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Scallops Seviche (Ceviche)

I’ve been thinking about fish as spring approaches with particular attention to certain fish I avoid in the winter. I have known many commercial fishermen and am familiar with the difficult work they pursue in all kinds of weather. I don’t eat scallops often during the winter months simply because I know how tough the Atlantic can be in winter months. Scallops are something I can wait to enjoy in the Spring.

Here’s a scallop dish that is a great appetizer on a warm Spring day or as a luncheon dish served in the garden on a sunny Spring afternoon

The Seviche recipe we used for years was from Craig Claiborn’s NY Time’s Cook Book.
Moving to the West introduced us to some variety in the preparation that we especially enjoy

Scallop Seviche Mexican

Ingredients:

1 pound sea scallops chopped coarsely
Juice from 4 or 5 limes
2 tomatoes peeled, seeded, diced
1 cup finely chopped green onion
1 ripe avocado peeled and diced
¼ cup minced cilantro
2 tablespoons green chiles seeded & minced(optional)

Preparation:

Place scallops in a glass bowl
Cover with lime juice
Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for two hours till scallops become opaque
Drain and mix scallops with tomatoes, onion and avocado
Season with salt and cilantro to taste

Service:
Line small plates with lettuce and top with scallop mixture

Note: This dish can be prepared using a firm white fish instead of the scallops
The glass bowl is something we have always used and I am not completely sure why. Something to do with the acid of the limes-- it works well in the glass bowl so we continue to use it.

A Special Shepherd's Pie

Recipes for Shepherd's Pie often proclaim the quick and easy nature of the dish. For a St Patrick day celebration a little more than quick and easy should go into a Shepherd's Pie. This recipe has been in our house for years and we have made a few adjustments to make the original a bit easier but it is not exactly quick, easy and inexpensive. It is simply excellent.

Ingredients:

For the filling

2 lb boneless lamb shoulder cut into ½ inch slices
4 or 5 carrots cut diagonally into 1/3 inch slices
2 turnips peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
4 leeks ( white & pale green part) cut into ½ inch slices
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup beef broth
1 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 ½ tablespoons softened unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the Potato Topping:

2 lb baking potatoes
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Blanch onions for 1 minute then put in cold water. Drain-peel and trim
Wash leek slices in a bowl of water Change water and repeat several times
Dry lamb and season with salt and pepper
Place lamb and 3 tablespoons flour in a plastic bag-shake to coat
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet on med.high heat
Brown ½ the lamb for 8 minutes add 1 tablespoon garlic for final 2 minutes stirring
Set aside
Repeat with remaining lamb and garlic
Set aside
De-glaze skillet with white wine over high heat 1 minute
Add tomato paste stir until liquid is reduce by ½ about 4-5 minutes
Add all ingredients(lamb-vegetables-broth –water-salt& pepper)
Bring to simmer over med-high heat then remove from heat
Transfer ingredients to a baking dish and cover with foil
Place in a 350’ oven and braise for about 1 ½ to 2 hours
Stir a few times and season to taste with salt and pepper

Preparation of Potato Topping:

Peel and quarter potatoes
Place in pot and cover with cold water salted
Simmer uncovered until tender ( at least 25 minutes) Drain in colander
Bring cream, milk and butter to simmer in now empty potato pot over moderate heat
Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper
Put potatoes through a ricer into hot cream mixture- Stir to combine-cover & keep warm

Final Assembly and broil

Remove baking dish from oven- set aside uncovered
Place 1 ½ tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour in a small bowl and stir to a paste
Take about 1 cup of liquid from baking dish and bring to a boil in a small sauce pan
Add paste and whisk over heat in liquid until thickened ( 2 minutes)
Stir gently into lamb and vegetables
Spoon potatoes over lamb and vegetables and spread evenly with a fork
Place baking dish 3 inches under the broiler for about three minutes

Note—Keep an eye on the last step under the broiler. Pull the Shepherd's Pie when the potatoes are golden

This is not the time to take a break for a Guinness. A minute too much and the
Gold on the potato topping will be gone. Enjoy the Guinness along with the complements; you will receive, about the best Shepherd's Pie that has ever graced the table at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

Other notes: Rinse the leeks really well. FYI: The paste that is combined at the end to thicken the lamb & veggies is called "beurre manie" If your Irish Crowd is like mine they really won't care what it is called. They will be enjoying the dish and the Day.

I think the original recipe came from the, now gone,Gourmet Magazine to which we subscribed for many years.

Irish Stew

St Patrick’s day is a few weeks away so it is not too early to think about how to make the day a truly Irish Celebration. Everyone knows a little bit about this English missionary priest who went to Ireland and converted this nation of wild Irish pagans to Christianity.
The shamrock was used by St. Patrick to explain the difficult concept of the Trinity to pagan leaders.

The Irish may not be known for a delicate complicated cuisine but have some classic dishes that are appropriate dishes to be used on March 17th when it seems everyone seems to have a “bit of the Irish in them”. My grandparents immigrated from County Cork and one of the recipes that came with them was for an Irish Stew that is enjoyed at more times than simply St Patrick’s day.

Irish Stew

Ingredients:
3 pounds lamb shoulder-cubed
2 pounds Russet potatoes Generously cubed
5 medium onions quartered
3 large carrots sliced
6 stalks celery sliced
1 bunch parsley chopped
1 stalk dried thyme
2 quarts beef stock
12 ounces Stout
Salt & pepper to taste
1 ½ cups water
1 cup pearl barley

Preparation:
Cook the barley in water and 1 cup of the beef stock for 20 minutes –set aside
In a large pot
Season the lamb with salt and brown in oil- then set aside sprinkle lightly with flour
Saute onions carrots and celery with thyme for 3-4 minutes - add the stout and deglaze, then set aside- remove thyme sprig
Return lamb to the pot with the barley and enough stock to cover
Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer-cook for 1 1/2 hour
Add back the onions, carrots and celery with remaining stock
Add potatoes as the final layer of ingredients
Low Simmer till meat is tender (about 1 1/2 hours)
Check seasonings
Add parsley & cornstarch (mixed with 3 tablespoon water) and cook for several minutes to thicken.

Notes: We use Guinness Stout. I’m not sure what my Grand mother used
Make sure that you cut and dice the ingredients into sizable pieces. The long cooking would make small pieces soft and unappetizing. Some add rosemary to the herbs- your choice- not my favorite

Service: An Irish Skillet Bread goes well as does the more usual soda bread. A few bottles of the Guinness is an attractive beverage addition

Spam, Scrapple & Deviled Ham

In a conversation with a college classmate he interjected a few comments and questions about my Blog. With a questioning tone he asked if I remembered some of our youthful food favorites now that I was writing with an often healthful tone to my posts.

He stimulated the trip down memory lane by mentioning Spam as something he still sneaks into the house a few times a year. I confessed that I have done the same thing from time to time. I take a lot of criticism from my wife when I buy that small can about once every five years. I admit that I still enjoy that very rare trip down the Spam memory lane. I make sure that I do not review the ingredients and nutritional value. That might spoil the moment.

Joe then mentioned some of his youthful favorites which he smuggles into the house occasionally. Deviled Ham, Scrapple and Taylor’s Pork Roll were three other items of food contraband that are quietly brought home occasionally.

Those items were favorites of mine at in my youth, that time, distance, availability and nutritional pressure have eliminated their consumption in our house. The time factor is simple to understand. I have lived for decades during which I have been pleasantly indoctrinated to a sensible eating regimen in a household having a nutritional Czar running the kitchen.

Distance is another factor. I live 2000 miles away from Philadelphia, the center of fast food excellence where nutritional concerns are only accidentally encountered. My friend Joe is not burdened with my distance from Philly. He only lives 15 miles out of town.

My location near Boulder Colorado is an area where excess weight is almost a capital offense. Scrapple is probably considered an illegal substance and if available would hardly sell enough to warrant the space in the market. Taylor Pork Roll, a Trenton NJ specialty, is a past favorite I have not seen since I crossed the Mississippi.

The Deviled Ham is an item of particular interest. I haven’t had that on a Ritz cracker for at least forty years. I’m no longer sure what devils the ham, if I ever knew or cared. I’m not even sure if it is still available. Thinking about it almost has brought back a remembrance of the taste and how much I enjoyed opening that small can of spreadable bliss.

My old college friend has revived pleasant memories of youthful food favorites. I think that the conversation concerning the foods of our youth is a pleasant combination to serve on a snowy winter day. We didn’t even have to set a table.

I think I am about to make a quiet search of the markets to see if I can find and recreate a dangerous moment or two of enjoyable food memorys. This will be a time travel experiment back to years ago when we were only concerned with the taste and not calories, fat content and cholesterol levels. I know that there will be questions raised concerning my apparent loss of good sense and apparent lapse into some form of senile dementia. I’ll take the gaff and see if Deviled Ham is as good as the memory.

Gluten Free Pizza

This post could also be called: Confessions of a Pizza & Pasta Eating, Hoagie Loving, Cheese Steak fan from Philadelphia.

Several years ago when a family member was opening his Pizza restaurant in Boulder I got involved in a conversation about his proposed menu. The menu outline contained an item called Gluten Free Pizza with Dairy Free Soy cheese as an option.

My astute opinion was offered concerning these items. I told him he was complicating his operation by offering a pizza item that nobody would order. I told him that people who had wheat problems would never even come through his door.

Luckily he ignored my advice and put the Gluten free pizza on the menu. He now sells a ton of this pizza. He was the first to offer the product in the Boulder market and has an appreciative faithful audience even though other pizza places are now adding a gluten free offering. I’m not convinced that all those ordering a gluten free pizza have a wheat problem but those that do are especially grateful. Many of those folks have not been able to sit down with family to enjoy a pizza on a Friday night as do millions of Americans.

Gluten free items are extending beyond pizza. I saw a store window with a poster featuring gluten free beer. Gluten Free products are sweeping across the country.

I digress a bit so, lets get back to the pizza. Gluten free pizza is not exactly like a South Philly pizza but serves a need for an important audience. Those who have a serious wheat allergy should take some precautions when ordering a Gluten Free pizza in a pizza joint also serving typical pizzas.

1. The Gluten free pizza must not be cooked on an oven deck that is used for wheat pizzas.

2. The sauce needs to be applied from a container used only for gluten free and has its own ladle. A ladle that has been used on a normal pizza all night will not be good practice. That ladle will carry flour into the sauce and defeat the gluten free option.

3. The pizza maker cannot be the one who does gluten free. If you wonder why, just check out the floured hands and apron of a pizza maker.

4. Gluten Free preparation needs to be segregated in the kitchen from the flour laden area where pizza is hand tossed.

Taste of a gluten free pizza can be improved by the addition of certain toppings. Salty and hot spicy toppings help a lot. Green olives, anchovies, marinated artichoke hearts and jalapeños are some likely candidates.

Real whole milk mozzarella instead of dairy free imitation cheese is a big taste enhancer. If you have both a wheat and dairy problem learn to love anchovies.

A pizza crust of any description serves as a plate for the toppings. If you need gluten free, concentrate on the meal being served on that crust. You are now able to join the family pizza party and maybe even bring along a six pack of that Gluten Free Beer.

Enjoy the party!

The photo is from a Celiac oriented site with good information for those with wheat problems.

Vanilla- Not Jusy Plain

Vanilla is the addition to pastry, cakes and sweet things that often makes them special. I wonder how something like vanilla happens and winds up in my cupboard with such an important place in so many things that we bake.

Vanilla comes from a tropical vanilla orchid and is thought to have first been used by the Aztecs. They added vanilla to their hot cocoa drinks. It was not much different from the way news of interesting food items spreads today. Vanilla was soon being used in baking and in sweet drinks in far flung cultures with little connection to the Aztecs.

I suppose that the Spanish Conquistadores took vanilla and vanilla orchids back to Spain where it’s use expanded rapidly. As with other food related items discovered in the “New World" trade moved vanilla around much of the known world. The growth of world trade after Columbus, can be tracked by the appearance of food items around the world that were found by explorers in the Americas

There are now artificially created vanilla products on the grocery shelves but there are none that compare to the natural product. Marcy Goldman is a source for vanilla information from whom I have liberally extracted much information. Marcy has tracked what she believes are the sources of the finest vanilla available. Those premier vanilla sites are Reunion Island (off the coast of Madagascar), Tahiti, Uganda and Veracruz Mexico.

Since about 1840 the pollination of vanilla orchids has been done with a bamboo stick . This technique has minimized the bees pollination requirement and has stabilized production. The weather and labor costs involved have made vanilla one of the most expensive of flavor sources. The cost is a secondary consideration when the natural goodness of vanilla becomes part of your baked treats.

I do not pretend to have the expertise to rate the various vanilla blends but do know one important part of using vanilla. Do not use an artificial, man made product. Only use the natural vanilla extract. Your baked goods will know the difference as will those who are enjoying your baking effort.

Marcy Goldman was a valuable source of the vanilla information used in this post. She is the author of The New Best of Better Baking.com and a Passion for Baking( Oxmore House-2007)