Tonight we leave for Brazil! Phil and I will be presenting talks at the University of Sao Paulo, my beloved “USP” where I went to college, did my PhD, and held my first job in academia… I better do a good job with my presentation, which in typical Sally fashion, I am still tweaking… 😉
Internet connections could be iffy, so I might be unable to answer comments and visit blogs. See you guys on March 23rd!
Phil came up with this recipe about a year ago, and it quickly became a favorite of ours. The idea is to go to the store and get three kinds of seafood, whatever looks best. Add to that one vegetable: we usually alternate between broccoli, broccolini (love the stuff!) and asparagus. Lately we’ve been adding fresh shiitake mushrooms too. This is a very healthy yet substantial meal, in which the pasta is a minor component to give us just the carbs we need.
SEAFOOD EXTRAVAGANZA PASTA
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)
Pick three of the following options:
Sea scallops
Large shrimp
Salmon filets
Lobster tails
Ahi tuna filets
Choose one of these veggies:
Broccoli
Broccolini
Asparagus
Fresh shiitake mushrooms, caps only
Pasta (corkscrew, farfalle, fusilli)
A couple of lemons, juice and zest
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp vermouth
Thyme
salt and pepper
Add the 1/4 cup olive oil to a small bowl, squeeze the juice of 1 lemon, season with salt and pepper, and add the thyme. Whisk well to form an emulsion. Use that to brush the seafood you intend to grill.
Slice the mushroom caps very thin, cut the broccoli in florets, if using asparagus or broccolini cut them in 1 inch pieces. Saute’ the mushrooms in 1 Tbsp olive oil, when they are almost tender season with salt and pepper and add the vermouth and lemon zest. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Keep warm. Cook the veggies either in a little salted water or by steaming. If using broccoli, shock them in cold water to keep the bright green color. Reserve.
Start grilling the seafood (salmon, lobster tail, or ahi tuna). Sautee the shrimp and scallops on 1 Tbsp olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Make sure not to over-cook the scallops and saute’ them in extra-high heat to sear the surface. Cook the pasta to have it ready once all the rest of the food is done. Reserve some of the pasta water in case you need it.
Once the pasta is done, drain it, put it back in the pan, add the mushrooms and broccoli, mix well. If needed, add a little of the pasta water. Transfer to a serving bowl, and add all the seafood on top, cutting the salmon (and lobster tails, if using) in large chunks. Keep the scallops and shrimp whole. A squeeze of lemon juice all over the serving bowl is a nice final touch.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
(click to enlarge)
Comments: I won’t sugar-coat the pill, this dish requires some effort so that all ingredients are ready at the same time for the final assembly. We always like to cook salmon and lobster tail on the grill, whereas the scallops and shrimp are sautéed on the stove. Same for veggies and mushrooms. You get the picture. It is much easier if you and your partner (or friend, parent, sibling, room-mate, neighbor) cook this together. However, usually Superman Phil is adamant about doing it all by himself. I am left watching him dash through the kitchen to the grill and back, spatula in hand, kitchen towel hanging from one shoulder, pasta water furiously boiling, and the dogs hoping that with all that activity some stuff might follow the Law of Gravity all the way to the kitchen floor. Sometimes, it does happen… But, once all is said and done, we are rewarded with a great dinner! See my plate? I go heavy on the scallops. I am not ashamed and will fight for the biggest, juiciest ones. 😉
The pasta plays a completely secondary role. This is a dish centered on seafood and supported by a nice helping of broccoli. Squeeze some more lemon juice right before indulging… And, if that was not enough seafood for a meal, I’ll tell you what we love to have as appetizer before this dinner. All of a sudden, Wednesday evening feels like a party! 😉
Heaven. Pure heaven.
ONE YEAR AGO: A Pearfect Drink
TWO YEARS AGO: Ming Tsai Under Pressure
THREE YEARS AGO: Paris, Je t’aime
The Fresh Loaf Forum is a virtual paradise for bread bakers, as not only very experienced folks share their best recipes, but you can also get feedback in case problems arise with a recipe. Last week I stopped by the site and the thread right at the top had the following title: Sourdough Wine Bread. That got my full attention. I clicked on it, and was blown away by the gorgeous photos, and the unusual color of the bread’s crumb, given by the wine and the dried cranberries. I revived my starter that same day, and started this bread on a Friday night. Sometimes you should not wait to chase a dream.
RED WINE SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH DRIED CRANBERRIES
(adapted from The Fresh Loaf Forum, bread by Yuko)
102 g sourdough starter (at 100% hydration)
288 g all-purpose flour
80 g water
123 g red wine
6.7 g Salt
80 g dried cranberries
In a bowl, mix flour, wine, and water roughly, cover it with plastic and keep for 12 hours in the fridge (autolyse).
Add sourdough starter and mix by folding dough in the bowl. Add cranberries and mix by folding dough in the bowl. Add salt and slap & fold for 3 – 4 minutes or until the dough becomes a ball. Bulk fermentation at room temperature, folding the dough every half and hour until it develops enough strength (I did 4 sets of folds).
Let it rise until the dough starts showing the yeast activity. It takes about 6 hours total depending on the temperature of your kitchen (I used my bread proofing box set at 78 F). Shape the bread as a boule (or 2 baguettes), place in a banetton or other appropriate container, and let it proof in the fridge for 16 to 18 hours.
Pull it out of the fridge and leave it out for one to three hours (see comments). Slash the bread and bake in a 450F oven with initial steam for a total of 40 minutes (for a boule), or 20 to 25 minutes for baguettes.
Cool on a rack before slicing.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: Preparing this bread had me worried up until the point I finally sliced it. Something seemed terribly wrong, as I detected very little fermentation, even though I kept the dough for almost 7 hours at 78 F. The original recipe called for retarding the dough in the fridge and shaping it next day, but my dough seemed so…. slow! I decided to shape it on the same day, and retard the dough in its final form, ready for the oven. Ideally, you should remove the bread from the fridge and allow it to almost double in size. That was not happening, so after a couple of hours I simply had to bake it.
Now, a little tangent. I usually wake up several times during the night, and tend to think about our experiments while trying to go back to sleep. Sometimes (unfortunately not that often), when I wake up again an hour or so later, I have a new idea to solve a problem or at least approach it. Almost as if during my sleep something goes to work “behind my back”… 😉 That Saturday night, I went to bed thinking about the red wine sourdough and why it seemed so weak. Exactly at 2am I woke up with one word blinking in my mind: SULFITES! All wine these days is preserved with sulfites! Maybe some batches have a higher concentration, maybe some of the bacteria or yeast in my starter was particularly sensitive to it. At any rate, one thing is certain: when you add red wine to make the dough the pH will be lower (higher acidity) so that will affect the efficiency of fermentation. Add to that the sulfites, and things can get trickier. Discussing these points in The Fresh Loaf forum, one of the bakers mentioned that when he adds wine to the dough the crumb of his bread gets tighter (indicating lower production of gas). For that reason, he normally tweaks his recipes to lower the alcohol and increase the water. Since in this case we are hoping for a nice red tint in the crumb, compromise is in order. I’d say keep the recipe as it is, and see how your starter behaves with it. Just for fun, I’ll try to find an organic red wine for my next “experiment”. Organic wines cannot have extra sulfites added, so the levels of the chemical will be low, ranging from 10 to 20 ppm (parts per million). Non-organic red wines often reach 125 ppm of sulfites or higher.
Even if the fermentation was not at its peak, this bread was delicious! I love the slightly sweetness given by the cranberries. My favorite match for the bread was a Maytag blue cheese, sharp and salty. Next day, slightly toasted, it seemed even better!
I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting…
ONE YEAR AGO: Award-Winning Sourdough Baguettes
TWO YEARS AGO: Country Rye (Tartine)
THREE YEARS AGO: Penne a la Vechia Bettola
Today we celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary!
“… it’s soon after midnight, and I don’t want nobody but you”
(Bob Dylan)
ONE YEAR AGO: It all started with a roof…
I suppose this could go to my “work in progress” folder. But, Phil liked it exactly this way, so I decided to share the recipe adding possible tweaks in the comments. One important thing to mention: although this is a salad, it’s equally good served warm. Those of you still in sub-zero temperatures and avoiding even to glance at a salad plate don’t need to shy away from it. In fact, we enjoyed it hot on the first day piled up next to a juicy flank steak, grilled medium-rare. Comme il faut... 😉
FARRO SALAD WITH LEEKS, CHICKPEAS AND CURRANTS
(adapted from The New York Times)
2 large leeks, halved lengthwise, cleaned and sliced crosswise 1/4-inch thick
1 Tablespoon olive oil + 1/8 cup, divided
1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can of chickpeas, drained (15 oz)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon crushed red chile flakes
1 cup dry farro
1/3 cup dried currants
2 celery stalks, diced
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Using a large rimmed baking sheet, toss leeks with 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Spread leeks out in a single layer and roast, tossing frequently, until golden brown and crisp at the edges, about 20 minutes.
Drain the chickpeas and add them to a pot with boiling water for a couple of seconds. Drain again, dry well. In a large bowl, toss leeks with chickpeas, lemon juice and zest, chile flakes and salt to taste. Stir in 1/8 cup olive oil. Let marinate while you prepare the farro.
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook farro until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain well. Toss with chickpeas mixture. Stir in currants and diced celery. Taste and add more salt or lemon if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: The original recipe was written for 2 cups of farro, definitely too much for the two of us. I halved the recipe, keeping all ingredients in the same proportion, but considerably reducing the olive oil. I was shocked to see the amount called for in the recipe. For two cups of dried farro, they used 2/3 cup of olive oil in the dressing. Keep in mind that 1/4 cup had already been poured just to roast the leeks. It amounts to 1,700 calories (> 800 for half the recipe) just in the oil component! Thanks, but no thanks. I used a tiny amount of oil to roast the leeks, and only 1/8 cup for the whole dressing. If you like your salad heavier on the oil, I suggest drizzling some more at the very end, before serving.
Now my possible modifications for a future version. I think raisins would have been better than currants. And, for my personal taste, the roasted leeks overpowered the dish. When I make it again, I will use raisins, increase the amount of celery, and reduce the amount of leeks. That will be a real winner for me.
ONE YEAR AGO: Watercress Salad
TWO YEARS AGO: Carrot and Sweet Potato Puree’
THREE YEARS AGO: Croissants: Paris at home on a special day
Bewitching Kitchen 