Wild-Caught Salmon Chowder with Smoked Bacon and Black Sea Salt
Loaded with protein, omega 3′s and life-giving amino acids, this hearty and delicious soup has just a few carefully selected ingredients. Perfect fare on a cold winter’s eve..
Peel and cut 1 medium Yukon gold potato into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a pot and barely cover with light chicken (or fish, vegetable) stock and bring to a low boil. Cook until the stock has thickened with potato starch and the potatoes are very nearly done. Turn off the heat and keep warm.
Cut a couple of thick slices of hardwood smoked bacon into 1-inch lengths and cook over medium-low heat until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crisp. Transfer the bacon to a side dish to drain, leaving the fat in the pan.
Add about 1 cup each of diced yellow onions, diced carrots and bias-cut celery to the pan with the bacon fat and cook without browning until al dente.
Meanwhile, remove the skin from 6 or 8 ounces of wild Alaskan salmon filets, tear into large chunks and set aside.
Add the potatoes and their cooking water to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the salmon and 1/2 cup of heavy cream to the pan, stir and simmer until the base has thickened and the salmon is just cooked through, about 8 minutes.
Add chopped fresh parsley and a squeeze of fresh Meyer lemon juice and stir to combine. Simmer for one last minute, then season to taste with freshly-ground black pepper.
Ladle soup into warm bowls, top with pieces of bacon and finish with a few flakes of black sea salt.
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Mac & Cheese with Smoked Ham and Roasted Poblano
Classic comfort food on cold and rainy day.
Organic macaroni, extra sharp Vermont white cheddar, extra sharp Wisconsin yellow cheddar, caramelized onions, heirloom garlic, smoked ham, roasted poblano peppers and local, pastured half & half. Seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and Piment d’Espelette, topped with fresh breadcrumbs and baked until golden brown and bubbly..
Naan Pizza with Spiced Lamb, Roasted Vegetables and Fresh Goat Cheese
Homemade flatbread, ghee-fried spiced lamb, roasted peppers, onions, heirloom tomatoes and garlic, with fresh goat cheese and Neapolitan parsley..
Naan Pizza with Spiced Lamb, Roasted Vegetables and Fresh Goat Cheese
For the Vegetables
1/2 pound heirloom tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped.
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/3 cup assorted fresh peppers (I like to use both hot and sweet peppers), chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon cracked coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Toss the vegetables together then lay out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Place the tray in a 500 degree oven until slightly charred. Remove from the oven and set aside.
For the Lamb
1/2 pound freshly-ground, pastured lamb
2 tablespoons ghee
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon spice blend such as Penzeys Vindaloo, containing a mixture of ginger, cinnamon, brown mustard, red pepper, cardamom, turmeric, black pepper and cloves. Reserve a tablespoon or two of the butter, spice and lamb juices to spread on the naan.
Gently form the lamb into 1-1/2 inch balls, taking care not to press too tightly. Sprinkle with the salt and set aside. Heat the ghee in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the spices and whisk to incorporate. Carefully add the lamb to the ghee and shallow fry until nicely seared on the outside but still rare in the middle. Transfer to a side plate and allow to drain.
For the Naan (adapted from a recipe by Madhur Jaffrey)
8 ounces organic all-purpose flour (can use sprouted or soaked flour)
6 cloves garlic, peeled, roasted and mashed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon unrefined sugar
1/3 cup fresh whole milk, hand-hot
1 tablespoon ghee, melted, plus a little extra
1/3 cup plain yoghurt, lightly beaten
1 small pastured egg, lightly beaten
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, yeast and sugar in a bowl and pour in the hand-hot milk, ghee, garlic, yoghurt and the beaten egg and mix it all together to form a ball of dough. Place the dough on to a clean surface and knead it for 10 minutes or more, until smooth.
Pour about 1/4 tsp ghee into a large bowl and roll the ball of dough in it. Cover the bowl with a towel and set aside in a warm, draft-free place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat oven and a heavy baking sheet to 500 degrees.
Punch down the dough and knead it again and divide into 9 equal balls. While working on 1 ball, keep the remaining balls covered. Flatten the ball using your hands (or rolling pin) into a tear-shaped naan, about 6 inches in length and about 4 inches at its widest. Brush the top with melted ghee.
Remove the hot baking tray from the oven, grease it well with ghee and place the naan on to it.
Put the pan into the oven on the top rack for 2-3 minutes. It should puff up and brown slightly. It will go from browned to burnt quickly, so keep an eye on it.
Once puffed up and browned on one side, flip the naan and place back into the oven until browned, about 1 minute.
To Assemble
Lightly brush the naan with the reserved butter mixture. Scatter the roasted vegetables around the naan, then position the lamb around and about. Tuck in a few wedges of fresh goat cheese here and there, then place the naan directly on the center rack of a 500 degree oven and bake until the cheese is soft and the edges of the naan have begun to char. Remove from oven, dress with torn parsley and a light squeeze of fresh lemon and serve immediately.
Refreshing Mango Mint Lassi
Did you know that mangoes are grown in Texas’ lower Rio Grande Valley?
The English word “mango” probably originated from Tamil mangai or Malayalam manga via Portuguese (also manga). The word’s first recorded attestation in a European language was a text by Ludovico di Varthema in Italian in 1510, as manga; the first recorded occurrences in languages such as French and post-classical Latin appear to be translations from this Italian text. The origin of the “-o” ending in English is unclear.
When mangoes were first imported to the American colonies in the 17th century, they had to be pickled due to lack of refrigeration. Other fruits were also pickled and came to be called “mangoes” (especially bell peppers), and by the 18th century, the word “mango” became a verb meaning “to pickle”. –Wikipedia
Refreshing Mango Mint Lassi
flesh of 1 large, fresh mango
1/3 cup farm-fresh milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons raw, organic palm sugar
pinch of sea salt
4 ice cubes
Toss it all in the blender and give it a few whirls..
The "hedgehog" style is a common way of eating mangoes (left). A cross section of a mango can be seen on the right, not quite fully halving the fruit as the large stone is not visible
Lobster Mac and Cheese with Fresh Chives, Pimente d’Espelette
North Atlantic lobster meat, organic, whole wheat macaroni, aged Vermont white and cloth-bound cheddar, fresh cream, chives and pimente d’Espelette..
Lobster Mac and Cheese
1/2 pound organic, whole wheat macaroni
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup shell stock
blond roux as needed
1-1/2 tablespoons good sherry (not cooking sherry!)
1/2 pound aged white cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 pound extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
1-1/2 tablespoons pimente d’Espelette
3 tablespoons fresh chives or slivered green onion tops
3/4 pound lobster meat, poached
1/2 cup organic panko
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Prepare macaroni according to package instructions, but reduce cooking time by 2 minutes. Drain pasta (don’t rinse) and set aside.
Lightly poach lobster meat until a little underdone in simmering water with a little fresh lemon juice,a tablespoon of butter and some fresh parsley. Remove from heat, drain and transfer the lobster meat to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
Add cream, stock, sherry and nutmeg together in a heavy saucepan. Heat just until tiny bubbles come to the surface, but do not let it boil. Whisk in just enough roux so that the sauce coats and clings to the back of a wood spoon. Remove from heat.
Fold in cheeses, chives, pasta, pimente d’Espelette and lobster. Adjust seasoning with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
Turn mixture out into a small skillet or individual gratin dishes. Sprinkle lightly with panko and place into a 375 degree oven until bubbly and cooked through, about 20-25 minutes.
Sprinkle lightly with additional chives/green onions and chopped parsley and serve immediately.
If I had a deli,
I would serve European-style smoked salmon on a toasted, by-God real New York bagel with locally-made triple-cream mascarpone, fresh dill, home-made preserved lemon, seasonal heirloom tomato, Sicilian capers, red onion, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper..
Classic Smoked Salmon on a Toasted Bagel
Contrary to common legend, the bagel was not created in the shape of a stirrup to commemorate the victory of Poland’s King Jan Sobieski over the Ottoman Turks in 1683. It was actually invented much earlier in Kraków, Poland, as a competitor to the bublik, a lean bread of wheat flour designed for Lent. In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the bajgiel became a staple of the Polish national diet.
There was a tradition among many observant Jewish families to make bagels on Saturday evenings at the conclusion of the Sabbath. Due to Jewish Sabbath restrictions, they were not permitted to cook during the period of the Sabbath and, compared with other types of bread, bagels could be baked very quickly as soon as it ended.
That the name originated from beugal (old spelling of Bügel, meaning bail/bow or bale) is considered plausible by many, both from the similarities of the word and because traditional handmade bagels are not perfectly circular but rather slightly stirrup-shaped (this, however, may be due to the way the boiled bagels are pressed together on the baking sheet before baking). Also, variants of the word beugal are used in Yiddish and Austrian German to refer to a round loaf of bread (see Gugelhupf for an Austrian cake with a similar ring shape), or in southern German dialects (where beuge refers to a pile, e.g., holzbeuge, or woodpile)…
Bagels were brought to the United States by immigrant Jews, with a thriving business developing in New York City that was controlled for decades by Bagel Bakers Local 338, which had contracts with nearly all bagel bakeries in and around the city for its workers, who prepared all the bagels by hand. The bagel came into more general use throughout North America in the last quarter of the 20th century, at least partly due to the efforts of bagel baker Harry Lender and Florence Sender, who pioneered automated production and distribution of frozen bagels in the 1960s. -Wikipedia
