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.

End-of-November market: apples, porcini, kale,...

This week's market looks almost like winter - the figs are gone, we still have grapes, but they are almost overripe, falling off the branch when you pick it up; we see the last of the tomatoes; peppers and eggplants are not as abundant as earlier in the season; on the other hand, there are various wild mushrooms, all kinds of cabbages and kales, and apples are at their peak. Oh, yes, and pomergranates, of course, but since I have this tree by the entrance, I am not interested.

So here is an omelette I made with sauteed porcini mushrooms, served with a salad of mixed greens (the stunning green and pink flowering kale is not just a nice accent, it adds taste and texture too) and walnuts. Salad dressing: juice of 1/2 orange, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, 2 Tbsp EVOO, sea salt, pepper .

Cavolo nero is also known as Tuscan kale. Some recipes suggest cutting the center ribs out of the leaves, I left them in.

Pasta with cavolo nero and prosciutto
for 2 servings

2 Tbsp EVOO

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch cavolo nero, washed, dried, and cut into thin strips

1/2 glass of cheap white wine

1 Tbsp pine nuts, dry roasted in a small skillet for a few minutes

4 slices of prosciutto, torn into pieces

salt, pepper to taste

5 oz spaghetti

grated parmesan, to serve

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large sautee pan, add garlic, cook stirring for a few seconds until golden and fragrant, don't let burn. Add cavolo nero, stir for a couple of minutes, add wine, reduce heat to low, cook for about 20 minutes, until soft. Add pine nuts and prosciutto, adjust the seasoning, keep warm.

Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in a large amount of salty water (the package usually says how many minutes to al dente). Remove spaghetti into the sauce, increase heat to medium, stir, adding some pasta cooking water if neccesary. Serve very hot, garnished with grated parmesan.
The hanger steak in this photo I marinated with a paste made from EVOO, salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, thyme and parsley for two hours, then grilled over very hot gas grill 4 minutes per side, let rest, then sliced very thin and added lemon shallot butter on top.

Braised cabbage + very simple apple tart

Here is what happened with the leftover cabbages from the previous post:
I had 1 baby white cabbage, 1/2 cauliflower, and 1 kohlrabi (without greens) left, and they made a nice large serving of braised cabbage, to eat with Molinari brand Italian sausages, grilled on medium gas grill for about 15 minutes.

If you like crisper bacon, after frying it, remove the pieces with a slotted spoon to a paper towel, leaving the rendered fat in the pan, then add the bacon back at the end of cooking. I didn't bother, and the bacon pieces were soft (but not mushy).

Braised cabbage with bacon and white wine
for 1 serving
2 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
1 baby white cabbage, cut into 8 segments
1 kohlrabi, peeled and sliced
1/2 cauliflower, separated into florets
1/2 glass cheap white wine
8 dried cherries
3 juniper berries, crushed
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
6-8 sage leaves
salt, pepper to taste
1 Tbsp minced flat-leave parsley, to garnish

Heat a deep sautee pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon pieces, fry until crisp. Reduce heat to medium, add cabbages, sautee in the rendered bacon fat for a few minutes, to color.
Add cherries, juniper berries, caraway seeds, sage, wine, salt and pepper; stir. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan, cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the cabbages are tender. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

And a very easy apple tart, made with crab apples from the farmer's market, and store-bought phyllo dough:

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Lightly butter a cookie sheet, line with 6 sheets of phyllo dough, overlapping the sheets, if needed, dot with a little more butter.
Wash apples, cut in halves, remove the centers (with a mellon baller or a teaspoon), slice into thin segments. Arrange the apples on top of the phyllo, leaving 1 inch border, if desired; dot with butter; fold the border over the apples. Bake for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine 3 tsp brown sugar and 2 Tbsp hot water in a small saucepan, stir to dissolve, bring to boil. A pinch of ground cinnamon can be added to the syrup, but the apples are so flavorful, really, they don't need anything. Spoon the syrup over the apple filling, reduce the oven heat to 325F, bake for 15 more minutes. Slice with a sharp knife or a pizza slicer, serve with your morning coffee, in the sunny garden.

P.S. I've tasted a few of the olives from http://verylowflyingcat.blogspot.com/2008/10/olives-home-curing-wish-me-good-luck.html today (I've been rinsing them and changing the brine once a week), and the bitterness is almost gone. Now I'll be packing them in jars with herbs, garlic, lemon, wine vinegar and olive oil, in different combinations. If anyone has a nice marinade recipe to share, knows a good way to preserve them, or has any idea how long they can be kept in the refrigerator, I'd appreciate your comments.

Another cabbage soup (or stew)

It's becoming really cold and dark here, the time for thick comfortable soups or stews. I don't know which one was this. I ate it with a spoon, so it's more like a soup.
It was inspired by the tiny white cabbages that I found on the market on Sunday.
They are super cute, and taste as sweet as they look. Other ingredients are kohlrabi, that look like green spaceships, and that my mom grows in flowerbeds for decoration (both the greens and the balb are good to eat) and cauliflower, and old favorite. If this were in Central Europe, this soup would deserve an accompanement of a baked pork shank or something similar. We eat light in California, so it's garnished just with bacon pieces and minced parsley. The vegetables were so fresh and naturally tasty that I decided against any spices, to show off these green gems as they were. Since the stock was already made with aromatic vegetables, the soup does not need addition of more than an onion.

Three cabbage soup
(for 2 servings)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely sliced
2 kohlrabi, balbs peeled and sliced and leaves thinly chopped
1 small head of cauliflower, separated into florets
2-3 mini cabbages, quartered, or 1/2 head of white cabbage, roughly chopped
2 cups beef stock
salt, pepper
4 strips of bacon, to garnish
1 small bunch of flat parsley, minced, to garnish

Heat oil in a deep sautee pan or a wide soup pot over medium heat, sautee the onion until soft and translucent. Add kohlrabi greens, stir for a few minutes to wilt. Add kohlrabi balbs, cabbage and cauliflower, stir, add the stock, cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until cooked.

On a dry nonstick skillet fry the bacon until crisp, remove to a paper towel and leave to drain the fat. Let cool. Wrap in a paper towel and crush with your hand or with a cutting board to crumble.

Serve the soup sprinkled with the bacon bits and parsley. Any medium-bodied red wine, or a bold Chardonnay, goes well.

Grilled Hanger Steak

I was very happy to find a hanger steak, aka onglet, at the farmers market, because this steak, that is similar to skirt steak, but much more flavorful, is never seen in the supermarket. It weighted just over a pound, a perfect size for two servings. The steak is shaped as a long narrow leaf, and has a seam running through the center. I carefully cut the seam out before cooking, using a sharp paring knife - my brother surgeon can be proud of me, I'm not totally hopeless! - and lightly pounded the meat with a rolling pin, to make it more uniform thickness.

There is a couple of tricks to know when cooking the onglet: first, don't overcook, or it can become very tough. This one I seasoned with sea salt and pepper, brushed on some olive oil, and grilled on my gas grill at 500F four minutes per side, then let it rest for some 5 minutes. The other thing is, it has to be sliced thinly against the grain, and the grain runs in a fan pattern from where the central membrane used to be, so you have to change the angle while slicing, and the slices come out different sizes.

Served with new potatoes, sliced, arranged in a buttered baking dish with salt, pepper, heavy cream, and shaved parmesan, and baked at 375F oven for 40 minutes, and a salad of assorted young mustard greens and wild arugula, my homegrown cherry tomatoes and pinenuts, mustard vinaigrette dressing. And a bottle of 2005 Bordeaux, of course.

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Here is more stuff from the market, and yes, I have to decide what to do with a pumpkin again. This time it's an acorn squash. Also found tiny crabapples, like the ones that used to grow behind our country house when I was little, grandma would make jam from them, and dad attempted making wine, like with any other fruit. These will go on tartlets. They are firm, sour, and very fragrant.