Salmon, Snapper, and Tuna Sushi

I have recently become inspired after watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi, my new favorite documentary film. I highly recommend this movie to everyone, especially if you are at all interested in food. It is about a 90-something year old sushi chef named Jiro who has been making sushi for 75 years. His restaurant is located in a subway station in Tokyo, Japan and has received three Michelin stars. Experimented with some sushi tonight. I bought salmon, tuna, and snapper at Whole Foods because they are good raw and arrived at Whole Foods this morning, so they were (probably) the freshest. The salmon actually tasted the best. I didn't do much thinking outside the box in terms of filling for the rolls mainly because I have only made sushi once before, and I remember having a frustrating time doing it, so I just stuck to simple stuff. With the help of my family, I used cucumber, carrot, avocado, and fish for the fillings.

It all tasted great and I am real excited to make it again.

Summer Squash and Chicken Penne with a Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce

I came up with this dish knowing that we had leftover chicken from last night and fresh summer squash from the garden. The sauce (Lemon Garlic Butter sauce) is very similar to the sauce that I use when making shrimp scampi, but without the shrimp. Not a very photogenic presentation, hence why I only uploaded one photo. 

Summer Squash and Chicken Penne with a Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce

3 summer squash, sliced into thin rounds
cooked chicken, torn by hand into bite size strips
1 lb penne
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
10 leaves fresh sage, minced
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced (should be equal amounts sage to rosemary)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
slightly less than 1/4 cup vermouth
juice of 2 lemons
kosher salt
ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Bring water to boil for pasta. Salt liberally with kosher salt. Cook penne until just al dente, about 10 minutes. In large frying pan sauté the squash until just translucent with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Remove from pan. In same pan cook the garlic over medium heat until just light brown. Add butter (cut into chunks). Once butter has melted add vermouth, lemon juice, and herbs and simmer for three minutes, stirring throughout. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drain penne and immediately transfer to pan with butter sauce. Add the torn  chicken and cooked squash and stir/toss to combine over medium heat for several minutes to allow everything to become hot. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Simple Tomato Salsa

This simple tomato salsa was one of the things that I was able to concoct while at a cabin in the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York this past week. Basically all you have to do is carefully mix together a small dice of fresh ripe tomatoes, onions, orange (or yellow/red) bell pepper, a little hot pepper (I used a jalapeño, but a serrano pepper would also work fine), minced garlic, some parsley or cilantro, and a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil. 

There is no strict "recipe" for salsa. There are endless combinations of different ingredients and proportions that you can use. 

Pizza

Some photos from last night's pizza. Tasty, but there are still many areas for improvement. There are still many things that I am learning.  

Pizza Margherita.

 Italian sausage (somehow got it for free, along with another sausage, from the butcher at Whole Foods).

Assortment of toppings.

Dairy free/vegan pizza.

Peach, caramelized onion, goat and mozzarella cheeses.

Pizza crust bottom-view. 

Caprese Salad

This is salad in its simplest form. Caprese salad is quite easy to make. It is also a summer salad - don't even try making it anytime but the summer (unless you live somewhere very warm) because the tomatoes will not be great out of season, and great tomatoes are essential for a good caprese salad. Good mozzarella helps too. A balsamic reduction raises this caprese salad to the next level. 

Caprese Salad:

2 large, ripe tomatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

10 slices fresh mozzarella (about one mozzarella ball)

20 leaves fresh basil

1/4 cup balsamic reduction (see below)

freshly ground black pepper

kosher salt

To make this salad, simply assemble thinly sliced ripe tomatoes (about 1/4 inch thick), fresh mozzarella slices of about the same size, and several basil leaves. To make each stack, begin with a tomato slice. Place several basil leaves on top of tomato slice, followed by a slice of mozzarella. Then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil and a liberal amount of balsamic reduction (see below) on top. Add some extra smaller basil leaves to the top as well. Season with freshly ground pepper and kosher salt (this depends on the salt content of your mozzarella. I barely added any salt this time because the mozzarella I used was very salty to begin with). Enjoy!

Balsamic Reduction:

3/4 cup good balsamic vinegar

Simply bring the vinegar to a slight simmer in a saucepan for 10-20 minutes allowing the liquid to reduce to a syrupy consistency. Any extra can be stored in the refrigerator. 

Chinese Steamed Goat Dumplings (Jiaozi)

Homemade wrappers in back, store-bought in front.

Chinese dumplings are one of my favorite foods. They are simply amazing. The combination of texture, sweetness, saltiness, and juiciness make my mouth water. While I am usually somewhat picky when it comes to a food's quality, I am not at all around chinese dumplings, even when they come from a mediocre chinese restaurant. I love 'em all. It only makes sense, then, that homemade dumplings go above and beyond making me happy.
In these dumplings I used ground goat meat (with a little ground pork to add some fat) from a friend's goat that I helped butcher last week.

Ground goat meat with rib cage.

I also got to use my new bamboo steamer that I bought earlier today (for the main purpose of steaming dumplings). After soaking it in water for several hours it was ready to use and worked great. Rather than settling on just one type of dumpling wrapper, I decided to use a combination of store bought dumplings wrappers (Twin Marquis brand from my local asian market) and homemade wrappers. The homemade wrappers (flour and water) are thicker and have a better texture than the thin store bought wrappers, however both worked well and tasted good. I made a simple dipping sauce from soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, sugar, scallions, and hot chili oil.

Bamboo steamer 

Wood-fired Pizza in the Virginia Backcountry

Front-view

My friends and I tend to cook well when backpacking in the mountains. I don't understand buying all that expensive freeze-dried stuff anyways. This weekend we drove out to the Mount Rogers Wilderness/Grayson Highlands State Park to do some backpacking. We set up camp at an incredible campsite in a grassy open area at about 5000 feet above sea level.

We constructed a "stone-hearth oven" prior to building the fire. After building up a good pile of coals and "pre-heating" the oven, we cooked out first pizza. We used pita that we cut in half as the pizza crust. Due to the way the oven was assembled, we were able to achieve high heat from below and above the pizza which was ideal.
I highly recommend trying this next time y'all are in the backcountry as there is nothing better than freshly cooked pies on the mountain top.

Improvised peel.

View from the back of the oven with sliding rock "doors" open.

Roasted Tomato Risotto

Risotto can be somewhat time consuming (and daunting) the first couple times you make it, but once you become comfortable, it does not require any more effort than rice rice (slight exaggeration...), and risotto is absolutely incredible tasting. Risotto takes rice to a completely new level. Better yet, it is very adaptable and can therefore be made using many different ingredients. For this recipe, I simply used the Parmesan Risotto recipe from the New Best Recipe and added about a cup of roasted tomatoes and garlic about 15 minutes before the risotto was fully cooked. Next time I will definitely begin with more tomatoes as they cooked down tremendously. I also need ideas for a proper garnish for this dish. Any suggestions?

Grilled Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Basil

Bruschetta is a great example of a dish that depends entirely on the quality of the individual components. Bruschetta looks and tastes wonderful when each component receives the necessary attention. The bread should be crispy (I usually grill it for the great grill marks, although putting it under the broiler for a minute or two also works.). It should also be "garlic-y". If using tomatoes, they should be perfectly ripe (different colored tomatoes add to the apperance). The combination of tomatoes and basil is incredible. While mozzarella cheese is another good addition to this bruschetta, I believe the simplicity of this version allows the bread and tomatoes to stand out.

Grilled Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Basil:

10 slices of a baguette, cut at an angle 3/4 inch thick (other crispy white breads can be used, however the french baguette looks the prettiest)
2 large ripe tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, minced
10-20 large basil leaves, chiffonade
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Cut the tomatoes into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes (be careful not to mush the tomatoes when cutting the tomatoes as they are fragile. I recommend using a sharp serrated bread knife). Combine the tomatoes with 3 cloves minced garlic, chiffonade basil, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, and all of the vinegar. Carefully fold together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Marinate the tomatoes in this mixture for about 15 minutes.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Combine 2 cloves minced garlic with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and paint a light coating of this mixture onto both sides of the bread slices using a kitchen paint brush. Grill the bread t for a couple minutes per side until they develop light grill marks.
Put a generous spoonful of tomato mixture onto grilled bread and serve.

Smoked Whole Chicken

Now that I am home I can now use the Big Green Egg again. I decided to smoke chicken this time. I have had plenty of chicken recently, so I think I might take a rest before I cook it again. As I usually do when cooking chicken on the grill, I butterflied it and seasoned it well with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. In order to impart the most flavor, I rubbed the salt and pepper underneath and on the outside of the skin. I then put the chickens on the grate which was sitting on top of the ceramic plate setter (feet-up) with a fire box filled about 1/3 full with BGE Lump Charcoal (much better than charcoal briquettes). I also threw on a generous handful of hickory chunks that had been soaking in water for an hour or so for a extra smokey flavor. I cooked the chickens at about 260-290 F for two or three hours until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thighs reached about 170.
The chickens turned out real good, although grilled barbecue chicken with homemade barbecue sauce is hard to beat.

There is no need to flip the chicken.

Hickory chunks on left and BGE lump charcoal on right. 

Fresh Basil Fettuccine with Herbs, Chorizo, and Cherry Tomatoes

One of the unique advantages of homemade pasta is the ability to add additional ingredients to the dough, such as herbs or vegetables. I decided to add basil tonight in hopes that the strong and spicy flavor of the basil would enhance the taste of the pasta. Well, the basil flavor was much more subtle than expected. The basil did little to change the flavor of the actual pasta, however the green specks in the pasta definitely looked very appealing. In the end, I believe that the addition of basil was worth it, even if it only added to the appearance (and because "basil fettucine" sounds cooler than "plain fettucine").

Notice the green specks of basil.

This recipe is very flexible and can be tweaked in many ways. The exact amount of each ingredient is very flexible (the ratio of flour:egg in dough must be consistent). The amount of dough can be increased easily by using 2/3 cup flour for one large egg. 

Fresh Basil Fettuccine with Herbs, Chorizo, and Cherry Tomatoes

Basil Pasta Dough:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

15 basil leaves (more or less)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 medium sweet onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

fresh herbs, minced (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, etc. I used oregano, basil and thyme this thyme)

10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (more or less)

1/3 pound chorizo sausage (more or less)

freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 basil leaves, sliced thinly for garnish

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Coarsely chop the basil leaves. Pulse the chopped basil and 2 tablespoons olive oil in food processor until the pieces of basil are very small. Add flour and eggs and turn processor on until the dough comes together into one ball (about 30 seconds). The dough should barley stick to the sides of the food processor. Add a couple drops water if the dough is too dry. Add 1/2 teaspoon flour if dough is too wet. Cover dough ball with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 20 minutes. Dough can sit in refridgerator up to 24 hours.

Remove casing from sausage. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook sausage in pan over medium heat until just cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Set aside on paper towels. 

Roll pasta using a pasta roller with the cutter set to fettucine. 

Bring 4-quarts water to full boil. Salt water liberally with kosher salt before adding pasta (do not skip this step). Cook pasta until just al-dente, about 3 minutes for fresh fettucine. 

Cook the onions with 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil until translucent over medium heat in large sauté pan, about 8 minutes. Add sausage, garlic, and herbs. Cook until garlic begins to turn slightly brown, about 1-2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and add cooked pasta. Toss the pasta with the sausage and onion mixture. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle grated parmesan on top. Garnish with thinly sliced basil and serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Recipe by Luke Paulson

Grilled Quail with Red Pepper Risotto and Tomato and Sage Essence

This is a based on a recipe out of Not Afraid of Flavor: Recipes from Magnolia Grill (not including the risotto). It was ambitious (probably too ambitious) to even try to replicate one of the Barker's recipes, but I certainly tried. I used The Pioneer Women's Red Pepper Risotto recipe for the risotto. The risotto (which I have cooked before) turned out great, as usual, however the quail and tomato and sage essence  came out so-so, and was not really worth the effort that I put into it.
The cookbook is great for reading, however (especially after making this dish) I find most of the recipes to be too complicated. It is obviously composed of recipes from the Magnolia Grill  kitchen (which actually just closed its doors for good about a month ago), many of which include sauces, ingredients, and techniques that are either too time consuming or too expensive to make it worth making for one meal.

NC Crab Cakes

I decided to catch some crabs and make some crab cakes after noticing the oddly high number of blue crabs in the surf at the beach this past week. I have never seen blue crabs in such numbers.
While catching the crabs was relatively easy, cleaning them was not. I have only "cleaned" crabs once before, and that was at least five years ago. Forming and cooking the crab cakes was actually quite easy once I finally extracted the crab meat.

Living crabs before being boiled

I was fairly pleased with the final product. They had lots of lump crab meat per cake and had a nice flavor. The texture is the main aspect I need to improve on. While there was a nice crispy outside layer from pan-frying, the inside of the cakes seemed a little bit mushy. Hopefully I can improve on this next time I make these things again. I think having a slight crunch throughout the inside of the cake would raise these to the next level. Anybody have any ideas for how to achieve this?

While I am not a regular crabber, it was awesome eating these cakes knowing exactly how and where they came from (I caught them that day!). I also do a lot of fishing at the beach, in fact I spend most of my beach time with rod and reel in hand, however I usually catch and release.

Grilled Whole Chicken

When at home I always grill/smoke chicken on our Big Green Egg, although I used a Weber charcoal grill this time because I was at the beach and therefore was without the BGE. This didn't seem to be a problem though, because I was able to cook the chicken the same way and it turned out quite well. I try to use whole butterflied chickens when I grill chicken as I believe they turn out the best.

After butterflying the whole chicken I seasoned it with salt and pepper and placed it on the grill skin-side up over indirect heat. I also added a couple handfuls of hickory chunks for a nice smokey flavor. Because I cook my chicken slowly over indirect heat (I believe this is the best way to grill chicken: it is moist and doesn't get burn on the edges), I do not flip the chicken at all while cooking. I "painted" the bird with my homemade barbecue sauce a couple minutes before (and directly after) removing from the heat.

Luke's advice for grilled chicken:

• use bone-in chicken. whole chickens are ideal (butterfly before cooking)
• season liberally with kosher (big grains) and freshly ground black pepper before cooking
• grill over a low-temperature indirect heat (the exact grill temperature is not too important, especially when using grills such as the Weber kettle grill without a thermometer, but I would aim around 300 F.)
• If planning on applying barbecue sauce as I did here, apply the sauce about 2-5 minutes before removing chicken from the grill to avoid burning)
• Do not overcook!

Triggerfish Meunière with Sautéd Green Beans on top of Roasted Vegetable Polenta

Triggerfish Meunière with Sautéd Green Beans on top of Roasted Vegetable Polenta. This was such a wonderful dish that required a very minimal number of ingredients. The individual flavors of each component of this dish (fish, green beans, and polenta) were able to shine on their own without a long list of distracting ingredients.
I cooked the triggerfish meunière style, which consists of lightly breaded (in flour) fish that is pan-fried in a combination of butter and oil (about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil with about 1 tablespoon butter) to form a nicely colored thin crust on the outside of the fish. I believe that this style of cooking allows the true flavors of the fish to stand out better than if it is heavily breaded and deep-fried.
I prepared the polenta by cooking it by itself (cornmeal, water, and butter, that is it!), then adding in some roasted vegetables at the end. The roasted vegetables I used were leeks, an orange bell pepper, a poblano pepper, half a purple onion, one clove garlic, and a yellow squash. I actually got the idea for roasted vegetable polenta from the main dining hall, Rastall, where I go to college (Colorado College The food there is outstanding, especially for college cafeteria food).
The green beans were simply sautéd with a little olive oil for about four minutes.
I also made a meunière sauce (brown butter sauce consisting of browned butter, lemon juice, and parsley) that I spooned over the fish during plating.

While I think the dish tasted wonderful, I will definitely need to work on presentation next time.

Summertime Quinoa

I have really come to enjoy quinoa in the past year, despite the fact that I have only eaten it a small number of times. In fact, tonight was the first time I have ever cooked the South American grain. I treated it like I do rice, except this time I added some "flavor enhancers" beforehand.

I began by rendering a slice of bacon (sliced longways once, then across in 1/2 inch pieces) in a small saucepan until just before crispy. I then added a handful of chopped leeks, a large clove of minced garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes until the leeks became slightly translucent, about 3 minutes. I then threw in a small handful of minced herbs (oregano and thyme were the two I used tonight) and 1/2 cup of quinoa (I have heard that you are supposed to rinse the grains prior to cooking, however I forgot to do this and it still tasted great). I toasted the quinoa for about two minutes then added 1 cup of water and let simmer.

The quinoa simmered for about 15 or 20 minutes until there was very little (or no) standing water at the bottom of the pan.

Sono vs. Flights: Battle Noodles

The most recent battle in the Fire in the Triangle cooking series "went down" last night in Raleigh. It was my first time at such an event, but having watched numerous cooking battles on TV I had a good idea of what to expect. Although I have never been to Sono nor Flights, I was pleased (in general...) with what they cooked last night. We were served a total of three courses from each side, equalling a total of six dishes. The secret ingredient was noodles. Being forced to use noodles probably was not ideal for these chefs, given that they would probably prefer to make their own from scratch, however the clearly worked around this.

While Chef Michael Lee of Sono was responsible for my personal favorite dish, Soy Braised Pork with Beet Infused Sweet Potato Puree, Crispy Wonton and Iced Green Onion Salad, he was defeated by opposing Chef Dean Wendel of Flights. While Lee's soy braised pork was my highest scoring course, the "pro" judges obviously thought differently as they awarded it a very low score. Their low score was likely due to the use (or lack of proper use) of the secret ingredient, noodles (in this case, a fried wonton wrapper was used as a sort of garnish for the potato puree, see below). Another possible reason why Lee lost was due to his lack of a desert course. Instead of including a desert course, Lee decided to include two starter size courses, leaving Chef Wendel's desert to stand by itself. In fact, Chef Wendel's desert was the best of any of his three courses, giving him a big leg up on his competition.

Regardless of the scoring, both chefs preformed quite well in such a high pressure environment.

Chef Lee's Soy Braised Pork with Beet Infused Sweet Potato Puree, Crispy Wonton and Iced Green Onion Salad (note the use of the wonton wrapper. Creative? not so much)

 Chef Wendel's Wonton Pistachio Crusted Blackberry Cake with White Chocolate, Strawberry Sherbet and Pistachio Wonton Cigarette

Photo Credits: Competition Dining Series

Macaroni and Cheese

This is my favorite macaroni and cheese recipe. It is my slight variation on Tyler Florence's recipe. It is a great dish for parties, pot-lucks, and eating at home! The two things that give this macaroni and cheese a leg up on many others is the garlic and thyme-infused milk and the bacon, onion, garlic, and thyme topping. 

Thyme sprigs (whole sprigs) and smashed garlic cloves (both will be strained from the milk mixture so there is no need to remove the skins from the cloves or woody twigs from the thyme)

 Shells (I sometimes use bowtie pasta. I used 2 lbs. because I was doubling the recipe)

Tons of shredded white and orange cheddar cheese (sharp and extra sharp).

Roux for the cheese sauce (equal parts flour and butter). 

Infused milk after being strained and added to roux. 

This time I decided to kick things up a notch with a couple splashes of hot chili oil.

Chopped parsley waiting to be added to the pasta and cheese mixture. 

 Post mixing. 

Cheese-topped pasta with cheese sauce awaiting the oven. 

Bacon, onion, garlic, and thyme topping (to be added to the mac and cheese after it comes out of the oven).

Finished product.