Beneath the hard exterior he’s a total softie

From May to July, you often see soft-shell crab on special at restaurants. It’s during this time that the blue crabs of the Atlantic are molting – that is, shedding their hard shells so that they can grow larger. Within four days the crabs’ shells begin to re-build, so it’s during that window that you want to get your hands on some tasty soft-shells.

Growing up, my mom was always gaga about soft-shell crab, but the idea of crunching your way through SHELL just did not appeal to me. Anytime it was on the menu at our favorite Japanese place, she was all over it. I didn’t mind because it just meant I got more tempura.

Since then, I’ve tried soft-shell crab at restaurants a few times and found that most of the crunch comes from the frying and they’re actually delicious. Having never attempted to make them at home, while at the fish shop selecting a fresh catch for date night on Monday, the little crabs caught my eye. They were 6 for $10. My monger friend said to simply coat them in a bit of egg and flour and fry them. The thought of anything deep-fried really gets my oil bubbling, so instead of a nice piece of fish I went with the soft-shells. Fish will be there next week.

He offered to clean them for me, which I happily accepted. I brought them home on a bed of ice and then we got to work coating them in egg and flour and then dropping them into hot oil.

While my husband oversaw the frying process (flip them once, when they’re golden brown they’re done), I got to work on an appetizer that made use of a leftover piece of steak. Our friend Kevin says you can keep a cooked piece of steak in the fridge up to 5 days. Thanks, Kevin. This one had been in there nearly 4, and nothing looked or smelled off. We decided to slice it really thin and place the slices inside some Belgian endive boats with peanut sauce and julienned basil.

These appetizers were so tasty that I can’t wait to make them again. Here’s what I put in the peanut sauce. It was pretty freestyle, so these measurements are approximate. I just opened up the cupboard and started adding.

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

½ teaspoon sesame oil

½ teaspoon olive oil

½ Tablespoon brown sugar

½ teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 clove garlic, ½ Tablespoon fresh ginger, pinch of chili flakes – blended in a mortar

¼ – ½ teaspoon of Sriracha chili sauce

Nothing about this meal was particularly lunch-worthy, except for the wild rice we made on the side (did you know brown/wild rice basically triples in size when it’s cooked? I didn’t) which has gone to work with my husband three times now. Somehow I don’t think that’s what he had in mind when we talked about scaling back the sandwiches…

Gnocchi all Sorrentina

Last August we spent two blissful – and very hot – weeks in Italy. For three nights we stayed in a tiny town called Seiano, outside of Sorrento, on the Gulf of Naples. Our somewhat remote 5-star hotel had a one-Michelin star restaurant, meaning when we got hungry we hiked it to the Trattoria “La Nave” up the road. One night we brought in a pizza and beers to enjoy the view of Mt. Vesuvius from our patio and had to march it through the lobby right past the restaurant’s  fancy lineup – Scusi!

The following day we went back for a late lunch. The potato “dumpings” on the menu had caught my eye and I wanted to experience gnocchi Sorrento-style.  They came swimming in a thick, spicy tomato sauce packed with big chunks of bufala mozzarella. Much to the owner’s disappointment, I was only able to put a small dent in the dish, following appetizers of prosciutto and melon and caprese salad. Nevertheless, it was divine.

Friday night I took my third and final piece of frozen gnocchi dough out of the freezer so that I could make it the next night.  Saturday morning, though, we made dinner plans with friends. There was only one thing to do with that thawed ball of dough. I dumped about a cup of flour onto the counter and immediately began rolling out gnocchi’s. We set a big pot of water to boil and got out our other ingredients: tomato sauce (leftover from pizza night) and fresh soft mozzarella (also leftover from pizza night).

As the gnocchi cooked (3 minutes per batch – I broke it into four batches to avoid sticking), I heated the tomato sauce on medium in a small saucepan. Once the sauce was very warm I transferred the gnocchi to it, and at the end added a large handful of the soft mozzarella, cut into small chunks.

Breakfast was served! Gnocchi all Sorrentina.

A note about tomato sauce:

For this recipe and for the pizza, I used Pomi marinara sauce. Generally we like to make our own tomato sauce – and I encourage you to do the same – but this Pomi marinara is delicious and particularly handy for times like when you’re making pasta for breakfast.

Empanadas

It was in Central America that I first discovered the empanada. I can’t remember where I was exactly but I think it was somewhere in Costa Rica. I needed a quick snack and there they were: rows and rows of small servings of beef or chicken perfectly contained in puff pastry. I took my first bite, and ooh, what was this? A rasin? And next, a piece of egg? An olive? All these sweet and savory surprises! I couldn’t handle it. I went to town. From that day forward, any opportunity to put back an empanada was not wasted. Sometimes they came deep fried, other times in a non-pastry dough. They were always cheap, though, and always delicious. The day we nearly missed a bus more because I had to have one (or three) it was confirmed: I had gone loco for empanadas.

Following the trip, I thought about empanadas a lot. Sausage rolls didn’t cut it. Samosas were the right idea but the wrong flavors. I was delighted to discover that there was an empanada restaurant in Toronto, Jumbo Empanadas, but true to its name, these empanadas really were jumbo and subsequently costly. The thrifty baker in me said I could probably make a dozen of these for the price of one or two! So that’s what I did.

About.com has a number of different dough recipes so I tried a few and finally settled on a pretty basic slightly sweet one. I use butter in place of shortening and it works just fine.

You can pretty much fill an empanada with anything you want. This week I went with a basic ground beef. I chopped half an onion and two cloves of garlic and then added a hit of cayenne, chilli powder and lots of ground black pepper.

I start by making the dough because it has to rest for an hour before it’s rolled out. I then cook the beef or whatever other filling I am using. I hard boil one or two eggs and set out my olives and rasins. You don’t have to include the egg, olive or rasins but I think of an empanada as a tiny piñata and the little treats inside are my favorite part.

When the filling is done I let it cool down and begin rolling out my dough. You can make them pretty much any size. When I want to make them bigger, I cut around a bowl. When I want teeny tiny appetizer sized ones I’ll use a glass or a pastry round. No matter the size, when they’re ready to bake they’ll need about 25 to 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Spoon out the filling, fold over the circle and begin braiding the edge. I use a little water to help seal it. If you have a lot of filling and are at risk for over flow you can also skip the braid and seal it using water and a fork. Adding an egg wash will make your empanadas look pretty and professional.

I didn’t do a very good job on the braid or the egg wash this week. But were they any less delicious? If you said yes, you’d be wrong.

The leftover empanadas are easy to take for lunch the next day.  If you’re like us and get through them all in a day or two it’s not even necessary to put them in the fridge. We keep ours in a sealed container on the counter.

Just Liv’er

Why is it that I find the idea of eating chicken livers to be truly disgusting, and yet will order pâté, terrine or rillettes without hesitating? These treats are teeming with protein from all kinds of livers and other animal parts, but rather than contemplate their origins I prefer to thinking of them simply as delectable meaty spreads.

So “mmm this pork one is really good” it what I said the other night when we picked up a piece of pork rillettes from Dickson’s Farmstand Meats at the Chelsea Market. We also got a slice of duck terrine.  I had so enjoyed my Assiette de Charcuterie from la Bergamote Patisserie the week before – featuring Pâté de Campagne, prosciutto, ham and cornichons – I was eager to recreate the meal at home.

The Chelsea Market gets busy on a sunny Saturday afternoon, so I waited in line at Amy’s for a crusty baguette while my husband poked around The Lobster Place. We ended up with a small container of fresh cooked crab from there, and then hightailed it home to go get our mini-sandwich on.

We had a number of sandwich ingredients already in the fridge. As I sliced baguette, cucumber, avocado and cheese, he got to work on a crab salad (crab, avocado, cucumber, mayo, bread crumbs, salt and pepper). We set everything out on a few plates – including the rillettes, terrine and some other soft cheeses – and went to town.

As per previous posts, my favorite meals are ones where I get to mix and match little tastes of all sorts of different things. The addition of the cornichons (mini French gherkins) took it to the next level for me, proving that I can live out my fantasy of living in the French countryside right here in midtown Manhattan.

For any of you for whom the idea of liver is so gross you refuse to try pâté or terrine (or fois gros, while we’re on the subject), you are missing out. Next time the opportunity arises, have a taste. Don’t think about it, just close your eyes and liv’er!

I “can Toulouse”

One summer in Toronto I began a campaign to “Bring Paris to me”. I couldn’t travel to France and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to. I just wanted to go about my days eating croissants, sipping café au lait and experiencing joie de vivre instead of job dissatisfaction and career anxiety. For the most part, the plan worked. I got a bike with a nice big basket on the front to fill with green beans and baguettes from the St. Lawrence Market. I quit the job that was giving me grief and started a lovely new one at Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. I let the cool summer breezes off Lake Ontario transport me to the banks of the Seine….

I still think about the Parisian lifestyle pretty regularly and I wouldn’t say I even have an accurate picture of it. My version is probably more Clermont-Ferrand. Either way, I still enjoy going from shop to shop adding my groceries to a canvas bag and coming home to try French dishes. “Barefoot in Paris” has been behind many of the delicious meals of 2010 so I only have Ina Garten (and Clarkson Potter/Random House Inc.) to thank.

On Tuesday I decided to attempt her vegetable tian, partly because I had all of the ingredients already – tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, onions, thyme, garlic and gruyere – and partly because it sounded really delicious.

It was simple enough to put together. First you cook two chopped yellow onions on the stove until translucent, add them to your baking dish and then layer ¼ inch thick slices of potato, tomato and zucchini on top.

The whole thing bakes, covered in foil, for 40 minutes. Then you take it out, remove the foil, add on the cheese and bake it again for another 30 minutes or so.

I thought it tasted good but lacked the wow factor. It kind of reminded me of a dough-less pizza. My favorite part was layering my circles and, of course, eating the grated Gruyere before adding it to the dish.

Last night’s dish was salmon with lentils. I urge you to try this recipe! The aim is to get a nice crispy crust on the salmon and although we were nervous about the directions, following them exactly yielded a near-perfect result. It helped that we started with a really nice piece of wild salmon.

Preparing the lentils was a bit of a labor of love. It felt like I had quadrupled the recipe there were so many, so consider halving it if you don’t want to end up with a ton of cooked lentils.

The fish is so quick and easy to cook that I would definitely be comfortable serving this to dinner guests. I’d make the lentils in advance because they took a long time to prep and cook. Or maybe it just seemed like they took a long time because I was hungry and tired from walking 17 km around Manhattan (Yup, I mapped my run).

Salmon with lentils was as easy on the eyes as it was on the palate. Even in Tupperware I dare say it looks magnificent.

Quick and easy: stuffed potato skins

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Bake a couple potatoes (1 to 1.5 hours).

3. Cut baked potatoes in half.

4. Gently scrape out potato goodness, trying not to rip the skin.

5. Mash potatoes with chives, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream/cottage cheese/butter/whatever you’ve got that’s tasty and a generous amount of salt and pepper.

6. Refill empty skins.

7. Sprinkle tops with grated cheddar.

8. Put back in the oven for 15 mins or until tops brown up. Use broiler if necessary.

9. Consume.