Simple But Splendid: Scallops & Mash

Sweet, buttery diver scallops and the earthiness of celery root mashed with potatoes.  It looks elegant yet it's easy to make and requires very little time.  Something to impress a date or the ball and chain with perhaps.

When it's raw celery root has a pleasant flavor a notch or two in intensity down from the stalks, and a snap to it not quite as crisp as an apple.  Slice it thin or into matchsticks for a salad.  When it's cooked it mellows out some but it will still imbue a soup or accompanying vegetables with its fragrance.

Potatoes, when boiled, take very well to butter and creamy flavors, but you don't need that much if you want to really taste them.  I exercised some restraint I would say, adding about 3 tablespoons of butter when I was making the mash.  You could omit the potatoes altogether but then it wouldn't be quite as well rounded in flavor and texture.  You could also puree the vegetables instead of mashing them if you want something smoother.  But I wanted the odd chunk from bite to bite so I did it the old fashioned way.

The diver scallops used were simply seasoned and seared about 2 minutes per side.  They should be opaque and browned on the top and bottom, while the middle will remain translucent.  That doesn't mean they're raw, just less cooked in the middle, which is what you want.  Cooked all the way through will ruin the texture.  If you go any more than 3 minutes a side in a pan on high heat, you're cutting it close.

I garnished only with some good olive oil, but you can make a quick pan sauce with the browned bits left over and some wine/stock, or just some well aged balsamic.  The sweet scallops though do just fine with little or nothing else for me.

Serves Four As a First Course

1 lb. diver scallops, white membranes removed
2 medium celery roots, peeled, cut into 1" cubes
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1" cubes
3 tablespoons of butter
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Optional: vegetable or canola oil to sear the scallops
Salt & pepper to taste  

Place the vegetables in a pot and cover by 2 inches with cold water.  Bring it up to a boil and cook for an additional 12-15 minutes or until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork.  Drain and let cool.

Get a large mixing bowl or use a stand mixer, and place the vegetables in it.  Add the butter and begin mashing or mixing.  Taste periodically and add salt and butter to taste, some olive oil too if you like.  Set aside but keep warm.

Pat the scallops dry on all sides and season with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a large frying pan on high until it smokes, then add the scallops.  Cook for about 2 minutes, then flip and cook another 2 minutes or until they are just firm when pressed.  Remove from the pan.

Make a base of the mashed vegetables on the plate and place 3-4 scallops on top.  Garnish with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and black pepper and serve.  

No Bitter Broccoli [rabe] Face: Rapini with Sausage

My parsley plant showed me up.  Here I am thinking one last harvest and it's done for the year, yet it has recovered fully and is ready for service once more.

Anyway, I love lots of things bitter; espresso, radicchio, campari, certain beers.  While some people like the full bitter and mustardy flavor of broccoli rabe and don't do anything to alter its natural state, I like it toned down a bit and a little sweeter. Blanching in water with ocean-like salinity for just a couple minutes keeps the rabe bright green, adding visual appeal on the plate.  It also takes away some of the bitterness that is associated with the the turnip and not kale (like broccoli is) family vegetable.   

Once I've boiled the rabe aka rapini I dress it like a salad with a hot bath if you will or won't of garlic and hot pepper-spiked olive oil.  Instinct would be to take the rapini out of the water and add it to a saute pan in which you've got garlic sizzling in oil, but I do it another way to avoid overcooking.  I keep the florets and stems in one piece, which can be troublesome during cooking because the tiny buds are delicate and cook faster than the stalks.  So I judge by when the florets are done, just a couple minutes, which leaves the stems pleasantly al dente.  The hot and spicy oil, infused with softened but not burned garlic, is a play on bagna caȏda, a Piedmontese recipe for a hot bath in which to dip crudités.

While I like my vegetables and pastas on the dry side, dressed like a salad and that's it, Nicole likes them brothy with some liquid to zop up.  If you're like her reserve the water you've blanched the rabe in and there you go.  If it's too salty water it down a bit. 

The addition of sausage takes this from side dish to meal, and although some turkey or chicken sausages are tasty, pork still rules.  If you want to get really crazy cook some orecchiette or gavadeel in the rapini water and dance the tarantella.  

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli rabe, bottom inch or so of stalks cut off and discarded
4 cloves garlic, sliced
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Hot pepper flakes to taste
2 lbs. italian sausage, sweet or hot

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and salt abundantly.

Put about 1/4 inch of water in a saute pan and arrange the sausages in one even layer.  Prick them in a couple places with a fork.  On medium high heat cook the sausage, covered, 15-20 minutes, then remove the lid and let the water evaporate.  Allow the sausages to brown in their own fat for another 5-10 minutes until cooked through, then turn off the heat.  Let cool slightly then slice into bite size pieces.

Make the hot oil bath by placing the garlic cloves and hot pepper flakes in the oil in a small saucepan.  Turn the heat on to medium and bring the oil up to a sizzle, allowing the garlic to cook slowly and infuse the oil, 6-8 minutes.  Turn off the heat before the garlic begins to brown; it will continue to cook several minutes off the heat.

Blanch the broccoli rabe, in batches if necessary, for about 2 minutes until the stems are al dente.  Remove and drain, then place in a baking dish or in a serving bowl.  Dress with the hot oil and toss to coat.  Add cooking water for a more brothy dish.  Toss in the sausages, season to taste with salt, pepper and pepper flakes, maybe a little more olive oil, and serve hot.  

 

Parsley's Time to Shine: Tabbouleh

With the first chill in the air recently I decided to tap my fledgling parsley plant and put it to one last good use for the year.  Tabbouleh trumps all other things I can think of in terms of the most parsley used in any single dish, so what better way to celebrate the last big bunch?  By the way I mean flat leaf parsley--stay away from the curly stuff.

I'm not an expert but most variations I've seen of this dish treat it as fresh parsley featuring bulgur, while I prefer mine to be a bulgur salad featuring parsley.  As much as I appreciate the breath assuring fragrance of it, parsley is strong and tends to be a little rough in texture.  Chopping it and letting it sit with oilve oil and acid like lemon juice moderates it, but I don't like to dress mine with too much of either.  So I make it more of a meal Jerry with a heavy hand on the bulgur, and a balance of parsley and tomato for flavor.

Bulgur is great because it's par-boiled cracked wheat, which means it can be ready in as little as 15 minutes and has the elite status of whole grain.  I actually prefer it to couscous in a lot of applications due to its superior nuttiness.  And medium coarse bulgur, which I always use, is nice and chewy.  It can be steeped in warm or hot water for 15 minutes then drained, or made like pilaf into a hot dish.  It's not an exotic or expensive grain though and is available in most supermarkets or specialty stores nowadays. 

The end of Summer/beginning of Fall seems like a perfect time to make it too because it's when local tomatoes, a key ingredient, are really peaking. Don't let the time of year stop you though; parsley and tomatoes (I switch to mostly grape ones in the Winter) are available any time. 

Serves 6

Ingredients:
3 cups bulgur wheat
4 ripe medium tomatoes
1/4 to 1/2 of a small onion, finely diced
2 full bunches worth of flat leaf parsley
juice of 2 medium lemons
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste

Put the bulgur in a bowl and cover by a couple inches with room temperature water.  Let it sit for 15-20 minutes at least, then drain well, squeezing or pressing as much excess water out as possible. 

Take the tomatoes and slice them, then with a small knife or spoon scoop out the the seeds and inner liquid (save it if you can think of another way to use it).  Take the remaining flesh and dice.

Separate the parsley leaves from the stems, discarding the stems (or save them to make stock).  Roughly chop the parsley a few times over but do not make it fine.

Assemble the dish by gently mixing the bulgur, tomatoes, onion and parsley together, then add the lemon juice and a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Avoid too much oil though because it will make the salad heavy and dense, whereas you want something fluffy.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.  Or let it sit overnight and then remove from the fridge about an hour before serving.

Stuffed Zucchini

Zucchini can be bland and easily disintegrate when cooked too long over direct heat.  But with this method of quick cooking in the less intense heat of the oven, their sweetness is maintained as well as the appreciated crunch.  Being so mild they work well as a vehicle for savory fillings like capers and olives, or cheese of varying sharpness.  Adding ground meat gives them significant substance but the dish remains very healthy.

I begin with onions, saute them until softened (insert garlic here if you want) and then add the ground meat and cook until its liquid has evaporated and its beginning to brown in the residual fat.  Then I add some capers and the zucchini flesh at the end or even off the heat because it's so delicate that it takes very little to turn it to mush.  It will get a second chance at heat anyway in the oven.  Off the heat I grate a generous amount of cheese (parmigiano or pecorino work well), and let it melt into the meat.  Mint, parsley, basil, tarragon--lots of herbs will work as an added dimension of flavor.  

In to the oven at 400º-425º for 15-20 minutes to help mold the filling to the zucchini canoes and crisp the edges, and they're ready.  Or let them cool to just above room temp.  Or eat them the next day like a hot dog, which actually works best of all.

Ingredients:

4 medium to large zucchini, halved lengthwise, flesh removed and roughly chopped
2 medium onions, diced
3 lbs. ground meat of choice, at least 10% fat
1 teaspoon capers
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & pepper to taste
handful of parsley or other herb, finely chopped
Parmigiano Reggiano or other grating cheese to taste