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Steamed Clams and Basil Pesto

I don't eat red meat for several reasons including environmental ones, but I do eat seafood. I always try to make good, environmentally-sound and healthy decisions about which seafood to choose. It's not always easy, and the news about which type of fish is a sustainable choice seems to change daily. So, I was thrilled to see this new book from Washington, D.C. chef Barton Seaver, For Cod and Country: Simple, Delicious, Sustainable Cooking, and I received a review copy. It acts as a guide to all the issues surrounding how to choose fish, and then it provides great ideas for turning those fish into meals. Seaver explains that the best way to work towards restoration of marine ecosystems is to support the fisheries that are working responsibly and enjoy the best choices we have with lots of seasonal vegetables. And, the book assists with just that. You won't find recipes for overfished species like bluefin and yellowfin tuna, but there are several ideas for other, sustainably caught species of fish. Since some fish are seasonal, the book is organized in sections from spring to winter with side dishes and sauces made from vegetables and herbs available at each time of year. There's also an additional section for all the types of seafood that are available year round. So far, I've tried the mussels with IPA and roasted garlic and the grilled okra with charred onion dip. Both were simple dishes with big flavors. Others I look forward to trying are warm poached salmon in red wine sauce, smoked sardines with mixed greens and fig-olive dressing, pumpkin and pear panzanella with pumpkin-seed vinaigrette, and the smoked salmon and goat cheese sandwich to name a few.

Since clams, as well as mussels and oysters, are a sustainably farmed option and are always available, and since my basil plants are still going strong, I couldn't wait to try the clams with basil pesto dish. Seaver prefers the sweetness in walnuts to the flavor of pine nuts for his basil pesto. So, walnuts were toasted, and then they were tossed in a colander to remove some of the skins. Another difference with this pesto was the choice of mostly canola oil with just a little added extra virgin olive oil. The two oils and some garlic were placed in a blender and pureed, and then basil leaves and walnuts were added and blended until smooth. Then, littleneck clams were steamed in white wine. When open, the clams were transferred to a serving bowl, the cooking broth was poured into a mixing bowl while leaving any sand in the pot, and the basil pesto and some butter were stirred into the broth to form a sauce. The sauce was poured over the clams, and toasted bread was served on the side. The flavors were bright and fresh, and we used the bread to capture every bit of the sauce.

The book includes plenty of information about understanding fishing methods and how to choose fish wisely and substitute better choices for those that are overfished. But mostly, Seaver's enthusiasm for sustainable seafood, healthy portion sizes, avoiding toxins in seafood, pairing seafood with seasonal vegetables, and just plain, old, delicious cooking, make this book all about truly enjoying the best of seafood.

See my review of For Cod and Country: Simple, Delicious, Sustainable Cooking and get this clams with basil pesto recipe at Project Foodie.

Cowboy Cookies

I have a hard time wrapping my brain around this, but my spin instructor actually complains about losing weight in the heat of the summer. Personally, I can’t imagine ever being unhappy about shedding an extra pound or two, but apparently for him, when it’s hot outside and he’s teaching several spin classes a week and can’t maintain his normal weight, it’s annoying. He dropped a hint about how since I do a lot of baking, some cookies might help with his weight loss issue. That sounded like a perfect trade-off to me. I go to him to burn calories, and he comes to me to consume calories. I used this opportunity to try the cowboy cookies from Baked Explorations, and I’m so glad to have gotten to know these particular cookies. After baking a batch and taking them to the gym, just a few days later, I was pulling out the book to bake them again for a birthday. It could have been the hint of espresso in the cookies that works wonders with the chocolate chunks, but really it was probably the salty pretzels that are stirred into the dough that made me like these cookies so much.

This is a cookie dough that needs to rest and firm up in the refrigerator, so you do have to plan ahead. The dry ingredients were whisked together, and those included flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Oats were then added to that mix. Butter was creamed with granulated sugar and dark brown sugar, and an egg, egg yolk, and then vanilla were added. Espresso powder was dissolved in hot water, and that was mixed into the butter mixture. The dry ingredients were stirred into the dough, and last, chocolate chunks and broken pretzel pieces were added. The dough was left in the refrigerator for about four hours. After scooping balls of dough onto the cookie sheets, more broken pretzel pieces were pressed into the top of each dough ball. The cookies baked for twelve or so minutes, and then I wanted to eat them all.

Crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, and slightly salty cookies work for me. Now, I’ll be looking for just about any excuse to bake these again. But, since I’m not in need of increasing my calorie intake, I guess I’ll have to find a way to attend some extra spin classes.

Healthier Piña Colada

I've always been fond of rum, and fruity, rum cocktails are delightful whether they come with an umbrella or not. The only, little problem, as I see it, with these kinds of cocktails is that they tend to have very high calorie counts. I used to make pina coladas at home from time to time, and they usually ended up being dessert. I would combine frozen pinapple chunks, some Coco Lopez cream of coconut, rum, and ice and blend until smooth. Served with a wedge of fresh pineapple and maybe a spoon if it was extra thick, it was always deliciously sweet. These days, I pay more attention to how many calories I'm consuming in beverages, so when I saw an idea for a lighter, healthier pina colada in the August issue of Living, I had to try it. The recipe isn't available online, but it's very easy as I'll describe below. For this version, rather than using cream of coconut with added sugar and stabilizers for maintaining a consistent texture, all-natural coconut water is used instead. The result is much less sweet, and the flavor is purely of pineapple and coconut.

I chopped a whole pineapple into chunks and placed the chunks in the freezer for a few hours. You don't actually need to freeze the pineapple, but it adds to the icy appeal. To make the cocktails, just add two cups of pineapple chunks, three quarters of a cup of pure coconut water, one half cup of ice cubes, one tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and one half cup of rum to a blender. Puree until smooth, and garnish with toasted coconut.

They were frothy and smooth and just sweet enough. Full of tropical flavors, this was just as fun as a traditional pina colada. And, with about a quarter of the calories, I can once again make these cocktails as often as I like.

Spicy Pappardelle with Summer Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Oregano

My books are like my kids or my cats since I don’t have children. You know what I mean. Picking a favorite just isn’t possible. Each one is special in its own way. But, when the others aren’t looking, I do sometimes point out a few that are maybe just a little bit extra special. Don’t tell them I said that. There are a lot of them. I can’t help it. One that I tend to favor is On Top of Spaghetti by Johanne Killeen and George Germon. It’s a book of nothing but pasta recipes, and pasta does make me very happy. I’ve cooked from this book many times, and I know that whatever I pick from its pages is going to be good. Whether it’s pasta with vegetables, tomato sauces, seafood, or baked pasta, the book has never let me down. It had been a while since I spent time with it, so I pulled it off the shelf a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for something light and fresh for summer. The head note to this recipe reads “this is as close to pasta salad as we get,” and that sounded perfect. I made a couple of small changes to the original ingredient list. Instead of using Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, I used some fresh, locally-grown habaneros, and since the oregano in my herb garden hasn’t survived our summer very well, I used fresh basil.

To begin, chop large tomatoes or halve cherry tomatoes as I did, and place them in a large bowl. Next, onion was minced and cucumbers were chopped, and both were added to the tomatoes. I seeded and finely chopped two habaneros rather than using pepper sauce. Then, olive oil, red wine vinegar, dried oregano, and salt were added. Fresh oregano was supposed to have been added in addition to the dried, but since my fresh oregano has about two leaves on the plant right now, I added fresh basil instead. The mix of vegetables and herbs with the oil and vinegar was set aside to allow the flavors to mingle and the onion’s sharpness to subside. Meanwhile, the pappardelle was cooked in boiling water and drained. It was then tossed with the vegetables and vinaigrette, more basil was added on top, and dinner was ready.

This isn’t intended as a chilled pasta salad. Instead, it’s a room temperature pasta dish with raw vegetables. But, it does end up being a lot of pasta which means we had leftovers. Pulling the pasta out of the refrigerator and letting it come up to room temperature before serving those leftovers worked well. The finely chopped habaneros distributed throughout all that pasta added just enough of a punch, and the layered flavor of the onion and dried oregano played well with the fresh tomato and cucumber. As it always does, this book delivered another great meal, not that I play favorites.

Chocolate Pear Cake

I know that I’m easily distracted, but sometimes that leads to very good things. The other day, I was thumbing through Donna Hay’s book Flavors looking for something, and now I don’t even remember what that was. As the pages of the chocolate chapter flipped by, I caught a glimpse of the gorgeous cake with halved pears nestled into it with a sticky, caramelly top. I had to know more about this cake. There were pears in my refrigerator that had just arrived from my CSA, and I always have cocoa powder on hand. It was entirely possible that I could go straight to the kitchen and make this cake. A quick scan of the ingredient list confirmed that I indeed had everything I would need. And, hence, off I went forgetting all about whatever it was that made me pick up the book in the first place. I’m sure I’ll think of it eventually, but for the time being, I was very happy to focus on this chocolate pear cake. It’s an easy, upside-down, fruit-filled cake with a built-in caramel sauce that ends up glistening on top and settling into the cored-out pears when the cake is turned out onto a platter.

You’ll want to use small pears, and the ones I had were just the right size. They should be peeled, halved, and cored. I use a melon baller to remove the cores from pears and then a knife to cut out any pieces of core that are missed on the edges of the pears. The pear halves were cooked in a skillet in a mixture of melted butter, brown sugar, and water. You’ll need to adjust the cooking time depending on how firm your pears are. They should soften some but still be able to hold their shape while baking. After a few minutes or so of cooking, the skillet was removed from the heat and set aside. A nine inch round cake pan was lined with parchment paper. Then, room temperature butter and more brown sugar were mixed, and three eggs were added one at a time. Flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder were sifted together and then stirred into the butter mixture. The pears were placed in the prepared cake pan cut-side down, and the buttery caramel was poured over them. The chocolate batter was spooned over the pears, and the cake baked for 50 minutes.

It’s suggested that the cake be served with cream, but I was very happy with it just as it was. With the fruit and caramel, the cake doesn’t stand a chance of becoming dry, and it didn’t last long enough to do so anyway. Chocolate, pears, and caramel were absolutely worth the distraction. Now, I should try to remember what I was looking for in the first place.

Smoked Salmon Burgers

You saw this coming, didn’t you? I couldn’t rave about those brioche hamburger buns and then not tell you about a burger. The fact is that, probably, just about any burger would be delicious with one of those buns. I know this because I’ve used one of those buns for a completely boring, frozen, garden burger and quite enjoyed it. But, that was a later use of a brioche bun. For their debut, I wanted to whip up something special in the way of a burger that would be truly worthy of them. Just when I finally decided to try making those buns, this salmon burger recipe was on the top of my to-try stack. I couldn’t ignore that kind of coincidence. The burger is from the June issue of Living magazine, and it’s made from fresh salmon fillets, cold-smoked or cured salmon, and dill. They’re quick to make and hold together well. If you’d like to grill them though, you might want to use a fish or vegetable tray on top of the grill rack just in case. And, if you choose to brown them in a skillet, they cook in just a couple of minutes per side.

The recipe calls for one pound of fresh salmon and two and a half ounces of thinly sliced smoked salmon. The fresh salmon is cut into large chunks which are chilled before being pulsed in a food processor. The goal is to chop the big chunks but not to a smooth state. The smoked salmon was finely chopped by hand and then stirred into the chopped fresh salmon. Last, chopped fresh dill was added, and the patties were formed. It’s suggested that four patties be formed from the salmon mixture, but since I was dealing with some rather large buns, I divided the mixture into three portions for a better fit. After heating a little oil in a skillet, the burgers cooked for a scant two minutes per side. They just begin to brown, and the salmon barely cooks through. They were topped with mustard and arugula.

The mix of fresh and cured salmon gave these burgers a nice mix of flavors which the dill accented well. And, chopping the fresh salmon just enough but not too much is the key to great texture. For three simple ingredients, they combined perfectly for a very worthy burger.

Brioche Hamburger Buns

I'm pretty excited about this. I finally made hamburger buns, and yes, that is exciting. I'd heard for years that Nancy Silverton's recipe for brioche buns was the best there is, and I put off trying it time and again. I had all sorts of excuses. These buns are a little bit decadent, they take a little time to make, and if my first test run turned out ok, I would need freezer space to store the extra buns. I finally got over the excuses, went for it, and couldn't be happier that I did. They were insanely good. I told you I was excited. The recipe is found in the Breads from the La Brea Bakery book, and that book has never disappointed. The buns are made from the raisin brioche bread dough recipe only you skip the raisins of course. It is a three-day process to make them, but not much work is involved on any of those days. The first day is for making the sponge with both sourdough starter and some yeast, and that sits for a day. The next day, the dough is mixed, and that again is left for a day to develop flavor while it ferments. Day three is for shaping the buns and baking, and the dough is so delightful to work with and smells so fantastic, you'll be happy to do this. The only change I will make next time will be to cut the dough into fourteen buns instead of twelve because even though they were shapely and kind of stunning at a nice, big size, they were a bit bigger than I expected for hamburger buns.

I did say this was a three-day bread, but it really was very easy. It only took a few minutes to mix the sponge made from water, yeast, sourdough starter, milk, and bread flour. It was covered and left at room temperature for about twelve hours and then placed in the refrigerator for twelve hours. The next day, the brioche dough was made. First, five eggs were whisked in a small bowl. Then, in the bowl of a stand mixer, the sponge was combined with half the eggs, more bread flour, and sugar. After mixing with a dough hook, the remaining eggs were slowly added. Once the eggs were incorporated, the mixer was turned to high speed, and this gives it a workout, and the dough was mixed until smooth. The stand mixer will move around from the weight of the dough, so don't walk away. Next, the fun, decadent part of brioche happens in which nine ounces of butter is slowly added piece by piece as the mixer continues at a slower speed. When the butter has all been worked into the dough, you remove the dough from the bowl and knead for a few minutes, and that's it for day two. The dough was placed in an oiled bowl, covered tightly, and left in the refrigerator to slowly ferment for a day. On the third and final day, the dough was divided into twelve pieces which resulted in rather big buns, and next time I will divide it into fourteen, but those twelve pieces of dough were left to rest under a towel for a few minutes. After resting, each piece of dough was formed into a smooth bun and placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Six buns fit on each of two sheets. The baking sheets were covered with towels, and the buns were allowed to proof for three hours. Before baking, I brushed them with an egg wash and sprinkled on black and white sesame seeds. They baked for a total of about 25 minutes with some water spritzing for the first five minutes.

These might be worth baking for the brioche aroma from the oven alone. But, who am I kidding? They were easily the most delicious things to sandwich a burger I've encountered. They have some give without being squishy and are easy to bite into when filled with a patty and toppings, and the flavor is all it should be with the butter, eggs, sourdough, and long, slow fermenting of the dough. Now I know, there's no need for excuses, and this is the bun I'll want for all future burgers.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.

Ginger Peach Muffins

Sometimes you know certain flavors go together well. Take peaches and ginger. They make a great match. There's ginger cookies served with fresh peaches, a little ginger in the whipped cream for peach shortcakes, and ginger and peach jam. It's a mix that works. But, every once a while, you come across a classic flavor combination done in a way that makes it even better than you knew it would be. The ginger and peach flavor mix in these muffins was a wow, like I'd never tasted it before. Freshly grated ginger is mixed into the batter along with chopped crystallized ginger, and fresh ginger is also added to a melted butter and honey syrup used to coat the peach slices that sit on top of each muffin. It could have been the one-two punch of fresh and crystallized ginger or maybe that peach season is winding down and I really wanted to savor these, but for simple muffins, these puppies caught me by surprise. They're from Good to the Grain which means they're also made with an interesting mix of flours in addition to the interesting flavor mix. Here, oat flour is combined with all-purpose and whole wheat flours for a very tender crumb and mild, nuttiness.

You start by grating lots of fresh ginger and letting that lovely fragrance start to fill your kitchen. A little of the grated ginger was added to a skillet along with butter and honey, and the rest was left in a mixing bowl. The butter and honey in the skillet was melted, and sliced peaches were added and coated with the syrup and then the pan was set aside. The dry ingredients were sifted together, and those included oat flour, all-purpose and whole wheat flours, sugar, dark brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, the wet ingredients were added to the remaining grated ginger including melted and cooled butter, whole milk, sour cream, an egg, and finely chopped crystallized ginger. Wet ingredients were mixed into the dry, and the batter was ready. In all the muffin recipes in this book, Kim Boyce recommends using only every other cup in a muffin pan. By leaving every other cup empty, the heat circulates well and the muffins rise better. I had learned of this trick from a different muffin recipe, and it really does work well. So, the batter was poured into every other muffin cup, each muffin was topped with two peach slices, and the syrup was spooned on top of the peaches before they went into the oven.

Of course they smelled amazing as they baked, and of course they looked pretty with the peach slices on top. There was no doubting that these were going to be good. I just had no idea how good. I thought I knew all about peaches with ginger, but it's nice to be taken by surprise like this.

Soy-Wasabi Spread

I know it sometimes seems like I cook from a different book every time I prepare something, but most of my books actually get a lot of repeated use. Sometimes I grab a book for reference if I’m making something similar to one of the recipes in it and want to check quantities. And, other times, I can’t seem to stop cooking from the same book. I’ve mentioned several dishes from Power Foods, and I’ve cooked a couple of additional things that didn’t make their way into posts for no fault of their own. Today, I have one more item from that book to share. The day we hiked at Pedernales Falls State Park, I knew we wouldn’t survive on granola bars alone. I also packed a picnic lunch including sandwiches, soy-wasabi spread, and cut vegetables for dipping. It’s true that we’d worked up an appetite for that meal, but the bowl of spread I left at home in the refrigerator was just as good the next day.

Making the spread is an easy matter started by boiling some frozen, shelled edamame and then draining it and placing it in a food processor. Also to the food processor, add some drained silken tofu, lemon zest and juice, Chinese hot mustard, wasabi paste, and salt. Taste after pureeing to decide if you’d like more wasabi or lemon, and that’s it. Garnish with black sesame seeds.

This is a light and flavorful spread brightened by lemon and given a wasabi kick. We used it as a dip for vegetables and pretzels, but I think it would be great on a sandwich or in a wrap too. I’ll probably move on to a different book next, but I’m sure I’ll pick this one up again before long.