals. Nothing fancy, but it is amazing how good, simply prepared, ultra fresh ingredients can make for a really flavorful meal.

For example, yesterday we picked up those beautiful baby zucchini, lots of ripe red tomatoes, butter beans, freshly made cheese and milk at the CCFM, and then some gorgeous tilapia fillets at K-Jeans. We've got more cucumbers and basil coming from our garden that you can imagine, so we had lots of options for dinner!

I started with the zucchini: sliced them in half and salt and peppered them; heated a good amount of oil in a large skillet with some peperoncino and fried until lightly browned. The baby ones pack a ton of flavor, so I didn't need to add anything else!


I couldn't wait to eat those tomatoes so I chopped them and a few of our cucumbers in chunks, added a small amount of sliced onion, with a little fresh basil and oregano from the garden. Dressed simply in 1 part balsamic vinegar to 3 parts evoo, the tomatoes were deliciously sweet and the crunchy fresh cucumbers added the perfect texture.


Next I made the pesto. Kerry planted tons of basil this year and fresh pesto is a staple that we just love in the summer. I took 2 packed cups of basil, a clove of garlic, a pinch of sea salt, 3/4 cup of mainly freshly grated Parmesan cheese with a little Pecorino and 3 T. of pine nuts and threw it in the cuisinart. Pulsed until finely chopped and then slowly added in 1 cup of evoo and pulsed until oil and herb mixture are well blended. This made about 2 cups of pesto. Added freshly cooked pasta and topped with a little more cheese.

Kerry took care of the fish. She made a little lemon butter sauce with 1/2 stick melted butter whisked with 4 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice and a pinch each of cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. She salt and peppered the fillets and dredged them in a little flour. Reheating the oil left from the zucchini fried them over med-high heat until just lightly browned. Sorry, I got to hungry to take any more pictures...

We packed our plates with veggies and pasta, added the fish with the lemon butter sauce spooned on top, and settled down to watch the first day of the Tour de France, our absolute favorite sporting event of the year! We drank a great little Italian white wine, the Vinosia Malvasia, cheered Lance on as we cleaned our plates and commented on how lucky we are to eat such great food. Everything was simple, fresh, local and delicious and we finished it all off with one of my freshly baked Biscotti Amaretti.


A great performance by Lance, and superb meal, what a perfect Saturday night!

Seared Scallops in Pernod Cream Sauce

Our DC10 challenge this week had a "white on white" theme where each couple had to prepare a dish using only white ingredients. Our assignment was the entree and the first thing that came to mind for me was using scallops, something we rarely cook or eat, making it a bit more interesting for us.

Although Pernod is not usually something I cook with, I found a lot of information on line about how well it goes with seafood. So the challenge took us out of our comfort zone in more ways than one, but the dish was a success, receiving high marks from the very finicky group of foodies.

Expensive, of course, Whole Food sells beautiful large sea scallops that were absolutely delicious. And sorry, the picture is not my best, my photographic skills begin to decline after a cocktail and a few glasses of wine...

Serves 8

2 lbs Large Sea Scallops
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs olive oil
1 large shallot chopped small
3/4 C white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
3/4 C heavy cream
1 Tbs Pernod (or other anise flavoured liqueur)
2 Tbs fresh tarragon, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2lbs pasta (I used homemade ribbons)

The trick with this recipe is to make the sauce ahead, then time the pasta and scallops so they are done at the same time. Depending on the type of pasta you’re using it will take different amounts of time, so I’ll leave it to your discretion as to when to start the pasta.

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan. Saute the tarragon with the shallots until they are soft and starting to caramelize. Add the wine and lemon juice and reduce until thick and reduced. Add the cream and Pernod and turn down the heat to keep it warm, but don't let it bubble.

Clean and dry the scallops. Heat pan over high heat until hot. Lightly salt and pepper the scallops. Add the butter to the pan and swirl to melt. When the bubbling subsides add the scallops in a single layer without overcrowding the pan. Sear undisturbed until brown then flip with tongs. Cook until the top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the scallop is opaque and the middle 1/3 is still translucent.

Transfer the scallops to a plate then add the cream sauce to the pan that the scallops came out of and deglaze. Put the drained pasta in the sauce and stir to coat.

Plate the pasta then top with the scallops and drizzle any remaining sauce on top.

We paired this with the 2007 Ceretto Blange which worked well but I think my second choice, the Bucci Verdicchio would have provided a little more body and acidity for the creamy sauce.