The Minimalist, Proscuitto and Eggplant Wrapped Cod and Chorizo Rice
The Minimalist, Mark Bittman's weekly column in the New York Times, is a worthy source of good, straightforward recipes. His creations are perfect for new cooks or people in a rush.
In my opinion most all his recipes suffer the fate of nearly all "quick cooking" approaches - yes they are better than most people's scratch cooking. Sure they are fast to prepare. In Mark's case, they usually are takes on classic recipes. They're certainly far better than nearly all prepared foods. But they suffer in complexity and depth.
What on earth does that mean?
Great cooking is very often the results of two, three or four flavors or flavor transformations. This requires either multiple techniques or multiple ingredients, each of which contribute to the finished result - which - to use the age old phrase - results in a final dish that is greater than the sum of it's parts.
From the mid-1970's to the mid/late 1990's, Pierre Franey published a weekly column, also in the New York Times. It too addressed the needs of the busy weeknight cook. His creations shared in the The 60-Minute Gourmet
met and exceeded all the criteria described above. Since all his dishes were essentially founded in classic French technique, he did no lose the multi-layer flavors, despite simplifiying most techniques.
Further, in his 60 minutes, he provided a two or three course menu, not simply one dish.
The biggest knock on his column/recipes is that one needed to be a fairly proficient cook to really be able to make them in an hour. But - like Rachel Ray (same criticism on 30 Minute Meals - you really need to know what you're doing to meet that time limit) - if you are competent, organized (full mise en place) and undistracted (are there three kids running underfoot?) - if all of these requirements are met - you can make a fabulous meal in right about that one hour window.
I think his book Cuisine Rapide
is the best representation of his style. As compared to the original two volumes of collected recipes, these recipes are slightly more up to date. They still include a bit too much cream and butter for our current palate, but those quantities can be easily cut back and the recipes still work. I highly recommend grabbing a copy. Though out of print, it's easily obtained online, even new.
This week, Mark offered Proscuitto wrapped Halibut with Pesto. OK, not a bad dish for a quick effort on a Wednesday night. All I needed to do was to replenish my pine nut supply and find some fish. There were no high quality white fish available (Sea Bass, Halibut, etc) so I settled for cod. It would be a little tougher, but as long as cod is not overcooked it too can be almost buttery (and sublime).
But when I got home, quite late, I didn't really feel like going out in the dark to cut basil from the herb garden, and I knew that a simplistic pesto would just be, well, OK. I happened to scan my fridge and saw a jar of marinated eggplant, flavored with mint and capers, leftover from the last weekend's dinner. I knew I had my improved dish.
In my opinion most all his recipes suffer the fate of nearly all "quick cooking" approaches - yes they are better than most people's scratch cooking. Sure they are fast to prepare. In Mark's case, they usually are takes on classic recipes. They're certainly far better than nearly all prepared foods. But they suffer in complexity and depth.
What on earth does that mean?
Great cooking is very often the results of two, three or four flavors or flavor transformations. This requires either multiple techniques or multiple ingredients, each of which contribute to the finished result - which - to use the age old phrase - results in a final dish that is greater than the sum of it's parts.
From the mid-1970's to the mid/late 1990's, Pierre Franey published a weekly column, also in the New York Times. It too addressed the needs of the busy weeknight cook. His creations shared in the The 60-Minute Gourmet
met and exceeded all the criteria described above. Since all his dishes were essentially founded in classic French technique, he did no lose the multi-layer flavors, despite simplifiying most techniques. Further, in his 60 minutes, he provided a two or three course menu, not simply one dish.
The biggest knock on his column/recipes is that one needed to be a fairly proficient cook to really be able to make them in an hour. But - like Rachel Ray (same criticism on 30 Minute Meals - you really need to know what you're doing to meet that time limit) - if you are competent, organized (full mise en place) and undistracted (are there three kids running underfoot?) - if all of these requirements are met - you can make a fabulous meal in right about that one hour window.
I think his book Cuisine Rapide
is the best representation of his style. As compared to the original two volumes of collected recipes, these recipes are slightly more up to date. They still include a bit too much cream and butter for our current palate, but those quantities can be easily cut back and the recipes still work. I highly recommend grabbing a copy. Though out of print, it's easily obtained online, even new. This week, Mark offered Proscuitto wrapped Halibut with Pesto. OK, not a bad dish for a quick effort on a Wednesday night. All I needed to do was to replenish my pine nut supply and find some fish. There were no high quality white fish available (Sea Bass, Halibut, etc) so I settled for cod. It would be a little tougher, but as long as cod is not overcooked it too can be almost buttery (and sublime).
But when I got home, quite late, I didn't really feel like going out in the dark to cut basil from the herb garden, and I knew that a simplistic pesto would just be, well, OK. I happened to scan my fridge and saw a jar of marinated eggplant, flavored with mint and capers, leftover from the last weekend's dinner. I knew I had my improved dish.
- Prosciutto and Eggplant Wrapped Cod
- Chorizo and Mushroom Rice
For the fish: Heat oven to 450. On top of the marcal paper used by the deli to separate the proscuitto slices (or waxed paper or saran wrap), lay down three proscuitto slices, overlapping them slightly. Place 3-5 eggplant slices in a line down the the center. Grate a good quality parmesan over the eggplant then center a fish filet across this base. Add a little salt and pepper, then wrap the proscuitto slices around the fish, using the paper to compress the bundle. Melt butter in a small skillet over moderately high heat. Saute for 1 minute, turn fish and turn off heat, while fish packets get 1 more minute in skillet. Place skilled in oven for 4-5 minutes, until fish is cooked through depending on thickness of fish.
For the rice: Saute about 3/4 pound of chorizo in a heavy pot. Remove chorizo and leave 1-2 T of drippings in pot. Saute onion and crimini mushrooms in the chorizo "oil". Add 2-3 T fresh oregano or 1T dry. Add S&P, rice (arborio or short grain is best) and chicken stock. Cover and cook for 17 minutes on lowest heat. Add cooking time if not all liquid has been adsorbed, but don't allow it to get dry. Add reserved chorizo.
Oh - the fish was pretty darn good - worth making again. And re-using that delicious eggplant was an approach worth repeating. The rice? It gets an official AWESOME rating.
Herbal Harvest
It never really is fall in Houston; it gets less hot, fog shows up more often and a couple trees change color and drop leaves. The less hot part is what we really savor around here after 4-6 months of blistering heat. One of the great side effects of our extreme weather is that we end up with pretty robust herbs. Our herb garden is active almost year round, filled with sage, oregano, chives, rosemary, thyme, basil, lavendar, parsely, mint, cilantro and bay. Maybe a couple more are out there I didn't remember.
With the weather breaking, we had this menu last night to celebrate my sister and niece visiting from Chicago.
- Goat cheese with olives, thyme and lemon
- Roasted eggplant with capers and mint viniagrette
- Grilled herbed chicken (grilled plain chicken for my picky kids)
- Haricot vert, roasted peppers and capers in viniagrette
- Fingerling potatoes with garlic and oregano
- Mascarpone filled cake with sherried rasperries and blackberries
- Update: Green Grape Sangria - I forgot about one of the crowd favorites!
Most of these recipes came from or were adapted from the July 2008 Gourmet magazine. However some recipes (sangria) do not appear to be online.
Winners:
- Goat cheese - simple, obvious, great proportions
- Eggplant - use the Batali technique of salting then pressing the liquids out of the eggplant slices and it's a winner.
- Cake was ultra simple and could be modified to many other effects. WAs pleased that I could add a dessert without having to invest any significant time.
Losers:
- None. But the chicken could have been more heavily herbed.
Pete's 80th Brithday - Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo
Shrimp and Crab Gumbo
Since this dish is being served to 50 peope with an average age above 70 years old, it needs to stay on the mild side. Also, for budget reasons, I've replaced my usual crabmeat with savory chicken thighs.
2 lbs shrimp, shells reserved
3 4 C water
10 black peppercorns
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery
1 bay leaf
1 lb Andioulle sausage. sliced into coins
1.2 lb tasso or smoked ham,cut into small cubes
3 lbs chicken thighs
4 large cloves garlic,sliced
1 C onion, chopped
1 C green pepper, chopped
1 C celery, chopped
1 lb okra, trimmed and sliced
1 C crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 T cayenne pepper
Worchestershire sauce
2 T cornstarch
Lemon slices
2 C rice, such as basmati, cooked
Scallions
1. Shell shrimp, placing shells in a stock pot with water, approx 10 peppercorns, onion, celery and bayleaf. Add salt. Simmer 15-30 minutes. If reduced below 3.5 C, add more water. Reserve.
2. Brown sausage, creating crispy browned edges. If over browned slightly, this is good. Add ham and warm through, scraping brown bits from bottom of pan. Remove and set aside.
3. Brown chicken thighs until almost cooked through. When cool, chop into bit sized pieces or strips and set aside.
4. Saute onion, garlic, peppers and celery in olive oil, scraping bottom of pan, until wilted. Add okra and cook until it turns from pale to darker green, about 4 minutes.
5. Add tomatoses, bayleaf, reserved shrimp borth, cayenne and worchestershire to taste. Return meats to pan and bring to a boil.
6. Mix 2 T cornstarch and 1/4 C water. Add to pot.
7. Add shrimp and lemon slices and simmer until shrimp is cooked through.
Serve over rice with chopped scallions. Crusty, toasted bread is also a good accompaniament.
Since this dish is being served to 50 peope with an average age above 70 years old, it needs to stay on the mild side. Also, for budget reasons, I've replaced my usual crabmeat with savory chicken thighs.
2 lbs shrimp, shells reserved
3 4 C water
10 black peppercorns
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery
1 bay leaf
1 lb Andioulle sausage. sliced into coins
1.2 lb tasso or smoked ham,cut into small cubes
3 lbs chicken thighs
4 large cloves garlic,sliced
1 C onion, chopped
1 C green pepper, chopped
1 C celery, chopped
1 lb okra, trimmed and sliced
1 C crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 T cayenne pepper
Worchestershire sauce
2 T cornstarch
Lemon slices
2 C rice, such as basmati, cooked
Scallions
1. Shell shrimp, placing shells in a stock pot with water, approx 10 peppercorns, onion, celery and bayleaf. Add salt. Simmer 15-30 minutes. If reduced below 3.5 C, add more water. Reserve.
2. Brown sausage, creating crispy browned edges. If over browned slightly, this is good. Add ham and warm through, scraping brown bits from bottom of pan. Remove and set aside.
3. Brown chicken thighs until almost cooked through. When cool, chop into bit sized pieces or strips and set aside.
4. Saute onion, garlic, peppers and celery in olive oil, scraping bottom of pan, until wilted. Add okra and cook until it turns from pale to darker green, about 4 minutes.
5. Add tomatoses, bayleaf, reserved shrimp borth, cayenne and worchestershire to taste. Return meats to pan and bring to a boil.
6. Mix 2 T cornstarch and 1/4 C water. Add to pot.
7. Add shrimp and lemon slices and simmer until shrimp is cooked through.
Serve over rice with chopped scallions. Crusty, toasted bread is also a good accompaniament.
Another Tuna and Pasta Dinner
Well, Tuna was on sale this week, and Nora likes it alot, so I went back to an old favorite from Cuisine Rapide, and then did a variation also from CR for some vegetable and shrimp pasta.
- Grilled Tuna with Garlic, Lemon and Thyme, Cuisine Rapide
- Buccatini with Shrimp and Vegetables
- Marinated Grilled Vegetables - Mario Batali advertisement in May 2008 Gourmet
The Tuna is a solid standby dish. Marinate the tuna in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic and thyme sprigs. Grill with as much thyme and garlic still adhered to the steaks.
More on those marinated vegetables sometime soon. They're to die for, but require a bit of an explanation. The first of which this is the ONLY recipe from an advertisement that I've ever made.
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