Amuse Bouche

Salt and Pepper Squid, Bún(Herb Noodle Salad) and Chè Chuôi (Banana Tapioca in Coconut Milk)

On the whole I tend to cook in waves.  Reading a book on India?  Expect quite a few spicy dishes to crop up in the rotation. Watching a lot of Pedro Almodóvar films? Pimentón and chorizo are everywhere.  Friday I had to go to Kam Man in Quincy to stock us up at school for the upcoming  Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and soon Korean classes.
Allowing me loose in there with no time constraints and a long list is like heaven, it also means we will be eating from several cuisines, but all firmly in the far East for the foreseeable future.

I bought a half duck and Friday night I made lettuce rolls dipped in Nước chấm with the chopped up duck and to go with I was craving squid/calamari. For some reason salt and pepper squid popped into my head and wouldn't leave.  I've never made salt and pepper squid before but I guessed it would be pretty quick and pretty easy.  I hunted around the web and decided on cornstarch as my coating.  My tempura batter is heavy on the cornstarch and I like the light 'batter' it makes on the outside.  Cornstarch makes a very light, very crisp coating and unlike many traditional batters, it won't separate from what you have coated.  The lettuce rolls were good, but the squid, THE SQUID were heavenly. 

In fact, I had a few left in the ziploc that I didn't fry Friday night and much to my husband's horror, I fried them up quick for breakfast before I left.  He squinted his very British nose at me while he spooned in his milk and cereal and I vainly tried to explain that people in China probably ate this for breakfast and no one blinked an eye.  His retort was that we were not in China.  My retort back was then why aren't you eating fried beans, fried bread, fried tomatoes, fried mushroom and blood sausage then?  He shut up and continued spooning in his Harvest flakes.

Saturday I drove up to Framingham to look at FLOR tiles at Circle furniture for our remodel and I brought along The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le for inspiration before I hit the local Whole Foods.  Before I left home I called to check in with Mom and SD.  Coincidently that very morning she, many states away  in VA, had driven to her local Asian market to stock up and as I waxed about S&P squid she said they had ordered it last night for dinner.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Anyway, I promised her I would put the recipe here in case she wanted to make it at home.  Her local had put it on a 'salad' of finely minced sautéed vegetables including chilies and I am guessing shallots, but if anyone knows what it is 'traditionally' served on, let me know so I can try to make that as well.

Sitting in the parking lot of Whole Foods sipping my iced coffee I decided I was going to have the squid again.  I know!  Again!  I never, NEVER eat the same thing three meals in a row.  I assure you right now that this is going to be my summer addiction.  I flicked through the book at decided that I would make a bún or herb salad to go with it.  My garden has a great patch of Vietnamese Coriander this year and that is just something I can't find in the stores.  Even Russo's my faithful Asian produce supplier never seems to carry it so I take matters in my own hands and grow it. I find my plants at Russell's in Wayland. That is some Vietnamese Coriander  up in the top right hand corner of the bowl with the long pointed leaves.  It tastes like a cross of cilantro and Thai Basil.  I adore it.  Cilantro haters will despise it with equal measure. The salad was loads of mint, Vietnamese Coriander, cilantro, mung bean sprouts, a few sliced shallots and it was all tossed with some cellophane noodles, topped in fried garlic slices and at the last minute doused in Nước chấm.  Bright, fresh, and the perfect foil to the fried squid. 

For dessert I decided to try my hand at the Chè Chuôi.  If you are a tapioca fan like I am this was heaven.  Tapioca cooked in water until translucent and then you add in coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, salt and banana, simmer for a bit and then let it sit.  You can top it in shaved coconut, but I had it as is at room temperature and it was heaven.  

So for the sake of Mom who requested it, here is all you need to do for heavenly salt and pepper squid.

No measurements here since it will all depend on the amount of squid you have, but I had between 1/2 - 3/4 pound of squid bodies.  I cut the cleaned tubes open and then scored them across with my knife and cut each body into 4 pieces.  My squid were about 3 - 4 inches long.

In my suribachi (or mortar and pestle or coffee grinder) went about 2 TBS of black peppercorns and about the same of Maldon sea salt.

After I ground it a bit it looked like this.  Some larger and smaller chunks of everything.

Into a ziploc went about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of cornstarch (sub coconut flour for paleo) and 3/4 of the salt and pepper.  I save some for sprinkling on after frying.  In go the squid.  Toss, shake, shimmy, toss.  Heat oil (coconut oil or rendered lard, I've also used duck fat) in a wok, not very deep, just enough to cover squid.  Set up a paper towel to drain.  Add in a few pieces at a time and fry quickly, I repeat QUICKLY, 2 minutes...maybe.  pull and drain, sprinkle with a bit more s&p.

I served mine with Kewpie, cause I like it that way.  But sometimes I would dip it in the Nước chấm
and then the kewpie.  Oh....my. Tonight I am feeling a bit French.  It will be an omelette with a nice side salad and a glass of wine.  Ohh la la.

Summer?? Tomatillo Salsa, Sundrops, Coorgi Pork Curry and Gujerati Sem

Solstice? Summer?  What is that?  We have barely seen peaks of the sun in the last 21 days, never mind on the day with the most daylight. Those sundrops are the brightest thing I've seen in days.  They practically scream out in the garden against all the gray skies and greenery.  A friend is in Iceland as we speak, I hope her solstice is going better than ours, I sent her off with a warning to watch Bourdain's episode and not to eat the fermented shark.  It's so cold around here and damp that I was even tempted to light a fire today, but mine would have been to keep warm, not to keep the witches away or the faeries and spirits. 

Instead of lamenting the distinctly English summer we are having here in New England I decided to dream of warmer and sunnier places and cook up some hot Indian for dinner tonight.

First I put a boatload of tomatillo, plum tomato, serrano chile, poblano and garlic under the broiler until they were nicely blistered.

I turned them into a salsa that will get a diced, rinsed white onion and become Mexican rice and something else Monday night, Sunday is all about prep for the week.  I roasted husbands lemon chicken for his sandwiches as well.

Next I popped the spices in my pan to toast them for the curry.

There aren't too many pork recipes in Indian cuisine, as you would imagine, but Goa and Coorg had some leftover Portuguese influence and some Christians kicking around so the occasional recipe crops up.  I could have made a Vindaloo, but husband really hates vinegar, which I could drink by the quart, so I made this one instead with tamarind and a bit of coconut milk, garlic, onion, ginger paste and those nice spices all ground up.  I'll make his favourite green beans (Gujerati sem) with loads of mustard seeds, garlic and chile and I have a bunch of diced potatoes kicking around upstairs so I'm trying to find a dry aloo recipe to put them to use, maybe sookhe aloo.  I'm hoping that we can at least generate a sweat on this 60oddF day in "summer". 

Remind me of this day in august when I'm bitching about the unbearable heat would you?

Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto Pizza

There I was trawling through my Google reader feeds when I came across the revelation.  I clicked on Dorie Greenspan and I looked up at husband and said "That's it!". He peered back over his tea with bleary what now crazy woman face. Now go look at that link, she had made a gorgeous fresh pea green garlic scape pesto.  I don't know why it had never occurred to me to use these gently garlicky tops in a pesto, but I knew I had a bag of them in my upstairs fridge just itching to be used.

I took them to work that day and using her recipe as a jumping point, I made mine with the traditional toasted pine nuts and a mix of Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheese.  When the pesto sits for a few hours for the flavours to mingle and you taste it, there is the immediate punch of garlic and then the fresh green vegetal taste of the scapes, the garlic mellows quickly and the stuff is completely and utterly addictive.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but the next morning while I was picking up a few items for class at Whole Foods the idea struck.

Pizza.

I had a late night ahead of me and wouldn't get home until at least 8:00, so I did the lazy man's thing and bought one of their pre-made pizza doughs and I thought about pizza combos over the day.
When I finally got home I raided the fridge and decided on the toppings while I heated up the grill.
I had some Il Tartufo (Pecorino with Truffle) and a few other odds and ends hiding out in the cheese drawer so I grated them fine, I tore up a few fresh mozzarella balls, sliced some sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil and sliced a few tissue paper thin slices of guanciale that I quickly rendered in a pan to make them slightly crisp like bacon.  I pulled my dough into shape and got a big spatula ready.
When the grill was screaming hot I poured some canola in a bowl and dipped in a paper towel and using tongs I ran this over the grill grates.  Once the oil dries I did it a second, third, and forth time.  I read this tip in Cooks illustrated and it really does help to make it non-stick like seasoning a cast iron pan.

I plopped the dough onto the grill and after a minute I started sliding my large thin metal spatula under the edges to loosen it, after another 30 - 40 seconds I flipped the dough and gave the second side the same treatment.  You are just setting the dough at this point.

I slid it off the grill onto a sheet pan and put on the toppings, leaving the cheese off until it was in place on the grill.

I carefully slid it back on the grill and put on the cheese, turned the heat down and capped it with the sheet pan.  My indoor grill has a flat lid, not a domed one, so I have to come up with tricks to cover things.

Every few seconds I would peek to see if it was ready.
The heat under it is low so the crust doesn't get killed, but the toppings get enough heat to finish melting and the dough finishes cooking through. After  1 - 2 minutes I slid it off onto a board and dinner was done.

Food fast, not fast food.  The rest of that pesto is tucked in the freezer to stop me from sticking a spoon right in.  Good stuff!  Make some now before the scapes are gone for another season. 

Peony and Sushi

 

I thought I'd put a photo here of the very happy Japanese peony that greets me every morning in the front garden.  I really wish i remembered it's name so I could buy another or planted it out back where I could enjoy it more.  It really is such a happy, riotous colour combination.  They close every night and reopen in the morning.

Sure, there has been cooking around here, ma po dofu, char siu ribs, dry fried green beans, tonight is a cauliflower gratin with some scored and seared duck breasts, sprinkled with my house spice mix and glazed in ginger marmalade and pepper jelly, but I haven't really had the time to photo and write anything up, life continues at a feverish pace and this time of year the garden competes for my time as well.
The tomatoes are going bonkers in the upside down grower as well as in the earth grow boxes.  in the garden bed are a few kinds of peppers, some zucchini, a few cucumber, some cape gooseberries, and a section of herbs with a few kinds of thyme, lemongrass, rosemary, basil, oregano, marjoram, tarragon, chives, cardamom, Vietnamese Coriander and sage. I would tell you about the Brussels sprouts, but it would seem that the future braise took an interest in them this week DESPITE my leaving him plenty to eat.

I've been trying to get some new chefs on board, all the new book titles selected, some new classes designed and today I spent the day here plotting a sushi workshop.

Don't worry, I had one of these by my side as well.

D.S., you know who you are, I owe you a lengthy email in response to your several recent ones, which, by the way, always bring a smile.  I promise it is forthcoming, and your roses are indeed looking spectacular.  This week was made doubly challenging by my three days of jury duty.  I was chosen for a trial and it was really interesting to watch the process from the inside out.  I really liked the judge and if I ever had to be in that situation I would want him on the bench.  There were a few interesting twists and turns involving gender changes and language translations, but in the end we decided the defendant to be not guilty and sent him on his way.

I'm sitting now awaiting husbands return from perambulations with the puppy, all the windows are open, the braise is eating the cauliflower I left for him, the blue jay's are snacking on the meal worms I picked up saturday, the cardinal is in the bird bath, the night blooming jasmine is heavy with blossoms and ready to bust, I have a cheesy 70's mix on shuffle and a cocktail in hand, when the troops return dinner is on. What a shame it can't be June all year long.