Rooftop Gourmet: Second Course

It’s about time! After a six month hiatus, I am officially back for a “second course” of intense food blogging. I have notepads, scrap paper, and areas of my brain overflowing with new ideas, original recipes, and mouthwatering wines to throw your way. You’re probably exhausted from checking the site and staring at the same piece of Halibut over and over again; I know I sure am. I promise you that I will continue to keep it fresh and exciting on a weekly basis. This is actually the last meal that I never posted back in June, just a few weeks before my wedding. Try not to get depressed by the beaming sunlight, bountiful herb gardens, and refreshing Rose’… spring is right around the corner.

While wondering around the market six months ago, head clouded with wedding preparation and anxiety, I attempted to put together a simple, healthy, yet flavorful dish. I believe that the first ingredient I grabbed that day was a bag of Key limes. Probably because I was shocked to see them, and also because we had just booked our honeymoon to Key West, Florida.

I was intrigued, having never cooked with Key limes before, and slightly curious about their flavor compared to their big brother, citrus staple. The only real difference is the stronger flavor, higher acidity and thinner skins (as well as their obvious “honey I shrunk the citrus” appearance).

I got to thinking, that in the culinary world, size really doesn’t matter. In terms of chili peppers, the smaller the spicier, in terms of winemaking, the smaller, compact clusters of grapes produce much more intense fruit when extracted, and in terms of citrus (including Meyer Lemons), the babies are intensified. As I walked by the seafood section, these long, zebra-looking whole fish seemed to be staring me down. As I peered closer, I realized that they were fresh Mackerel, a fish that I love but rarely cook at home.

You’ve probably heard one of your cheesy, old relatives use the term “Holy Mackerel” (usually the same guy that says “Jeepers Creepers”) and wondered what the heck they were talking about. The term is an ancient euphemism for Holy Mary, with Mackerel referring to Catholics because they ate fish on Fridays. One of the best parts about Mackerel is the fact that they don’t have scales. It makes home-cooking much less labor intensive.

I understand that most people make that retched “gag-reflex” facial expression when confronted with the word anchovy or sardine, but they are one of my all-time favorite foods, especially fresh sardines! Not to mention how great they are for you. Mackerel has a very similar oily, meaty texture and when simply grilled to the point where the skin gets crispy and crackles, is sheer perfection.

When on the hunt for a simple, healthy, meal that’s loaded with flavor, I usually turn to hot chilies because I am a sucker for heat. It’s sick really, the way that I crave that tongue swelling, profuse sweating, and temple-throbbing reaction. When I got home, I did very little to prepare the fish that were going to get tossed on a hot grill. All I had to do was remove the dorsal fins and they were ready to roll. I halved a bunch of fire engine red, Fresno chilies along with some homegrown Serranos, picked from my roof deck garden. I flash-sautéed them in a healthy dose of extra virgin olive oil, thinly sliced garlic and some Key Limes.

As the wafer-thin garlic toasted into crispy chips, their intense and pungent flavor infused the oil along with the blazing hot seeds of the chilies. As the heat from the pan extracted the juice from the limes, it created a deliciously spicy Key Lime & hot chili vinaigrette with just a quick shake of the skillet. The acid, oil and flavors seemed to infuse and hold beautifully, ready to drizzle over my grilled fish.

The grill was smoking hot and I gently laid the morning catch on the grates and waited for the skin to start sizzling. The Mackerel isn’t a very large or dense fish so it only takes a few minutes of cooking on each side. I plated the Mackerel with some grilled Key Limes, and tossed the contents of the sauté pan over it, carefully drizzling the vinaigrette around the flesh. A few sprigs of fresh cilantro and I was ready to dig in. Another positive of eating whole fish, is that it keeps your patience in check. If you’re like me, sometimes you can’t help but devour the food in front of you. When you’re carefully picking succulent meat out of tiny little bones it forces you to consume at a slower pace, which is healthier and doesn’t make you look like a hog; a Neanderthal or a European maybe, but definitely not a hog.

The juicy flesh literally melted in your mouth and the crispy skin and garlic chips gave great contrast in texture followed by a pleasant burn. Another important ingredient in whole-fish dining is a fun and interesting wine. I guarantee at some point, there will be very little meat left, and lots of downtime intertwined with a tiny amount of frustration trying to find more, so an interesting wine is great to keep your mind off of it. It was a steamy summer day, so I chose a refreshing Rose’ of Syrah from Washington State.

Ironically enough, we served this exact Rose’ at our wedding cocktail hour because we both fell in love with it (and it apparently matched our wedding colors). It’s made by Charles Smith, one of the biggest names in Washington State winemaking and just an absolute rockstar of a guy. I got the chance to meet him at a Wine Spectator event and that was an experience in itself. Despite his eccentric personality, the guy can make some serious wine. This Rose’ comes from 100% Syrah and has a significant amount of weight and body compared to the classic French Rose’s of Provence and Languedoc. Rose’s are made from red grapes, but by using white winemaking methods. The skins are removed at a certain point either before or after the pressing to determine the shade of pink, or sometimes orange hues in the glass.

The wine has a huge nose of strawberry shortcake ice cream bars and rose petals and on the palate, the wine is loaded with fresh strawberries and white pepper. Despite what most preconceived notions about pink wine refer to, this Rose’ (as is most) is refreshingly dry. The upfront, fruit-forward style helped balance the heat from the dish and the flavors didn’t overpower the oily fish the least bit. A few weeks later, the wine performed again, pairing beautifully with adrenaline, wedding cake, and insane chaos on the dance floor. Sadly enough, that day went by so fast, as did the summer weather but I look forward to creating some hearty, winter fare in the weeks to follow. Thank you to everyone who religiously read my blog in the past and again, I apologize for the break in action. Get ready for the Second Course!

Today, June 25th will be the last June 25th where Siobhan and I aren’t out celebrating our anniversary. We are getting married exactly one year from today and we both made a pact to start eating and living healthier lifestyles. It’s not like we eat bad to begin with, because most of our meals are prepared with the freshest, local ingredients we can find. We eat tons of seafood and exercise regularly (as well as beginning to train for the 2011 Boston Marathon), but it’s the snacking in between meals that kills me.

Recently Siobhan mentioned that I should start eating more fruit so I went out to the store to pick some up. While I was there, I had a great idea for dinner and my mission to load up on fruit got sidetracked.

I did happen to buy a dozen fresh peaches because they looked amazing sitting there, but I wasn’t planning on snacking on them. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a peach, so I picked one up and bit right into it. It was so ripe and juicy that we had to call for a clean up in Aisle 5. My entire forearm was dripping wet with the tart, sweet juices that ran from the bright orange flesh.

I finished my shopping while brainstorming, and headed back to the kitchen to put together this interesting idea of mine. In the past, I have grilled stone fruits and topped them with vanilla ice cream as a dessert, but I have never used them in a savory dish.

I figured that if I balanced the sweet flavors of the grilled peaches with something else, equally as bold and that had contrasting flavors,  the dish just might work. The smoky, and spicy flavors of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce was the perfect compliment. Chipotle peppers are Jalapeno peppers that have been smoked and submerged into this creamy, brick red, Adobo sauce.

 I spooned a few of the shriveled up chilies into the blender along with three whole fresh peaches, some lime juice, salt, pepper, and a healthy squirt of honey. After tasting, re-seasoning, tasting, and re-seasoning some more, the sauce was finally perfect. From the start, you could clearly taste the fresh peach puree, quickly followed by a burst of heat and then an underlying smokiness that lingered on your palate.

 I transferred the creation into a squeeze bottle a la Bobby Flay where it waited to adorn my dish. I had been marinating a few chicken breasts in what I like to call a Margarita bath.

Tons of fresh lime juice, cilantro, jalapenos, salt, and pepper. I only use this combination for quick marinades because the acidity in the lime juice begins to “cook” the chicken and it can get kind of nasty. A few hours at most and all of those flavors get injected into the meat perfectly. Halving peaches was alot harder than I expected, especially since the fruit was extremely ripe. I didn’t have the patience to slice down the bias, and softly twist the two halves open so Siobhan took over.

 My peaches looked like silly putty, while hers came out completely symmetrical. I simply coated the inner flesh in some vegetable oil and fired up the grill.

As soon as the chicken breasts hit the grates, the fresh citrus from the lime and the heat from the jalapeno filled the air. I oiled down the left side of the grill and carefully placed my fruit down to achieve beautiful grill marks. As long as your grill is super hot, the fruit only takes a few minutes to get soft. All of the natural sugars in the fruit start to caramelize and a sticky crust starts to form. This is when you take the fruit off and cover it in tin foil or plastic wrap to finish cooking. I plated the grilled chicken and peaches together and sprinkled them with some shaved green onion and drizzled my peachy-chipotle sauce on top.

To give the dish some texture, I deep fried a can of chick peas and violently tossed the warm beans in salt and ancho chile powder. The outer skins get nice and crispy while the warm center still melts in your mouth like rich hummus. I sprinkled the fried chick peas all over the dish and it looked sporadically enticing. The sweet and spicy combination turned out to be a huge hit. Siobhan rarely eats chicken because she says that it doesn’t have much flavor but she was licking her plate clean and popping the extra fried Garbanzos like it was popcorn.

The seductive peach, especially once it was grilled, melted in your mouth and then was interrupted by a burst of smoky heat from the complex sauce. I opened a bottle of the 2006 Penner-Ash Syrah from Oregon to bounce off this unique dish. Penner-Ash is known for their high end Pinot Noir, but I felt that this bold recipe deserved something with a little more “UMPH”. The wine was loaded with flavors of blackberry jam, cherry, and plum along with undertones of white pepper and smoky cedar. It was a perfect balance of Barossa Valley Shiraz style and French Croze-Hermitage style. Massive and abrasive at times, knocking you back in your seat and double-clutching your glass but gentle and balanced at other times, allowing the food to be the star.

The structure and mouthfeel of the wine was dense and quite smooth, as was the peachy-chipotle sauce. The two played terrifically with each other. Now that all of the peaches were gone after dinner, I had no choice but to snack on a box of Cheez-Its like I normally do. Oh well… at least I got my daily serving of fruit.