...and then we eat

I have just changed the name of this blog. Why? The old name didn't mean anything to anyone but a few close friends. So, what is the new one about?

One of my many passions in life is sailing. "...and then we eat" is the favorite phrase of most sailors when they show you their vacation photos. There would be pictures of exotic lands, glorious full sails on a run, crew members happily pulling lines or hiking out on the close reach, wind and ocean spray in their faces, a proud skip at the wheel, with the islands just left behind in the background. And for the end of each day there would be at least a couple of food photos to show.

Food (and drink!) is an important part of any travel. In a sailboat cruise, it's the central part; you sail from one meal to another. Being on the water makes you hungry.

Smoked salmon on rye bread, Nothern Norway 2006.

So I would like this blog to be an adventure. A culinary adventure in the kitchen, on the road, at sea, in the mountains, at the market, by the grill in the back yard, anywhere. And then we eat.

Comfort Food: Sauteed Chicken Livers

When summer?

This wind has been blowing for a week now non-stop. It knocks down fences, falls trees; my flower pots fly across the back yard. And it's cold.
This weather is driving all life out of me. I need comfort. Food.

Chicken liver is one of the least glamorous foods, it's cheap, people think it's not healthy, and it doesn't look like much. But it's tasty, and it keeps you warm. Here I used a few fancier ingredients like duck fat (left over from cooking foie gras and kept in the freezer) and truffle oil to add shine to this old-style home cooking, but it would actually be as comforting without all this, just use half butter - half olive oil for sauteeing.

Sauteed Chicken Livers with Marsala and Truffle Mushed Potatoes
serves 2
1 lb chicken livers, dried with paper towels and trimmed
2 Tbsp duck fat or 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, minced
1/2 cup Marsala
salt, pepper

for the mushed potatoes:
8 new Yukon Gold potatoes, with skins
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, minced, plus 2 sprigs for serving
salt, pepper
6 drops of white truffle oil

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender, checking with a fork. Drain. Place the potatoes in a bowl, add the cream and minced parsley, coarsly mash with a fork, skin and all.
Season with salt, pepper and truffle oil. Keep warm.

In a large heavy pan over medium heat melt the duck fat or butter and oil. Add chicken livers. Make sure the pot is large enough to hold all the livers in one layer. Sautee until golden-brown.
Add shallots, Marsala, season with salt and pepper, reduce the heat. Cook until the wine is reduces by half, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve over the mushed potatoes, with a glass of wine, by the fireplace.

Spring Market

Heirloom tomatoes are here! Still very expensive, but as good as I remember them from the last summer. The little Armenian cucumbers have delicate skins and don't need to be peeled.
Kohlrabi that I sampled on the market was so sweet and crunchy that I had to take home a couple. Leeks and carrots for a soup, oranges for juice, regular stuff.

After a few hot days it's cold and windy again, but people realized that the winter is over and it's this season again - it was difficult to find a parking at the market or to get through the crowd.

Creamy Vegetable Soup

serves 4

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 leeks, white part only, halved, washed and chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 small can whole tomatoes, minus 2 tomatoes that I ate

2 large cloves of smoked garlic (or raw garlic), chopped

1 Qt chicken stock

4 Tbsp heavy cream

salt, pepper

to garnish:

4 slices of baguette

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup grated cheese (any, to taste)

1 Tbsp minced herbs (parsley, oregano leaves)

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add leeks, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook untill tender, about 20 minutes, without browning. Add tomatoes with the juice, crush with a spatula, cook 10 more minutes. Add the stock, bring almost to boil. Let cool, puree in blender.

Brush the baguette slices with olive oil, broil on both sides untill golden. Top with the cheese, broil to brown.

Warm the soup gently over low heat. Wisk in the cream. Serve with the toasts, sprinkle with herbs.

Smokin' fish

It must be my childhood spent by campfires, or the Russian traditional love for smoked food, or both. I just cannot pass a slice of smoked meat or sausage, I'm addicted to some smoked cheeses (braided mozzarella, oh yes!), and I would actually enjoy the smell on my fingers after cleaning a smoked fish.

So after my friends bought a simple electric smoker and started smoking trout in their backyard, I come to their place more often now. And, after a few successful cookouts, I wanted a toy of my own. And of course my had to be the real thing, charcoal. About the same price, twice the headache. That's my way.

Got it for about $40 in Home Depot, spent a whole afternoon assembling some 50 pieces of fine Chinese craftmanship that didn't really fit together - and now it works!

It's basically a metal cylinder on legs, and on the inside wall of the cylinder there are little shaky metal supports that hold the bowl for the charcoal on the bottom, the water bowl above it, and two grills for the food. If you remove the water bowl and put one of the grills right over the charcoals, it can be used for grilling. The thing is topped with a lid with a termometer that doesn't have numbers, but "low", "ideal" and "hot", so it's useless, need to replace it. The ventillation is provided by holes and gaps in the construction. Cheap and simple gadget, just the way it should be for this ancient cooking method.

I've already used my smoker to barbeque pork ribs and to smoke-roast beef.
Now it's time for fish.

I like to buy fish in Oriental markets, they have the best selection, including some exotic seafood, and it's usually much fresher than in your local supermarket. However, since I moved to Marin, getting fresh fish is not easy anymore. There is not a single Oriental market in the entire Marin county. There are bridges to cross, and traffic on the bridges, so if I plan to buy fish I have to remember to bring a cooler, and then go straight home, and fast.

This week it all came together nicely (lots of planning over the weekend), and I am the happy owner of a whole farmed salmon trout, a large sturgeon steak, and a couple of pounds of frozen sardines.

The sardines are not in season, but these ones defrosted so nicely (in the fridge, covered) that they almost looked alive!

There is no precise recipe for smoking fish, because all smokers are different, conditions affect the proccess a lot, and yes, we all have very different tastes when it comes to smoked fish.

What I did is this:

Brine the salmon trout and the sturgeon steak in the brine made of 8 cups of warm water, 3 Tbsp. kosher salt, 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, and a handful of Key limes, juice and rinds. Refrigerate for 4-5 hours. Remove from brine, rinse and dry with papper towels.

Defrost and clean the sardines. Rub them with a little kosher salt, leave for a few minutes, rinse and dry with paper towels.

Lite charcoal in the smoker. I used hardwood lump charcoal from Home Depot, about 1/4 of a bag. Pour approximately 2 Qt. of hot water in the water bowl, and try to set the bowl in the smoker without burning yourself with either fire or water. Brush the fish and the grills with oil (I used grapeseed oil), arrange fish on the grills, and place into the smoker. Close the lid.

Add a handful of applewood chips to the charcoal to create smoke. Add more chips every 30 minutes or so (when the smoke stops coming out).
If I were to trust the little termometer, my smoker never went higher than between "low" and "ideal". It was hot, however, and the big fishes registered the internal temperature of 140F after 3 hours. Sardines I took off the grill earlier, after 2 hours.

Sardines came out on the dry side but not overly dry, the flavor concentrated and blended with the smoke wonderfully. Eat them with your hands, right off the bone (little bones are edible), or fillet them and toss with a salad or pasta.

The sturgeon is firm but still very oily. Next time I'll smoke the flesh only, and save the skin and cartilage for an excellent soup. After smoking the trimmimgs had be discarded, the strong smoky flavor is great for the flesh, but it's probably too much for the soup.

Almost forgot: I tossed a whole head of garlic, with the top removed, on the grill for the last hour of cooking. This scent is heavenly. I am making salad dressing with it.

Here the cold sturgeon fellet is served with sorrel and other greens from the garden, and a market tomato. The tart flavor of sorrel is perfect with the oily fish. Dressed with just a splash of good olive oil.

Added slices of boiled egg as an afterthought, for color and texture.


The salmon trout was perfect (and is, I had to freeze half of it, it's big).



Served the smoked salmon trout filet on top of the salad of Boston lettuce, tomato and avocado, with smoked garlic dressing.

Smoked garlic salad dressing
makes about 1 cup

1 head of garlic, smoked as described above, peeled
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp brown sugar
salt, pepper to taste
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper in a blender. Blend untill smooth. Add olive oil in small portions, blend in each portion. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

Scallops in Garlic Cream Sauce

Here is one of my "fast foods". It takes about 5 minutes, serious. Actually, since it takes 20 minutes to cook the rice, some planning is still required. Or serve them over a toast.

The key to getting sauteed scallops with a nice golden crust is to have dry scallops. "Dry" is a technical term here, it means that the scallops were not treated with a solution that makes them absorb water. Scallops sold frozen (or previously frozen) in the supermarket are usually treated, it makes them keep longer, gives them bright white color, and yes, increases weight. When you try to sautee them, they release their water and steam instead. Steamed scallops are great, but the golden crust is out.

I got my dry scallops in the sashimi section of Ranch 99 market, and they were light pink in color, had nice dry (not dried) surface, and were even not as expensive as the word "sashimi" implies.

To make scallops with garlic cream sauce, have the guests at table, rice ready on hot plates, and move fast.

Scallops with garlic cream sauce
for 2 servings

about 10 dry sea scallops
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp heavy cream
salt, pepper
2 tsp minced fine herbs, like parsley and chives

Heat oil and butter in a large sautee pan over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking.
Add the scallops, making sure they don't touch each other, and cook them without moving for about 90 seconds. Lift one with a spatula and see if the underside is a nice golden color. If the color is right, turn them over and cook on the other side, without moving, for one minute. Remove to a hot plate.
Reduce the heat to medium, sautee the garlic until it gets some color, about 30 seconds.
Add cream, salt and pepper, cook for about a minute to reduce a little, add back the scallops, toss them with the sauce, sprinkle with herbs, and serve over pasta, rice, or on toasts made of nice country-style bread.

The Refuge Pub in San Carlos

I will be back soon, I promise! Life is getting back to normal, I even started to spend some time at home, so the new food posts are on the way.

For now I just want to share a recent restaurant find. The Refuge is located in the downtown San Carlos and specializes in Belgian beer and European style charcuterie. The Old World wine list is small but represents a little of everything. The interior is low-key European looking, reminiscent of a bistro at a small train station somewhere in central France (except for the bathroom that is large and clean). And the patio is heated. Overall, a very good place to be on a rainy Saturday afternoon, especially if it happens to also be Valentine's Day.

Pictured is a plate of chopped chicken livers, duck rillettes and pastrami rillettes, served with olives, caperberries and grapes, slices of homemade bread, and crackers.

Christmas Duck, and Happy Holidays!

Hello, I missed you too, my dear reader, and now I am back, if only for a while. Not writing here for over a month does not mean that I wasn't cooking, with all the stress I've been going through lately (I'll tell you when it's over, OK?) I cooked even more than usual, if only

to distract myself from thinking, but had no mood to write. But it was the holiday season, too, so there's some good food to share, and today we'll share the duck dinner we did for Christmas.

On the menu:

- home cured olives marinated in olive oil with garlic and herbs

- roasted garlic and olive tapenade

- walnut bread (from the Farmers Market) with dipping oil

- roast duck stuffed with green apples and prunes

- mixed greens and goat cheese salad, orange vinaegrette dressing

- wild mushroom risotto

- cauliflower in cream sauce

And no, there was no room left for desert, as always.

The olives from my October 2008 post came out very nicely, so after taking them out of the brine and sorting them, I marinated the nice-looking ones in good olive oil with garlic, lemon slices, and herbs from my garden (every jar has a different set of herbs), and used the ugly ones to make a tapenade.

I happened to have a lot of ugly olives (made 3+ 150-gram jars of tapenade), and

of course they had to be pitted. You put a few olives on a cutting board and hit hard with another cutting board, then extract the pit with your fingers. Messy business! But totally worth it.

To roast garlic for the tapenade, take the outer skin off the head of garlic, separate it into cloves, but don't peel them. Cut just a little off the top of each clove to make peeling easier later. Wrap the cloves into aluminum foil with a few drops of olive oil. Roast in the oven at 375F for 35-40 minutes, or on the medium grill (here timing is trickier, you may want to unwrap the hot foil after 30 minutes to check donness). Ready garlic cloves will be soft but not mushy. Just squeeze the flesh out of the cloves and discard the empty skins.

For the fire-roasted pepper, blacken a red bell pepper over a hot grill, under the broiler, or on a gas burner, turning with tongs or two forks to char it on all sides. Place into a covered dish to cool. When cool anough to handle, peel off the charred skin and remove the seeds and the membranes, holding the pepper over a dish to collect the tasty juice. Don't wash - water will remove a lot of the flavor - and don't worry if some skin does not come off, just leave it on.

As you can see in the picture, this time I had not the usual duck from the Chinese market, but a very civilized duck from Safeway. It not only had it's head removed and the neck neatly stuffed in the cavity, but also a tiny pop-up termometer in the breast.

I actually was going to stuff it with buckwheat and mushroom stuffing, and serve caramelized apples on the side. Of course I found that I'm out of buckwheat when the stores were already going crazy before the holiday, and spending 2 hours in line for a pound of grains sounded so much like my Soviet past that I decided not to repeat the experience.

Luckily, I had carnaroli rice, so the apples went in the bird, while the mushroom risotto made the side.

Here are the recipes.

Roasted garlic and olive tapenade

makes about 2 cups

2 cups of black olives, pits in

1 head of garlic

1 red bell pepper

2 Tbsp capers

3-4 anchovy fillets (optional)

1/2 cup good olive oil

salt to taste

Pit the olives (don't worry about the shape, they'll be pureed later!). Roast the garlic, let cool, and squeeze out the flesh. Fire-roast and peel the pepper, cut into large chunks. Puree the olives, pepper, garlic, capers and the optional anchovies in a blender. I like to leave the tapenade somewhat chunky for interesting texture. Slowly mix in the oil, using a spoon. Do not blend, olive oil's flavor changes in the blender! Adjust the salt. If using the anchovies, you probably won't need any salt at all. Serve with country-style bread, or cover with more oil and store refrigerated for a couple of weeks.

Roasted duck with apples and prunes

2-3 servings

1 duck, washed, wiped dry, the innards, extra fat, and neck removed

3 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into segments

1 cup prunes, pitted

1/2 cup dried cranberries

salt, pepper

Roasting pan with a rack, large needle, kitchen thread, sharp carving knife

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Rub the duck generously with salt and pepper inside and out.

Place the apples, prunes and cranberries into the cavity, stitch the cavity closed.

Cut off the tips of the wings, or make small cuts in the breast skin and tuck the wing tips in to prevent burning. Make 2-3 shallow cuts in the skin of the breast and the legs.

Place the duck on the rack in the roaster and into the oven for about 1-1/2 hour, or watch the pop-up termometer. Remove from the oven, remove the stitches, scoop out the stuffing to be served on the side, carve and serve.

Do not discard the pan juices and fat. Leave them to cool, separate the fat and juice, store separately in the refrigerator for future recipes. Some people believe that duck fat is as healthy as olive oil, and it surely tastes gteat. Use it to sautee mushrooms or potatoes, to cover pate, or to make duck confit.

Or store the fat and reduce the juice to make souce for the bird.

Wild mushrooms risotto

2-3 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil or duck fat

1 cup of mixed mushrooms, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt, pepper

1 cup carnaroli or arborio rice

1/2 cup cheap white wine ($4 Pino Grigio from Trader Joe's is the best, and the leftover is drinkable too)

about 2 cups chicken stock (can be more or less, depending on the rice. If the rice takes more liquid than you have wine and stock, just add some water in the end)

2 Tbsp grated parmesan

3-4 drops of black truffle oil (optional)

In a straight-sided pan or a large saucepan heat the oil over medium heat. Sautee the onions and garlic for a few minutes to softem. Add the mushrooms and some salt and pepper. Sautee until the mushrooms are cooked and the juices evaporate, about 15 minutes. Add rice, stir to cover with oil and mushroom mixture, cook for a minute or two. Add the wine, reduce the heat to medium low, cook, stirring constantly, until all wine is absorbed. Start adding the stock (or water) in small amounts, stirring and adding more when the all liquid is absorbed. After about 20 minutes of cooking, try the rice. The grain should be cooked "al dente", a little firm in the center. Take off the fire, stir in parmesan. Adjust salt and pepper, if needed. Finish with a few drops of black truffle oil (optional, and don't overdo it!).

Cauliflower on cream souce

2-3 servings

1 medium head of cauliflower, separated into florets

1/2 tsp butter

salt, pepper

3 Tbsp sour cream

3 Tbsp mixed grated cheeses

Cook the cauliflower florets in salty water for 15 minutes, or until soft. Drain. Place into a buttered baking dish, add salt and pepper, spread the sour cream over the florets, sprinkle with the grated cheese, place into the oven with your duck for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Or bake in the preheated oven at 375F for 10 minutes.