Smoked Mixed Crudo

If you know me, you know I enjoy any number or ‘raw’ foods. I’m not talking about fruits and vegetables, of course, but raw meats. When I am in Boston, and eating at Bokx 109, I will frequently order the ‘raw surf-and-turf’ – a combination of 2 appetizers, steak tartare and tuna tartare. I like the pleasing texture, and subtle flavor of raw food.

This has not always been the case. Frankly, as a kid growing up in middle Georgia, raw meat and fish was, to say the least, completely unheard of. Even after moving to Tallahassee, raw meat and fish were nonexistent in the 70s and 80s. But one day, during the formative stage of my cooking life, I wandered into a bookstore to search for cookbooks. I chanced upon a book titled ‘The Art of Sushi”. After looking at the pictures, I decided 2 things: 1) Anything that looks that good must also taste that good, and 2) I was definitely going to try it. One big problem – there were no sushi restaurants in Tallahassee at the time. Serendipity intervened, however, and I soon found myself heading to California to help my brother move back to Florida, after leaving the Air Force. He picked me up, and before we even had a chance to get back to his place, we had stopped at a sushi bar. As I expected, it was delicious, and I never looked back.

Crudo is a mediterranean-style of serving raw fish. Rather than dipping it in soy sauce,  a crudo, is normally flavored with salt, olive oil and something acidic like vinegar or citrus juice. Unlike the latin ceviche, there is not enough citrus juice to ‘cook’ the fish, nor is the citrus flavor as pronounced as in a ceviche (try my version of ceviche). Instead, there is a blend of the 5 tastes (excepting bitter) in the dish. In this crudo, I have used a little sea salt, as well as green olive and salmon roe to feature the salty taste, but balanced it with red grapes for a sweet element, grape tomatoes for a little sweet and acid flavors, lemon juice and peel for even more of the sour flavor, and finally by smoking the fish and shrimp to enhance the umami flavor. The only problem with this preparation is that I should have made a lot more !

Ingredients (per serving)

• 4 small shrimp
• 4 sashimi style pieces of raw white fish
• 1 heaping tablespoon salmon roe
• 5 grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
• 5 small green olives, sliced in half lengthwise
• 5 red grapes, sliced in half lengthwise
• zest of 1/4 a lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• a pinch of sea salt
• 1 pinch of black pepper

First, we have to cook the shrimp, since it is not actually served raw. For each shrimp, insert a toothpick or small bamboo skewer lengthwise through the shrimp, along the shell. This will keep the shrimp form curling up while cooking. Place the shrimp in boiling water, sweetened with a little sugar, and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain the shrimp and allow them to cool. When cool, remove the shell and slice each shrimp lengthwise, almost completely through. Open the shrimp, and flatten them under a plate, while cooling.

Now, as previously mentioned, I smoked the shrimp and fish to add more flavor. To do this, I used a ‘smoking gun’, a small, handheld device which generates cold smoke. You can omit this step, or purchase such a utensil. This is the one I bought. DO NOT hot smoke the fish – you do not want to cook it at all, just give it a smoky taste. So if you can’t cold smoke it, just omit this step.

After that, it is all about arrangement. In my presentation, I staggered the fish and shrimp around the sides of a small bowl. In the center, I placed the salmon roe, sliced grapes, tomatoes and olives, then put the lemon zest on top. Dash it all with the olive oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle a little sea salt and black pepper on top.

Capesante e Salsiccia Italiana

Twice in one week, people accused me of not making enough ‘Italian food’. Now normally I don’t bend to pressure, but I made an exception in this case. You know, a lot of people like Italian food – but a lot of folks also like Chinese food and Mexican food, two things I could get in the mid-sixties growing up in Columbus, GA for crying out loud ! Even so, I am forced to admit that these cultures offer some great food. So while I think it is kind of pedestrian, here you go : A tasty combination of sausage and seafood, reinforced by bold Italian flavors – done the way I like my Italian food – sans tomato.

Ingredients

• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 1 pound bay scallops
• 8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium sweet onion
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 1 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Parmesan cheese (for garnish)
• 1 pound perciatelli pasta (thick spaghetti)

There are 2 keys to preparing this dish. The first is ‘moisture control’. You are not out to make a soup (though that might not be bad either). The second key is not ‘rubberizing’ (overcooking) the scallops. That is never good. Both of these are addresses in the method below.

Moisture control is achieved by pre-cooking most of the ingredients. First, place the sausage in a pan, and brown it well, over medium heat. Render as much of the fat out of it as possible. Leavbe a little of the fat in the pan (for the next step) and drain on paper towels and reserve.

Next, finely mince the garlic cloves, and chop the onion and red bell pepper into a 1/4 inch dice. Put all in the same pan you used to cook the sausage, and saute over medium heat until the onion begins to brow, and the pepper has cooked down, eliminating most of the moisture from the vegetables. You may need to add a little olive oil to the pan, if you did not leave enough of the sausage fat in the pan. When done, place in a bowl and reserve.

Now saute the sliced mushrooms. Use a clean pan for this, with just a touch of olive oil. Over medium heat, cook the mushrooms until they are very golden, and most of the moisture has cooked out of them. Place in a bowl, and reserve.

Now that we have 3 things that have had most of the moisture cooked out of them, it is time for the sauce. Melt the 4 tablespoons of butter into the tablespoon of olive oil, over low heat. Add the salt, red pepper and the cup of chopped basil. Allow this to cook slowly, infusing the basil flavor into the butter sauce, about 5 minutes. With the sauce still over low heat, add the scallops. It is CRITICAL not to cook the scallops too  long and thus rubberizing them – no more than five minutes on the low heat, or until the scallops have just turned white and opaque. Immediately add the reserved ingredients, and raise the heat to medium. Cook just long enough to reheat all the ingredients – certainly no more than 5 minutes.

The dish is ready to serve. I served it over the perciatelli pasta (cooked al dente) in heavily salted water, and then topped with a finely grated parmigiano reggiano.

Picante Ceviche Mixto con los Mangos

Spicy Mixed Ceviche with Mangos

I love a ceviche. This is understandable, since I love raw or lightly cooked fish, and ceviche, by definition, fits perfectly.

There was a Mexican restaurant that Julia and I used to frequent when we lived in California. Here they served a ceviche very similar to the one I prepared here. I say similar, since they would not share any part of the recipe with me. So I said “I’ll show you” (OK, maybe I said something else), and this version was born.

The mango really helps keep the ceviche true to its citrus origins, and the peppers reinforce the Latin feel of the dish.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound white meat fish (such as sea bass)
• 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 pound bay scallops
• 3 oranges
• 5 limes
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 large jalapeño pepper, finely minced
• 1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, finely minced
• 1 cup diced mango
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Start by cutting the shrimp and fish into a 1/4 inch dice. The bay scallops should be about that size anyway, but if they are not, slice them as necessary to active a uniform size with the rest of the seafood. Place the diced seafood in a non-reactive bowl.

Add to the bowl the chopped red onion, and the finely minced peppers.

Now for the “cooking” liquid. Completely juice 2 of the oranges and 3 of the limes, directly into the bowl. Remove any seeds, but do not worry if there is pulp. Make sure there is enough of the juice to completely cover the seafood. Mix throughly, and refrigerate for 4 hours, stirring every hour or so, to make sure all the seafood gets ‘cooked’ by the citrus juice.

That is the primary ‘cooking’. At this time, using a large colander, completely drain the ceviche. I know this will be sacrilegious to some, but draining the liquid at this time will remove a lot of the ‘fishiness’ from the ceviche, and allow the citrus flavors to be more pronounced.

Rince the bowl, and add the drained ceviche back in. Also add the diced mango (very small dice) and the chopped cilantro. Juice the remaining orange and the two limes into bowl, and again mix well. Refrigerate 1 more hour. This is the secondary ‘cooking’, and as mentioned, really helps concentrate the citrus flavor.

Serve the ceviche by spooning it in to small bowls, for a appetizer portion, or into a 6 ounce decorative glass (like a wine glass), for a more substantial potion, which fully showcases the ceviche.