Rooftop Gourmet

With my fiance in Florida, relaxing on the beach during school vacation, I am home alone and forced to cook for myself. Cooking for one is a difficult thing task for someone like me who typically makes enough food to feed and entire baseball team when it’s just the two of us eating. I was determined to stay on budget and finish the meal with no leftovers… even if it meant cleaning my second plate as a late night snack.

 The East Broadway Stop & Shop has been closed all week for renovations (hopefully meaningful ones), so I ventured into the South End to a small market that I had heard about. It’s called Foodie’s Urban Market, and it definitely lived up to the hype. Fresh produce, a separate butcher section, and aisles of gourmet ingredients make this market my new quick stop location.

 It certainly beats the old Stop and Shop where it takes 45 minutesto dig through a mountain of yellow onions before I find one without a mushy hole in it. I walked into this place with no ideas in mind, and wound up in the same place I started an hour later. With nothing accomplished, and nothing in my basket I had to make a split second decision before I got kicked out for loitering. I ended up leaving with an 8oz. Filet Mignon, 2 shallots, and a block of English Stilton. Stilton is an extremely strong smelling, cow’s milk blue cheese from England.

 It’s distinctive blue veins are created by piercing the crust with stainless steel needles that allows air into the core of the wheel. A recent survey proves that eating English Stilton within one hour of sleep causes 75% of men and 85% of women to experience “odd and vivid” dreams. I don’t know what that means and I’m not sure that I want to, but there wasn’t enough cheese left to consume after dinner anyway.

I came home and started making a cheese sauce for my steak. I started by making a light roux (equal parts butter and flour whisked over moderate heat), which acts as a binder to thicken my sauce.

 I poured in some heavy cream and cubes of the gorgeous blue cheese, which slowly dissolved into a thick, gurgling cream sauce. I finished it with a healthy pinch of freshly cracked black peppercorns and a sprinkle of chopped parsley. I love steak, and Filet is probably my least favorite cut of meat. I am a flavor junkie, and the marbling in a Filet Mignon just doesn’t cut it for me.

 I usually go for a ribeye for its fat that weaves itself throughout the meat and then melts into the flesh when it hits the grill. Tonight was different because I was making an insanely rich sauce, packed with flavor, that it was okay to substitute flavor for tenderness. I seasoned the Filet liberally and seared it in a smoking hot pan before finishing it in the oven.

The outside of the meat formed a nice black pepper crust, leaving the center pink and juicy. During the last couple minutes of cooking, I threw a pad of butter on top of the Filet and let it melt into the flesh (I couldn’t resist… why do you think steakhouse steaks taste better than when you make them at home??). For some additional texture, I topped the steak with a heaping mound of fried shallots before spooning the pungent, creamy Stilton sauce all over the plate. I sat at the barstool in my kitchen and watched Sunday Night Baseball while devouring this, and sipping a 2006 Cameron Hughes Lot 74 Cabernet Sauvignon.

All of the Cabernet grapes in this wine come from the Oak Knoll District in Napa, which tends to be a cooler climate region than most Cabernet growing zones. The result is more of a Bordeaux meets California style… a clash between old and new world. It definitely wasn’t your typical fruit bomb, powerful California Cab. It was loaded with cassis and espresso flavors that balanced beautifully with the tannins. In my opinion, this is a wine that structurally could hold up for quite some time in a cellar. It was a great match for the Filet, because it was quite elegant and sexy. A grilled ribeye might have overpowered this wine. After the game I went to bed, and had a dream that I was having a heart attack. It was extremely vivid, but not quite so odd…. it must have been the Stilton.

Whenever I eat lobster, I order it steamed, throw on a bib, roll up my sleeves, and dig in. It was a beautiful day Wednesday and I had the day off so I decided to walk down to Yankee Lobster and pick up a few monsters. I had the whole day to work with, so I wanted to experiment with a couple different preparations.

 Yankee Lobster is located right on the dock and has the freshest seafood imaginable. I literally walked right into the back door and pulled two 3lb. bugs out of the water and brought them back to the condo.

There are many different ways to kill a lobster and some people think that certain ways are more humane than others. You can throw them right into a pot of boiling water, put them in the freezer first, or just take your chef’s knife to its head. Because I wanted to cook the tail separately from the claws, I had an interesting afternoon to say the least.

I was forced to rip the lobsters in half with my bare hands while they were still alive in order to separate the tail from the rest of the body. This wouldn’t have been so bad if both separated parts stopped moving but the tail was jumping and curling around my wrist for up to half an hour afterwards.

It was like a scene from a creepy alien movie. The nerves inside the tail and the body were on the fritz, which made it extremely difficult to remove the shell, but after some wrestling around, I managed to yield a perfectly intact, raw lobster tail.

 I simply boiled the claws and removed the meat for my chilled lobster salad. Every remaining part, including the head was then thrown into a giant pot of water with onion, celery, parsley, peppercorns, lemons, and bay leaf to boil away for lobster stock.

 I rolled the lobster tails in paper thin slices of Prosciutto di San Daniele…gourmet pigs in a blanket.

 I gently seared one side, while I basted the rest of the tail in clarified butter until it was cooked throughout.

This was a tedious process but well worth it because the lobster meat was not overcooked. After it rested, I sliced it thin and served it atop a silky smooth puree of turnips laced with fresh vanilla bean. The combination of the luscious tail meat and salty Prosciutto, with the creamy and sweet turnip puree was heavenly.

 The underlying flavor of fresh vanilla bean brought the dish to a whole new level.

On the right side of the plate, I made a cold lobster claw meat salad with fresh fava beans, tangerine supremes, and mache lettuce rosettes. To lighten it up in contrast to its partner to the left, I opted to leave the mayonnaise out of the salad.

 Instead I tossed it with lemon juice and a heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard. The balance between light and cold and rich and warm on the same plate was really cool and it displayed the versatility of the sea creature. It felt great to use essentially every part of the lobster for something. After 8 hours on the stovetop, the lobster stock made roughly three quarts to use at a later date.

The wine pairing for this dish was tough due to the clashing styles, but I ended up opening the 2008 Le Paradou Viognier. It was forwardly aromatic right from the start. Tons of orange peel, flowers, and exotic herbs on the nose. The wine is actually a lot bigger in style from what I anticipated and had a slightly creamy finish to it, which paired well with the Prosciutto wrapped tail. The wine had great acidity, and flavors of peach pit and tangerine zest.

In my opinion, the wine worked better with the cold salad stylistically but was still pleasant to drink with the warm dish. Viognier in general is a great white wine for Spring, whether it’s served with food or drank on its own. If you want to re-create this meal at home, trust me…. don’t get too attached to the lobsters before you start.

I love learning about other cultures and cuisines from around the world. Something about new and exotic flavor combinations fascinates me. Who would have thought that combining cinnamon and dried chilies tastes good, or carrots and ginger? I stumbled upon a new region of the world to learn about because of a hidden gem known as the Milford Spice Company.

 They are based out of Michigan but offer free shipping. They have the largest selection of spices I have ever seen. You name it… they have it.

Everything from Celtic Grey Sea Salt to Traditional Japanese Shichimi Spice; and they’re all delivered fresh to your door. I ordered some authentic Ethiopian Berber Spice Rub which is a staple in northern African cuisine.

Berber can come in a paste form as well but I opted for the dried version. There are many different varieties but long story short, it is a mix of dried chilies, paprika, garlic, ginger, all spice, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, cloves, and fenugreek.

 A giant hodge podge of dried spices that all come together in harmony to create a sweet and spicy rub for meats and vegetables (just not pork because Ethiopians do not eat pork for religious reasons). I decided to sprinkle this magical dust all over a tiny squab that I roasted in the oven.

The brick red Berber spice adhered to the bird uniformly while I let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours ahead of time while I prepared the side dishes.

 The combination of carrots and fresh ginger is something that you’ll find in Ethiopia a lot.

I decided to make a carrot-ginger chutney which is slightly sweet, to serve with the squab to balance out some of the heat. A chutney is basically a spice and vegetable mixture that is rendered down almost to a wet paste, similar to an Italian caponata. I sauteed some cubed carrots and fresh ginger root, with some shallots and garlic until it was soft. Then I added some honey, golden raisins, and white wine vinegar before I covered it with vegetable stock and let it simmer away.

After about 45 minutes, the stock completely evaporated and what was left was a paste-like, sweet and sour chutney that still had a little bit of texture to it.

I also made some cumin scented, black sticky rice to serve as the base for my bird. I started the squab off in a screaming hot, 500 degree oven to create a crispy crust and then lowered the temperature to 375 degrees to finish off the cooking evenly. The aromas in my kitchen from the roasted spices were unlike anything I had ever smelled before. It was like roasted Christmas cinnamon sticks inside of a Tennesee BBQ pit.

Due to the heat in the Berber spice, I paired this meal with an off-dry Riesling from Washington State. The grapes from Charles Smith’s 2009 Kung Fu Girl Riesling are grown on extremely rocky soil in the Columbia Valley which gives it some rich minerality and powerful aromas of peaches and spring flowers. The wine is fresh and acidic with layered flavors of apricots, Asian pear, and a refreshing lime finish. At 12.5% alcohol, this Riesling had the perfect amount of sweetness to balance the Berber spiced squab.

The succulent, rich dark meat from the bird was so moist, and the crispy skin was infused with so many different flavors. I tamed some of the dried chilies with a dollop of plain yogurt and cumin seeds. Although I tried to replicate an authentic Ethiopian dish, I didn’t follow their customs as to how I ate it. Ethiopians eat with their hands and I opted to stick to the silverware.

Early in the week, my mother took a trip to Lazy Daze farm, just 45 minutes west of Boston, to pick up a brand new Golden Retriever puppy. Not only did she come back with the cutest dog ever, she brought me a present as well. She noticed that the farm was home to a bunch of Araucana chickens and she asked for a dozen of their freshly laid eggs.

The Araucana is not your typical chicken. These guys lay baby blue eggs and have tufts of hair on their cheeks that make them look like Rollie Fingers with a handlebar mustache.

The farm fresh eggs were slightly smaller than the typical, mass produced eggs I normally buy, but they looked like freshly painted Easter eggs! It’s not everyday that you come across farm fresh eggs (unless you live on a farm I guess), so I wanted to celebrate the egg and prepare it three different ways in order show off its versatility.

Poached, fried, and baked are just three of the many ways to eat eggs but three of my favorite nonetheless. The first egg dish that I created is a classic preparation. I roasted some organic asparagus and placed a sunnyside up, fried egg on top of the stalks so that the broken yolk could simulate a creamy Hollandaise.

I topped the dish with some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and a drizzle of white truffle oil. The grassy asparagus with a hint of lemon compliments the creamy yolk and the nutty, sharp cheese accentuates the captivating truffle aroma.

The second dish I made is a little bit lighter, but also a classic combination. I made a roasted wild mushroom and frisee salad, tossed with a gentle lemon vinaigrette.

On top of the salad sits a perfectly poached egg filled with a bright golden yolk that’s just itching to burst. I thought that the image of an egg on top of the frisee was slightly ironic because it looked like the green hay that is used to stuff Easter baskets. I don’t know whether it is because the eggs were super fresh or whether it is a typical trait of Araucana eggs, but the yolks were a deep orange color and extra creamier. They had the consistency of a Cadbury egg filling.

The last dish that I made was something unique. I love the combination of acidic, juicy tomatoes and rich, and creamy eggs so I chose to combine them in a baked presentation. I marinated some whole vine ripe tomatoes in olive oil, garlic, shallots, rosemary, and a heaping palmful of dried chili flakes.

 I threw the tomatoes on a fiery grill and let them roast over the open flames until they were just about ready to pop. Once the skin peeled off, it allowed the smoky grill flavors to permeate the flesh.

 I quickly transferred the grilled tomatoes to the blender, where they were pulsed into a chunky puree. I filled a ramekin with the spicy grilled tomato puree and cracked one of the Araucana eggs over it before placing it in a hot oven. While the contents of the ramekin were baking, I made a homemade sourdough crouton that came out perfectly golden brown and crispy. I spooned the baked egg and grilled tomato sauce over the crispy crouton and gave it a splash of nice olive oil and a chiffonade of fresh basil.

The diversity of texture was awesome, and the creamy egg cooled down the spicy sauce. Because the three preparations were vastly different, I chose a wine that would compliment a wide variety of dishes.

 It’s Rose’ season so don’t be embarrassed to hold a big glass of pink (as long as it’s not White Zinfandel). The Rose’ I opened is very different from the classic Rose’s from Provence. The Domaine du Tariquet is from south-west France and is a blend of 40% Merlot, 40% Syrah, and 20% Tannat. The red wine grapes go through the same vinification process that white wine grapes do, giving the wine a Grenadine-like hue to it and some serious body.

 Tannat is a grape that is typically used as a blending grape, but has strong raspberry aromas and high tannins. Of all wine-making grapes, Tannat is proven to be extremely good for your cardiovascular health. It has an extremely high level of Procyanidins, which counteract the effect of high fat diets. Tannat drinkers obtain extreme levels of these compounds which decreases the risk of diabetes and improves overall longevity.

The wine has a pomegranate hue to it, and strong aromas of wild strawberries and rose petals. Despite its full body, the Rose’ is delightfully fresh on the palate and finishes with a salty, spicy note. Rose’s are excellent Spring and Summer wines and they compliment a wide variety of cuisine. Everything from spicy Thai food, to farm fresh poached eggs.

A huge thanks to my mom and the people at Lazy Daze Farm for the fresh Araucana eggs and the addition of Gino, the Golden Retriever to the family.

Easter wasn’t all eggs, bunnies and chicks this year. A whole red snapper made it’s way into our Easter baskets. After inhaling a post-church brunch, and aggressively snacking on jelly beans, chocolate, and Peeps all afternoon, we wanted to make something light and healthy for dinner.

The weather was cooperating so we decided to stuff and grill a whole fish. The sun was still out so there was no reason to come inside off the deck until the first pitch of the Red Sox Game of course.

There are positives and negatives to buying a whole fish. First of all it’s extremely cost efficient, just like buying anything whole or “in bulk”.

 Secondly, when you cook a fish whole, it’s very hard to overcook it. The skin and bones keep all the moisture and flavor inside resulting in succulent and flavorful seafood.

You also have to have patience to eat a whole fish (which typically I don’t). If you try to scarf the whole thing down you’re going to end up with a few bones stuck in your throat. In my opinion, the slow, precision of pulling the meat out from in between the rib cage with your fork only makes the meat taste better. Very similarly to eating a lobster… the food tastes better when you have to work for it.

The downside to eating a whole fish is based on presentation. Most people get grossed out by scales, fins, and of course eyeballs.

Personally, I think the presentation is awesome and the eyeballs are delicious when charred. I had the fish monger do most of the work, by slicing the abdomen and scaling the fish before I picked it up. After rubbing down the outside down with olive oil, I stuffed it with garlic, chilies, lemongrass, ginger, cilantro and slices of lime. When the fish hits the grill, the aromatic oils in all of the ingredients permeate throughout the entire fish.

I made a vinaigrette to spoon over the finished product using the same ingredients all pulsed together in the blender. After the skin was nice and crispy on one side, I had to work magic to get this thing to flip over. After losing some arm hair to the flames, I finally managed and successfully kept the fish in tact.

 I served it on top of some  marinated zucchini carpaccio, that I thinly sliced and drizzled with olive oil and fresh lime juice. On the side, I tossed some yellow wax beans in some Thai red chili paste and sprinkled them with sesame seeds. Koreans like to dress vegetables with sesame seeds and flaming hot chili paste, but this store bought paste was very tame; unlike my twist on a Corona.

 There’s nothing better than an ice cold Corona with a lime on a scorching hot day on the deck. I added a kick to mine by slicing a Serrano chili in half and inserting it into the bottle before my lime wedge. Sip after sip gets progressively hotter but still refreshing to say the least.

The ice cold beer with a touch of heat was perfect with the moist snapper that was loaded with lemony-citrus vinaigrette. It was a great way to cap off a wonderful Easter holiday; it only would have been better if we were seated at Fenway Park watching the Sox beat the Yankees but I don’t think they serve Grilled Red Snapper at Fenway.