foodie nyc

Soft Shell Crab, Corn Shoot and Lovage Salad

I ran into the wonders of corn shoots at the Union Square market recently.    The explosive sweetness of corn, along with a mild hint of anise, are packed into these seemingly innocuous, yellow salad greens.    The corn shoots appear innocent enough, but their intense flavors completely shocked and overwhelmed me. 

I recently picked up a lovage plant, as I've always loved the fresh celery flavor of the herb I first tasted years ago while working in the kitchen at 11 Madison Park.  I envisioned dressing the corn shoots with a fruity olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some of the chopped lovage leaves. 

Considering the intense flavor of this little salad, I immediately began thinking of pairing these flavors with a meaty fish like scallops, but then noticed the first soft shell crabs I'd seen in quite some time.   I can't pass up soft shell crab, so I paired the corn shoot salad with a crispy soft shell crab seared in olive oil, garlic and finished with a squeeze of lemon.  (I rarely enjoy soft shell crab with a thick batter coating.  Pan searing allows a very crispy texture, without masking the crab with a thick crust).

The crispy and subtly sweet crab is a great match for the herbal, sweet and explosive flavors of the corn shoot lovage salad.    Every bite made me thankful for the wonders of Spring that will be in my kitchen for the next few weeks.

Related:   My Technique/Recipe for Seared Soft Shell Crab

Mini Asparagus Morel Waffle

I've been doing tons of personal catering and dinner parties over the past month.  The majority of my menus have been focused within the little canapes/tapas style, as opposed to elaborate sit down meals. 

Thanks to all of these personal cheffing assignments, my little bite arsenal has expanded times ten.  One of the little bites that people seem to clammer over are these asparagus, morel mini waffles.

I simply blanch or broil asparagus tips (depending on my mood), poach my morels per usual, and place them on a mini waffle that I usually make in my waffle iron.   They also sell mini waffles at Whole Foods for $3, which I've used before and generally like.  When I make my own waffles, I add an ingredient like rosemary, crumbled bacon or smoked paprika to the batter for another layer of flavor.

The waffle is the perfect vessel for the spoonful of morel sauce that finishes the dish.  As you'd expect, the nooks and crannies of the waffle are a great conduit for an intense, rich morel sauce.  Yep, loving the mini waffle these days.

Goat Cheese, Fennel Juice, Fried Leeks

While thinking of a condiment to accompany a creamy, herbaceous goat cheese, I began envisioning a light, intense vinaigrette of sorts to drizzle around cheese for a burst of complimentary flavors - something to further enhance and accent the natural flavors of the grassy, soft goat cheese.

While staring at the veggies in the market, my gaze focused on fennel.   The fronds, in particular, were of interest to me.  Sure enough, I juiced the fronds and some of the stems that connected the fronds to the bulb.  A bit of salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a whisk of extra virgin olive oil produced a fragrant, light dressing that exploded with a mellow fennel flavor.  For texture, I fried some leeks in olive oil to add a crunchy bite of onion flavor to the creamy cheese.

The process of eating this cheese was perfect for an appetizer to share with guests.  Simply slice off a bit of your goat cheese, bath it gently in the fennel juice vinaigrette, and smear it onto a cracker or piece of toasted crostini.  I know that none of the ingredients here are particularly Spring focused, but somehow this dish tasted like a bite of Spring to me.

Black Pepper Skate, Morels and Cilantro

At this point, I must be the unofficial morel dork of the interweb.  This is my 30 millionth post on morels and yet only my first of 2007.

While writing this post about a recent skate dish I made, I realized that while I continue to obsess with morels each and every Spring, I've only scratched the surface on morel dorkiness.

For instance, I'd love to head out to Oregon or somewhere dedicated to morel excellence and immerse myself in morel cultivation. I also want to go on a morel hunt.   

I picture weeding through damp misty forests, wearing camouflage and maybe night vision headgear.  I'd be carrying an official looking camo bag that would be stocked with important hunting tools - a bottle of Oregon Pinot, proper stem wear, a small sterno, a little saucepan, salt, pepper, a lemon, forks and a corkscrew that can double as a weapon should we encounter any drunken shitake hunting hooligans.

My morel hunting guide stops in the middle of his tracks and sniffs the air, dramatically.  The birds stop chirping and all goes quite.   I look down and see morels growing near an old tree.  Morel man teaches me a few picking techniques and we gather the pinecomb beauties.  They are plump and beautiful - a few little baby blond morels, a few pimp daddie, jumbo black morels are also in the mix.  We take them down to a local stream and I just barely rinse them, removing any sand.  I dry them thoroughly in the sun as we crack the Pinot.  I clink glasses with the morel hunter and.. HEY....WAIT A MINUTE..  At this point, I realize my morel hunter should now be a female.  (She's super hot, obviously, and wearing a hot camo mini skirt...ok, that's better).  We cheers morels and the genius of her camouflage high heels and begin to fire up the sterno. 

I saute the morels in butter on slow heat with salt and pepper, then add a squeeze of lemon juice after a few minutes.  We then eat the morels straight from the pan, enjoying the efforts of my morel hunters' genius (and crazy hottness).  She tells me my passion for morels is inspiring and we kiss passionately, but unfortunately my camo face paint smudges all over her and freaks us both out a bit.

Right. 

So, this needs to happen.  Hot morel hunters from Oregon with a passion for camo and Pinot should email me immediately to arrange a visit.

Until someone convinces me otherwise, I am fully committed to poaching morels per my usual method.  For this dish, I pair the beauties with the richness of skate.  I firmly believe that morels should not compete with many flavors, so I simply sauteed the skate in a bit of leftover pancetta drippings from a previous course, enhanced by only black pepper, salt and a squeeze of lemon juice before removing from the pan.  Believe it or not, I think the fresh burst of cilantro in this dish is pretty special.  Certainly it needs to be used sparingly with morels, but just a few leaves accent the richness of the flavors nicely.

Ramp, Goat Cheese, Pink Peppercorn Omelette

It's ramp season again.  I'll spare you the long soliloquy on my love of ramps.  After buying a small garden of them recently, I had some leftover tops and bulbs the morning after a recent dinner.

After coming in from a morning of tennis, I looked in the fridge and realized what an amazing day was ahead of me.  If I could start every day with ramps in the morning, I'd be a happy dude.

The key to my recent omelette success is the square nonstick griddle pan.  I love the long, skinny omelettes the pan produces.  I started by crushing about a teaspoon of pink peppercorns and toasting them in a dry pan for about 1 minute or so.  I then sauteed the ramp bulbs in a bit of olive oil and salt for about 5 minutes on medium heat.  As I waited for the ramps to cook, I whisked the pink peppercorns into a mixture of 2 eggs and 1 egg white.  I like the addition of an egg white into my omelette - it ensures a light fluffiness without sacrificing the richness of the yolks.

Just when the ramps are al dente in texture, I added the green ramp tops to the pan and followed a minute later with the egg mixture. I  crumbled in some fresh goat cheese just before rolling the omelette and sliding it onto my plate.

The combination of flavors in this brunch treat was stunning to me.  The pink peppercorn provides a floral quality that marries perfectly with the creamy goat cheese and the richness of the eggs.  The ramps accent this floral richness with the unique garlic/onion flavors I crave this time of year.

Plenty of ramp and pink peppercorn geekiness in the archives for your perusal.

My Last Post On Morels For A While....

Just when I wonder why I choose to O.D. on morels, I'm most likely writing my last post on morels this year. (More on my upcoming trip to Umbria and Tuscany later).

Sure, you may have a little more time to swoon over fresh morels, but to he honest, they are not the same in 90 degree weather. NYC just hit 90 for the first time today and damned if I was going to buy morels, even though they were available in the market.  Morels taste best to me on a bright sunny spring day, with just a touch of a chill in the air as the sun begins to set for dinner.  (I can't believe I just wrote that).

I made these morels a few weeks ago in the method I favor most  - poached in half and half.  You remember - I get a morel mushroom flavored cream that I use to finish morel dishes? This time I strained the morels from this morel cream and pureed them until they just came together.

I spoon this morel mixture down the center of thinly pounded pork fillets, scallopini style.   After rolling them like a cigar, I kept them together with a single toothpick and sauteed the pork on very high heat in an olive oiled pan.  I really only flip once, just when the one side gets a nice brown exterior.  Ladle some of your reserved morel sauce into the pan with the meat to finish, adding a squeeze of lemon and a chopped herb of your choice. 

You could pair this with anything. I had some dough in the freezer from a recent tart I made.   I rolled the dough and baked the tarts in a small, non-stick muffin pan (buttered) a few hours in advance. This tart is then filled with a mix of roasted spring veggies and rewarmed with some more of the morel cream.  Good times.

Sausage, Morel, Asparagus Tart

Sorry for the lack of stimulation here over the past week.  Really slammed at work, a bit under the weather...yeah yeah. No, seriously though, having a cold is one of the most painful things for me as I tend to avoid drinking wine, as I can't enjoy the experience with a stuffed nose and diminished senses.  Since I can't appreciate wine in this state, I tend to just avoid even trying.  Boo hoo.  OK, I'll stop whining now and continue to enjoy beer for a few more days until I get back in wine drinking shape.

Until then, here's a dish I made a few weeks ago.  The general thought behind this idea was developed around creating a spring pot pie.  I would poach the morels per my usual method, then use the creamy mushroom liquid as a sauce within the pot pie to flavor vegetables like asparagus, carrots and peas.  I made a buttery pastry, rolled it out thinly (not thin enough though) and placed it into a nonstick muffin tin.  I blind baked the dough (with dried beans inside and nothing else), took it out of the oven and let it cool.  In the meantime, I cooked some sweet Italian-style sausage, blanched the vegetables, and added everything to the poached morels and the mushroom sauce.  After that, I just filled the tarts and served warm.  I obviously strayed from the pot pie concept, so I'll just have to call this a tart.  Spring pot pie has a better ring to it, so I'll need to experiment with that before the season ends.....

Poached Morels, Roasted Ramps, Ramp Pesto

Here's a little appetizer I created in order to feature two of my favorite ways to serve ramps and morels.  As I've mentioned before, I love to poach morels slowly in half and half.  This produces soft, tender, creamy morels, but it also creates a cream infused morel liquid that I can use as a phenomenal finishing sauce. 

You know how I feel about ramps. I like to separate the white bulbs from the green tops, so I thought I'd use them both in the same dish.  I pan roasted the white ramp bulbs in olive oil, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  I then blanched the green tops for 30 secs, dried them, then pureed them in a food processor with pine nuts, olive oil, and some parm regg cheese to create a pesto-like sauce.  I spoon a little of that morel cream around the ramp and morel salad for an excellent and simple little spring treat. 

Below is my recipe for the poached morels.  Sorry, not in the mood to write recipes for the rest.  Word.

Ramp Wrapped Shrimp

I rarely make dishes in which my lovely spring favorite, ramps, play a supporting role.  Why? Well, the fact that I don't get to enjoy ramps as frequently as I'd like means that I want to taste them as a co-star of a dish. 

How else can I appreciate the subtle yet pungent onion- garlic-leek combination that resides in these little weed-like beauties?

A simple and easy first course that I made recently had that exact mission - feature ramp as the co-star of a dish.  I decided to simply make my recipe for Spanish style shrimp, but held the garlic and parsley.  I only used olive oil, smoked paprika, salt and pepper in the searing of the shrimp.  After they were cooked, I sauteed the ramps in olive oil for only about 1.5 minutes on high heat.  I then wrapped a ramp around the shrimp, so that each bite gave us a taste of the shrimp and the ramp.   Before serving, I squeezed some lemon juice on the ramp wrapped shrimp for a touch of acid.  (Note: this dish is best with the small bulbed ramps, like the one in the picture.  Lots of ramps have a thicker white bulb, so pick the smaller bulbs out of the bunch for this technique).

Soft Shell Crab with Asparagus, Jicama, Reggiano Salad

Aaah.  The first soft shell crab of the year.  Soft shells are the perfect expression of spring - rich yet light, flavorful yet delicate, and not to be seen again in this perfect state beyond a few months from now. 

Big thick batters on soft shells? No.  Tempura crusted? Wrong.  Bold flavors that compete with the crisp texture and soft meat? Banned in my home.

Simple is best with the soft shell.  All you need to do is make sure the crab is well dried (with paper towels) and well seasoned, the oil hot, and you avoid flipping more than once.  The crispy texture of the shell is a perfect counterpoint to the sweet meat.  Also, make sure to hit it with a little lemon juice - the acidic note is a great counterpoint to the richness of the crab. 

I enjoy serving soft shells with simple expressions of spring.  In this case, I blanch and thinly slice asparagus in a salad with the crispy freshness of jicama and shards of parmigiano reggiano.  If the traditional side of your brain starts short circuiting about serving cheese with fish, just tell yourself to live a little. 

My full recipe follows..........

Ramp Caprese Salad

I don't serve raw tomatoes outside of the late summer season.  Every tomato I eat outside of August and September is just usually a major letdown for me.  I never order them at restaurants or buy them at the market.  People think I am a snot about this, but I just prefer to OD on tomatoes when they are at their best.

For Easter dinner, my mother had tomatoes, mozzarella and basil to use in a salad to start the meal.  I wanted nothing to do with it, to be honest.  But everyone gave me a hard time and told me to stop being a snot and just make the dish.  I brought some ramps home with me, so I added them to the Caprese-eque salad. 

I separate the whites from the greens on the ramps, as they have different cooking times.   When I pan roast them without separating them, the green tops get all brown and grey and lose some of their fresh, from the garden taste in my opinion.  So I pan roast the white bulbs in olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe a few spinkles of red chili flakes, with just a squeeze of lemon juice after removing from the heat (they only need about 2-3 minutes worth of cooking time on medium high heat).  I then quickly sautee the green tops in the same pan for only a minute or two, just until wilted but still vibrant green in color.

I layered the green tops of the ramps in between the tomato, basil and mozzarella slices, then added a few of the white bulbs on top to finish.   Some great olive oil and a few drops of aged balsamic I brought back from Modena a while back made me forget about the just OK tomatoes.  I guess.

Roasted Chicken with Morels and Fiddlehead Ferns

I need morel intervention. 

I think I've eaten morels three times a week for the past two weeks.  I tend to OD on the spring treats because they are so unavailable the rest of the year.  I have plenty of ramp and more morels dishes to share with you.

Last night I was asked by a friend what I make on a busy weekday night, with little time to go ballistic in the kitchen like I do on the weekends (Sundays in particular).

This dish is a good example.  I choose three or four ingredients at the most while shopping - less is more when under a time crunch. The best ingredients can be the star of the show, which also translates into the reality of not having to do much to make them taste amazing. 

I always start by shopping in the vegetable sections of the market.  For me, veggies and produce lead to the other choices I make for the rest of the meal.  This market had morels and fiddlehead ferns.  I flipped out with happiness and grabbed as many as I could without breaking the bank.  I wasn't in the mood for red meat or fish, so I went with organic, skin-on, bone-in chicken breast.  Substantial enough for the morels but lean enough for my tastes that night.

As soon as I got home, I seasoned the chicken and seared it with the goal of creating a crusty, brown skin. By the time I would take it out of the oven, I would have the morels, fiddleheads and a side salad ready to go.  I'll take you through my procedure for morels in a future post, but my favorite method is to slowly poached them in milk, butter and herbs, which also creates a sauce.  After removing the stems from the fiddleheads, I tossed them in a pot of salted water for a minute or two.  I took them out, gave them a rinsing under cold water to stop them from cooking a bit and set them aside.  When the morels were finished (soft and luscious), I added the fiddleheads to their sauce, as well as an acidic element for balance of flavors (lemon juice).  The morel liquid becomes the sauce that I drape all over the chicken when serving. 

This was a 30 minute meal that even Rachel Ray could make.  (Though I guess she would replace the morels with a "super fun" turkey chili or something).

(A note about morels.  I learned from the French Laundry Cookbook a long time ago that just a few pieces of a luxurious ingredient never do.  Cut back on the expenses of the rest of the dish and do it up.  Thus the pile of morels here.)

Potato Chip Sole, Pea and Bacon Broth

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past week - busy, busy.  The good news -  I have lots of good dishes to post in the upcoming days, along with the next ILSL recipe for April.

I'm in full Spring mode, as I hope you are.  Food-wise, I'm all about balancing light with flavorful.  Here's a dish I created based on another Iron Chef-like challenge.  You know - hand me the ingredients, I make whatever.  This whatever is sole, which I crusted with sesame seeds.  I seared it and finished it under low heat in the oven.  In the meantime, I pureed some peas with chicken broth, creating a sweet soupy broth.   I crisped some bacon because peas and bacon is just an excellent combo. 

That could have been the dish, and a fulfilling one at that.  But I was given potatoes (a purple and a yukon) as well as golden beets.  Sure, I could have made a puree with potatoes or simply roasted them, but I thought about creating a textural contrast.  I sliced the potatoes very thinly and fried them for a few seconds in a very small amount of vegetable oil.  I roasted the beets with some olive oil and salt in a closed foil pouch in advance, then sliced them as a base for the fish.

I was concerned this dish would be busy with flavors.  Sure, if I wasn't playing the Iron Chef game I think I could have skipped the beets.  Otherwise, I think this dish is certainly one for the arsenal. The perfect bite -a moist fork of fish with a piece of crispy chip, bathed in the pea sauce and a small bite of bacon - was the kind that left the others at the table silent.   That's usually when I know a dish is more than just good.  Average dishes usually just become part of the conversation....

Related: Crispy Pea Wontons

Crispy Pea Wontons, Hen of the Woods Mushrooms

Spring is here and you can count me as someone who couldn't be happier.   I have obsessed over spring treats for years and years, and I'm sure you'll see plenty of the same focus over the upcoming weeks.  I frequently enjoy being given a handful of ingredients and asked to make dishes on the spot without prior knowledge.  Yesterday I was given a bunch of winter ingredients, but I was also given a bag of frozen peas.  Yeah, not really fresh English peas but hey, at least I could pretend.  Plus, I think frozen peas are pretty good for everyday eating.

I decided to puree the peas with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  I then stuffed the pea puree into wonton skins, in the general method I outline here.  But since I had some Hen of the Woods mushrooms that I would broil to a crisp, I decided that a crispy wonton would be better than a steamed or boiled version.  I fried them in oil for about 2-3 minutes, just until brown.  The pairing of the sweet peas, broiled mushrooms and the crispy wonton skin was very nice.  I drizzled the dish with some truffle oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, just to add to the mushroom goodness. 

Curried Scallops, Mint Tapioca, Green Onion Sauce

Tapioca, when boiled and mixed with butter, cheese and/or milk, has a savory yet sweet taste that goes with almost any seared dish. Better yet is the whole, al dente texture of the tapioca as a counterpoint to the buttery scallop.  Here, I boiled it for about 5 minutes until soft yet still firm.  I drained it and immediately added it to a pot with some chunks of unsalted butter. I added salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon and a handful of mint.

I then set it aside and dried large, meaty fresh scallops with paper towels.  I salted, peppered and dusted ground curry powder on each side.  After getting a pan very hot with a shallow coating of olive oil, I seared each side for about 2 minutes each.

The green onion sauce was a soup I made for a Gothamist recipe, which you can find below - it's basically a milky onion broth mixed with a puree of blanched, green onion tops.

Ramps, Matsutake, Curry, Walnuts

Friend and fellow foodie chef Grant Bremer recommended that we separate the greens from the bulbs when preparing ramps for one of our courses this past Sunday (full menu to be posted shortly).  I really liked this method, as the tops of the ramps can be blanched and used as another texture and garnish for a dish.  Here I decided to pair the pan roasted ramp bulbs with broiled matsutake mushrooms that Grant had me sample from a local greenmarket farmer (who also supplied us with morels for a foodie course.) Broiling matsutake and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms is my favorite way to intensify the earthy flavors and add a crunchy texture to them. 

I tied the ingredients together by melting some butter and adding a dash of curry powder and a few ground walnuts that I had lying around for a sauce.  Curry, nuts and mushrooms is a perfect pairing to me.

Soft Shells and Fiddleheads

Soft shell crab is something I long for throughout the year.  I then tend to O.D. on them for the month or so that they are available. I can't stand overly fried, thick breading or tempura batter on soft shells. To me, those preparations don't allow for the inherent beauty of the soft shell to shine through - the natural crispiness of the shell contrasting with the soft, sweet creamy meat inside.

I sprinkle with salt and pepper, then very lightly dust the soft shells in flour. I shake off any excess and sear them in very hot olive oil for about 2-3 minutes per side.  A little lemon juice, a side salad (fiddlehead ferns and avocado in this case) and you have the simplest, and in my opinion, most enjoyable way to enjoy soft shell crab.

Poached Morel Rigatoni

The beauty of landing on a cooking technique that you love means that you can interchange the technique across many dishes.  My poached morel technique was going to certainly be the way I'd cook them, but I needed a more substantial main course.  I had some rigatoni, snap peas, tomato and pine nuts on hand.  After cooking the rigatoni, I added them to my morel infused poaching liquid to absorb their earthy flavors.  As you can see, I am passionately against oversaucing pasta.  Pasta sauce should used as a condiment, in my opinion. This morel pasta was to die for....

Morels and Asparagus

The combination of buttery morels and roasted asparagus is a pairing that I begin thinking about in March.  The first few weeks of April are usually all about looking for morels and the purple highlights of freshly picked asparagus. This recipe is by far the most enjoyable way for me to begin a two month overdose of spring treats.

Check out the full recipe for this dish below.....