Paris Observations

Some napkin scribbles from various Parisian bistrots:

• sliced fresh mushrooms, yoghurt, tarragon, lemon (Gaya)
• campari-pickled beets, razor clams, cheddar, puree (Gaya)
• a mashed potato with cantal (Gaya)
• Ventadour (Badoit-like water)

Squid Ink Spaghettini with Scallops & Bottarga

Assembled this tonight kind of ad-hoc, and came out quite good.

half pack squid ink spaghettini

EVOO

9 medium size fresh scallops, cut into quarters

bottarga--few tbls

garlic

parsley

chives (a quarter of amount of parsley)

fresh red chili

lemon

white wine

butter

sea salt

poudre de piment d'espelette (cayenne if you must)

1. saute garlic until golden, then add scallops & cook less than thirty seconds, stirring around
2. turn up heat just a tad, add splash of white wine to boil off alcohol, turn heat right back down, let sit, adding a couple thumbnails of butter, sea salt, half the chile, ppd'e
3. when pasta is ready, drain & add to pan, stir in with ingredients
4. add parsley, chives, remaining chili & bottarga, as well as another quick splash of EVOO & salt to taste
5. squeeze a bit of lemon right before serving

Properly Sauteed Mushrooms

After enjoying some sauteed mushrooms at Le Cafe Anglais several months ago, I emailed the chef, Rowley Leigh, to get the scoop on how he does this preparation (you can check out the FT for his weekly column/recipes). He gladly provided, pasted word for word here.

favorite mushrooms

EVOO--or milder one if preferred

chopped garlic

parsley

S&P

1. heat a frying pan very hot with a film of oil, add mushrooms
2. keep on a high flame until they start to yield some water
3. drain in a colander
4. heat pan again, add more oil, chopped garlic, then mushrooms, parsley & seasoning & that's it

Creamy Pesto Liguria Style

Liguria is the origin of pesto, so redundant to say "Liguria style". I think 90% of the time, we're not eating pesto Liguria style. Most of the pesto I had was creamy & puree-like rather than chopped/minced. I think key is to use LOTS of cheese in the mixture, including some stracchnio (cream cheese). Both a waitress in Santa Margherita and a chef in FdM told me this, so seems like common practice! Apparently latter helps to bind together ingredients and create the creamy consistency. I tried it once, not sure I agree but worth experimenting.

100 gr young, tender basil from Liguria (leaves only)

100 gr parmesan

100 gr pecorino Romano

100 gr pinoli, from Italy

1 clove garlic

175 ml EVOO

25 gr softened butter

S&P

1. pick basil leaves, don't wash unless you really have to (if you do wash, let them dry naturally on a cloth)
2. crush garlic to paste with salt
3. put cheeses, basil, garlic into food processor and work until fine paste, then add pine nuts and continue to zap until quite fine but leave some texture from pine nuts (knock yourself out if you want to use mortar and pestle)
4. add EVOO and butter, S&P
5. let stand a few minutes before you season further
6. when storing, poor a coat of EVOO over to preserve freshness

Santa Margherita Observations

More beautiful things to eat.

• Santa langoustines: prepared U Butti way, with mystery ingredients waitress refused to divulge
• Lasagna al pesto: the best pesto I've ever had on delicate sheets of lasagna casually laid out on a serving platter
• Mussels with dice tomato & parmesan, broiled in shell
• Rasberry granita with fior de latte gelati: a local ordered this like it had been something she had for years
• Sciacchetra digestivo
• appearance of boiled and raw vegetables in salads (cauliflower was noteworthy)

Celeri Remoulade Crostini

A tasty little number, and my invention too!  I would include this in the french tapas chapter of my cookbook!

crusty bread slices

celeri remoulade (with capers)

best quality jambon de paris or prosciutto cotto

chunks of parmesan

EVOO

parsley

ground pepper

1. toast bread, rub garlic & EVOO
2. spoon on celeri remoulade
3. lay a slice of jambon/prosciutto on top
4. spinkle parmesan chunks
5. drizzle EVOO over the whole lot
6. sprinkle with parsley & pepper

Bagno America House Salad

A nice laid back bagno in FdM with a subtle, wholesome house salad on offer.  Perfect for a hot summer day, preferably at the Bagno itself.  The salad is memorable because it combines raw and steamed veggies, mozzarella and tuna.  We made it at home, and got it just about right.  If you don't have the best, freshest, ripest ingredients, better not to bother.  No pepper allowed!

white escarole (romaine or bibb ok)

french green beans (steamed)

baby potatoes (steamed), halved 

baby courgettes (steamed, sliced on the diagonal in fairly small pieces)

radicchio, sliced rather thinly

rucola

fennel (thinly sliced, marinated in EVOO)

cherry tomatoes, halved

best quality canned Italian tuna

mozzarella

EVOO

white wine vinegar (or red, or sherry)

sea salt

1. distribute ingredients across however many serving bowls 
2. put leafy ingredients last, sprinkle with tuna & mozzarella
3. dress to taste

Yummy Tuna Fish Sandwich

Not the most PC sandwich these days. Inspired by a sandwich I had at Fernandez & Wells, the sandwich & coffee bar in Soho.

best quality tinned Italian (or Spanish) tuna in oil

home-made aioli (or fresh one pre-made from deli)

cornichons

capers

fresh tarragon and/or dill

parsley

chopped grilled red pepper (skin removed)

squeeze of lemon

grated lemon rind

very finely-chopped red onion (optional)

EVOO

S&P

tabasco sauce (both green & red)

1. in a bowl, break up tuna and mix in aioli to coat well
2. add rest of ingredients to taste, with emphasis on the cornichons, capers & tarragon
3. red peppers are optional but make a big difference--don't need much!
4. grill some good quality bread, rub garlic & EVOO (and extra aioli if you're feeling fab), spread generous amounts of tuna mixture to make sandwich

Brown Shrimp & Peas on Toast

Something I had at one of my favorite London pubs--the Princess Victoria-- about a year ago. Aside from the fact that brown shrimp look more like little larvae, it is otherwise a very tasty recipe that the chef rattled out as we stood at the bar.

brown shrimp

fresh peas

watercress

white wine

fish broth (quality store bought suffices)

cream

EVOO

1. fry up shrimp in EVOO to warm, then add wine, broth and cream
2. add peas and watercress
3. put on some nice grilled toast (preferably rustic sourdough, peasant etc)

Berber Squid Salad

A recipe graciously provided by Amanda Gale, head chef of Cy'An at the Metropolitan in Bangkok, after much hinting on my part. So much is going on but in a very delicate way. The best part of the recipe is the home-made harissa which needs to be really smooth.

fresh squid-60 gr per portion (best to get smaller & delicate with thinner skin)

red onions very thinly sliced

picked coriander, parsley, mint & rocket

shaved fennel (slice thru a mandolin)

orange segments (eliminate skins)

toasted sliced almonds

harissa (see below)

orange dressing (see below)

harissa

400 ml olive oil

1 kg red peppers, seeded & cut into large dice

200 gr red chili, de-seeded

100 gr garlic, bruised

25 gr cumin seed, roast & ground

50 gr coriander seed, roast & ground

50 gr fennel seed, roast & ground

2 large tomatoes roasted in oven, skin removed

40 gr palm sugar

40 gr fish sauce

salt

orange vinaigrette

300 ml orange juice

1 lemon juiced

2 drops orange blossom waters

300 ml EVOO

S&P

1. make the harissa: a) put peppers, oil & salt into a large pan and start to cook until the peppers are translucent, 40 minutes; b) add garlic & chili to pan and dry on the side; c) roast & grind spices & pass through fine sieve; d) reduce heat & add spices and stir until they release their perfume; e) add palm sugar & caramelize; then add fish sauce, taste & make sure not to sweet or salty; f) add tomatoes and cook down for another 15 mins; g) blend in a vita-prep blender until very smooth smooth paste
2. make the orange vinaigrette: a) place orange juice in pot and reduce by 1/3; b) whisk in lemon juice, orange blossom waters, EVOO & season
3. when two above ingredients ready, take a very sharp knife and cut into 2/3 of the depth in a criss-cross pattern, very fine lines close together
4. mix some harissa & orange vinaigrette together except the almonds to form a dressing consistency (some emulsification)
   
5. on a plate (s) put all the salad ingredients together except the almonds, drizzle with vinaigrette
6. put squid in bowl & dress with vinaigrette, then toss over salad
7. garnish with sliced almonds

The Perfect Turkish Breakfast

We realized this year on vacation in Italy how much we missed the perfect Turkish breakfast. Below is the result of feedback from various Turkish friends, and so I believe it is pretty close to perfect. Michelle had a brilliant idea for our dream B&B: the option of Turkish, Spanish or Filipino breakfast for our guests every morning.

peeled cucumber

peeled, ripest tomatoes

green pepper (thin & long, mild), stems removed

EVOO

high quality feta

high quality kasar (yellow cheese)

combination of green & black olives

finger bowl of dried chilli, oregano (ie can sprinkle on olives)

candied fig

honey still on the comb

cherry preserves

young walnut if in season

home-made cashew/peanut butter

butter

Simit (Turkish bagel with sesame seeds)

hot black tea in small tulip-shaped glass

optional (a platter of sunny side-up eggs delivered half way through bfast-dip the Simit in the egg!)

1. assemble all the above ingredients in separate plates and place in the middle of the table so that guests can help themselves
2. arrange individual big plate servings with cucumber, tomato, olives, drizzled with EVOO in one section + the sweet items in another section

Forte dei Marmi Observations

Nice relaxed food all around, especially the antipastis at Barca & focaccia at Orlando:

• Spaghetti with seabass & lemon rind
  
• Spaghetti arselle (tiny baby clams, no shells)
• America salad (combining mozzarella and tuna)
• Butternut squash gnocchetti with langoustine
• Tuna, clam, red pepper puree
• Swordfish carpaccio with pesto
• Small shell pastas with pesto (including philadelphia cheese!) and prawn
• Orechiette with tomato, vongole
• Panzanella (pane con tomate style) with tiny squid
• Focaccia with crema di formaggio, sweet peas, best prosciutto
• Spritz (mostly prosecco with equal parts sparkling water & aperol)

Salade Russe

I first really took notice of the Russian Salad in Kiev.  But it makes an appearance in many other places, including France and Italy.  You can also find it in most Spanish tapas cookbooks. My favorite version to date is below.

a cup of fresh peas

2/3 cup green beans

6 cauliflower flowerets

2 potatoes

2 carrots

half dozen cornichons

1 small cooked beat

1 egg, hardboiled

home-made mayo

S&P

1. cook the veggies in separate pans of boiling water until al dente
2. drain well and chop veggies apart from peas, in roughly the same sizes
3. put all veggies in a salad bowl with the cornichons, beets and egg
4. stir in mayo to form a soft mixture-don't drown it, just make sure veggies have a thin coating, season
5. chill in fridge for 3 hours
6. put salad in small bowl used as a mold you flip onto a plate