Atlantic Cod, Lobster Sauce, Oriental Yams, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Garlic Scapes and Jerusalem Artichoke Puree

Food, wine and great company is all I need to be happy.  In this case we had a lot of all three. Thanks Michal, Harout, Caitlin, Padraic, Tara, Dre and Kristin for making it all happen.  These recipes feed 8 people and cost about $100.  Total cooking and prep time is about 2 hours.

Cod with Lobster Sauce
8 filets of black cod, about 3 lbs
1 shallot, fine dice
1/4 stick butter
1/2 cup vegetable stock
4 oz creme fraiche
1 lb white shrimp, 25ct peeled deveined and halved long way

Preheat the oven to 400. Season cod with salt, pepper and olive oil then lay them flat on a greased, foil-lined baking tray.  Roast for about 15 minutes.  Remove with a spatula and place in a large serving tray.  Top with cream sauce.

In a medium sauce pan start the butter, shallots and garlic on medium heat and let cook until the onions are just turning brown.  Add flour and mix well, keep stiring for 10 minutes or until the flour begins to just get lightly brown.  Add the cream and the vegetable stock and mix well.  Let this cook for about 15 minutes or until reduced by half.  Now add the shrimp and let cook for 10 more minutes.  Serve over top of fish.

Jerusalem Articoke Puree
1/2 lb sunchokes, peeled and large diced
1/2 vidallia onion, rough chop
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cream fraiche (or cream cheese)
salt and pepper

Start sunchokes and shallot in a medium pot with cool water.  Bring to a boil and let cook 15 minutes more until the sunchokes are fork tender.  Remove from the heat and strain, reserving 4 teaspoons of the water. Puree in a blender with the reserved water, olive oil and cream fraiche, add salt and pepper to taste.

Yams, Chantrelles and Garlic Scapes

The yams and the mush rooms were cut in half an oven roasted at 400 degree.  The yams took about 40 minutes while the mushrooms only about 12 minutes.  The garlic scapes, which are the green tops of the garlic bulb, were blanched for 2 minutes and then sauteed in olive oil and butter for 2 minutes as well.


Organic Kale, Nectarine, Beet and Yellow Tomato Salad  

Pick thru the kale and remove all of the stems.  Cut roasted beets and nectarines in 8ths.  Halve yellow tomatoes and squeeze juice and seeds out over a fine strainer with a small bowl to catch the delicious tomato water.

Tomato Water Vinaigrette
2 oz tomato water
2 oz white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper
4 oz extra virgin olive oil

Mix everything but the oil.  Then slowly add oil while whisking until mixture comes together.

What a great meal with some great people.  Till next time... Buon apetito!!

Stripped Bass, Sunchoke Puree, Purple Asparagus, Fava Beans, Pan Brown Butter

The earthy flavors of sunchokes, favas and asparagus match nicely with a buttery stripped bass filet.  The healthy and delicious meal costs $35, feeds four and takes about and hour.

Sunchoke Puree
1 lb sunchokes, peeled and large diced
1 shallot, rough chop
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cream fraiche (or cream cheese)
salt and pepper

Start sunchokes and shallot in a medium pot with cool water.  Bring to a boil and let cook 15 minutesmor until the sunchokes are fork tender.  Remove from the heat and strain, reserving 4 teaspoons of the water. Puree in a blender with the reserved water, olive oil and cream fraiche, add salt and pepper to taste.

Purple Asparagus
Peel the bottom half of the stalks and trim to even length.  Blanch the asparagus (boil then cool in ice water) for 5 minutes.  Sautee with a little butter and olive, salt and pepper for a few minutes before serving.

Fresh Fava Beans
1 lb fresh fava beans, removed from pods
Blanch the beans for 5 minutes.  This makes it easy to remove the skin covering the bean.  Once the skin is removed sautee in a little butter and olive oil along with salt and pepper for 3-4 minutes before serving.

Pan Seared Stripped Bass with Pan Brown Butter
Sear the fish on medium high in a large sautee pan along with olive and a little butter, about 4 minutes on each side or until golden.  Once fish is cooked toss a few teaspoons of diced onion or shallot in the pan along with  2 tablespoons of butter.  Let cook on medium until the butter starts to brown slightly and shallot gets cooked, about five minutes.  Add a touch of sherry or red wine vinegar and mix well.  Spoon over the fish.

Thanks to my boys Pad, Casey and Dre who came through to eat and watch game 1 of the playoffs.  Buon Apetito!

Roasted Chicken with Easter Radishes, Sunchokes, Golden Beet Puree and Pomegranate Sauce

I am making back to back posts to get back into the swing of blogging. I used the leftover golden beets from yesterday to make the puree. I also used the actual radishes today, where I used the greens from the radishes yesterday. Easter Radishes are multi colored and not so bitter radishes that can be eaten raw or cooked. Sunchokes are a tuber that taste very similar to artichoke when roasted. This dish takes 1 hour, costs $15 and feeds 2.

Roasted Chicken Legs
2 Bell & Evans Chicken leg quarters with skin on
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and coriander

Preheat oven to 375. Seasonal legs liberally with the seasoning mix. Start a medium frying pan o medium high. Once it is very hot add the oil and place the chicken in skin side down. Let it cook about 3 minutes and then without turning to chicken, place the whole pan in the oven. Let that cook for 12 minutes and then flip over and let cook three more minutes. Remove and let rest 5 minutes and serve.

Roasted Radishes and Sunchokes
1 bunch organic easter egg radishes
4 sunchokes
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Thoroughly warm radishes and sunchokes. Slice in half and place face down of a foil lined then oiled baking sheet. Salt and pepper the tops and place in the oven for about 40 minutes. Once tender remove and serve.



Golden Beets Puree
1 cup roasted golden beets
1/4 cup fresh papaya
1/8 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Puree beets, papaya, cream, parsley, salt and pepper. Warm and serve.

Pomegranate Sauce
1 cup vegetable stock
1/8 cup pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon parsley
salt and pepper

Add stock and juice to a small sauce pan on medium low heat. Let it reduce to 1 tablespoons and then add herb and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the chicken.

This meal was packed with vitamins and minerals as well as flavor. I normally do not eat radishes in this way but they were tender and delicious. The chicken skin was perfectly crispy and the meat was moist inside. All together it was a successful dish and part of my healthier diet. Enjoy!

Huge Prime Rib-Eye with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Sunchokes and Shallots

It took a while to make this first post of the New Year so without further ado lets get it started. We got these two 38oz prime grade rib-eyes from Epicure. I also found some sunchokes, or Jerusalem Artichokes, which are a rare find. They are tubers that taste exactly like artichoke heats when roasted. Fingerling potatoes are a small finger sized potato with a creamy texture and a touch of sweetness. I also made a red wine - balsamic reduction to compliment the slow cooked steak. This takes about 2 hours, cost $150 (steaks are about $100 of that) and feeds 4 hungry people.

Red Wine - Balsamic Reduction
1/2 bottle of red wine, I used Valpolicella a light Italian red wine
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups beef stock
1/4 cup shallots, sliced
5 parsley sprigs
1 tablespoon of butter

Bring the red wine, balsamic, beef stock and shallots to almost boiling on medium high heat and then lower to low heat and let cook for 2 hours or until reduced to 1/2 a cup of liquid. Add parsley and let cook for 5 minutes. Strain shallots and parsley from the sauce and put back over low heat. Add some fresh cracked black pepper then whisk in the butter slowly and serve immediately.

Slow Roasted Rib-Eye
2 38oz Prime Grade Rib-eye steaks
2 teaspoons of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of butter

This slow and low steak cooking method is somethin I learned by watching an Alain Ducasse(one of the top US chefs) video on youtube. I have worked in steakhouses and have never seen this method used so I was skeptical at first. However after doing this technique a few times I don't think there is a better way to prepare a steak. The steaks must be at least 1 3/4 inches thick for this to work properly. The results are a through and through medium or medium rare depending on roasting time.

Start a large frying pan on medium low heat (2.5 of 10). Let it heat up for at least 5 minutes. Place the steaks in the pan without any oil or butter. Let them cook without moving them for 17 to 20 minutes or until a golden crust occurs. Now flip the steak and let it cook for another 17 to 20 minutes or until carmelized on that side. Now add the butter to the pan and turn the steak and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the steaks from the pan and place on a foil lined baking sheet on a baking rack. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let the steaks rest for 20 minutes on the rack. Now place in the oven and let cook 15 for medium rare and 22 minutes for medium. I like rib-eye cooked to about medium to melt out the fat. Take them out and let it rest again for at least 7 minutes. Cut the meat off the bone and slice to serve. Top with the red wine - balsamic sauce.



Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Sunchokes and Shallots
1 lb, fingerling potatoes
1/2 pound sunchokes
1/2 pound baby shallots
olive oil, salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly wash the potatoes and sunchokes. Slice the potatoes on the bias (diagonal) and peel to sunchokes of the outter knobs and thicker skins. Cut the sunchokes into pieces about the same size as the shallots and potatoes. Peel the shallots. Place all of the veggies on a baking sheet and coat with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for about an hour or until the potatoes, sunchokes and shallots are tender. Serve them up aside the steak for an earthy and delicious side dish.



My friends Ty, Alp and Ricky all joined me for this awesome early dinner and I appreciate their company and also appreciate them buying the food. This is a meat and potato lovers' dream and the sweet-rich sauce really brings it all together. Thanks guys!