Corn & Chile Salsa

Thanks to Alice Letondot for introducing me to this delicious salsa from Trader Joe's. It is particularly good because it doesn't taste at all like a commercial product. I thought it was home-made. Looking at the ingredients label, I will try to reproduce myself, but maybe eliminate the guar gum!

best quality corn kernels
sugar
onions
red bell peppers
jalapeno peppers
distilled vinegar
crushed red pepper
black pepper
coriander seed
mustard seed
salt
guar gum

1. buy best quality frozen corn
2. chop the onions, bell and jalapeno peppers
3. heat all the ingredients except for the corn in a pan, sugar to taste
4. when the sauce becomes syrupy, add the corn and heat another couple minutes
5. let sit at room temperature before storing in the fridge

Enoki Bundles

An elegant little amuse bouche to be made very soon.

4 x 100 gr packets of of enoki mushrooms, divided into 8 bunches
8 slices of parma (or san daniele, culatello, speck, maybe even smoked salmon)
4 tblsp EVOO
juice of two limes
maldon sea salt
ground black pepper

1. trim the base of the enoki
2. wrap around each bunch with slice of parma ham and fix with a cocktail stick
3. drizzle with olive oil and lime juice
4. sprinkle with a little salt and lots of pepper

Mushroom Sauce

Also from the Carluccio book as described below. Despite the straightforward title, Carluccio thinks this sauce is "utterly delicious".  Could be used for crostini, as well as pasta, risotto or polenta.  Thinking about using this sauce for lasagnette in place of the usual pesto.

300 gr small fresh ceps
15 gr dried ceps, soaked in warm water
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tblsp EVOO
2 tblsp finely chopped parsley
2 mint leaves, finely chopped
1 tblsp tomato paste
maldon sea salt
ground black pepper

1. clean the fresh ceps, then cut into small cubes; drain the dried ceps after 20 minutes, reserving the water; chop finely
2. fry the garlic in the EVOO until transparent, then add the fresh and soaked dried mushrooms; saute for 10 minutes over medium heat, season to taste
3. add the herbs and paste and 4 tblsp of reserved cep water; warm through and the sauce is ready
4. if using for pasta, sprinkle with parmesan before serving

Dried Morel & Truffle Sauce

From Antonio Carluccio's "The Quiet Hunt", on mushrooms. According to him, this is one of the best sauces to be used either for roasted meat, or game, or to flavor risottos and pasta dishes. Would also be good with lasagnette, in fact he does have a recipe for this and handkerchief pasta. I recall now the confusion when I bought my father this book. He thought I had already paid for it, so out he went with book in hand only to be greeted by a screeching security system and uniformed guards.

60 gr dried morels
55 gr summer truffle
55 gr butter
2 small shallots, finely chopped
400 ml chicken stock
150 ml double cream
10 drops truffle oil
maldon sea salt
ground black pepper

1. soak the morels in warm water 20 minutes; then trim off the base of the stems and chop mushrooms finely
2. clean the summer truffle and, and at the last minute cut into 3 mm slices, then dice
3. melt the butter in dish, add shallots and soften; add the morels to the dish with the stock, cook for 8-10 minutes
4. leave to cool, ten add the cream and season
5. process in a blender then, lastly, add the truffle oil and fresh truffle dice
6. warm before using

Sea Urchin & Burrata

From Son of a Gun in West LA. The food there tasted so good, perhaps because of the mediocrity of my preceding couple of meals. But I do recall murmuring to myself that this was the best dish I had had in a while. I'd make sure that the ingredients are at the same temperature. The chef must have been thinking, what are two deliciously creamy ingredients that I could pair? This recipe serves one.

1 sea urchin

a sliver of burrata

champignons de Paris

yuzu juice

grapeseed oil

maldon sea salt

1. mix yuzu and grapeseed oil so that they emulsify, add maldon sea salt to taste
2. slice mushroom buttons very thinly on a mandolin
3. spoon a piece of burrata about the size of the sea urchin
4. place the burrata on a small white, chilled plate; then the sea urchin neatly on top
5. place the mushroom slivers on the side of the burrata, encircling it like tiles (should only be about three slivers on each side)
6. spoon the yuzu vinaigrette around the burrata/sea urchin and serve immediately

Salt Crust Sea Bass

Thank you Ugo for delivering this seabass to my doorstep. I put it to proper use. One of our all-time favorites, served with some pressed spinach and home-made mayonnaise.

seabass (in this case, was 800 gr)
2 kg rock salt
4 tblsp water
2 eggs
juice an zest of 1 lemon
fennel seed
basil, parsley (any herb you like)
EVOO

1. put oven on max temperature
2. gut fish, remove gills, snip off fins (keep scales on for this recipe, as they help to insulate heat for this method of cooking), clean thoroughly with running water
3. stuff cavity with herbs
4. mix together salt, water, lemon zest, fennel seed
5. in a pan, layer some salt about 1.5 cm thick on bottom of a pan; place fish on top and cover with rest of salt (can leave head and tail exposed for presentation)
6. generally, need 15 minutes of cooking for every 500 gr of fish; in this case we cooked 25 minutes, but 20-22 minutes would have been slightly better.
7. when done cooking, take out of oven and let rest ten minutes
8. tap the salt crust near tail to break; if you're lucky the whole thing should come off neatly
9. wipe the rest of the fish, making sure salt doesn't enter the cavity; remove herbs from cavity
10. butterfly the fish, remove flesh and place prettily on a nice oval white platter
11. serve with condiments on the side: EVOO, lemon, mayonnaise and of course the spinach

Pulpo Gallego

A perfectly delicious octopus prepared tonight. Important to note that it was frozen and defrosted. Weighed 750 grams, simmered for an hour and was wonderfully tender. This is the recipe from my Barrafina cookbook. Serve hot because they don't taste as great lukewarm

double tentacle octopus
onion
bay leaf
EVOO
Spanish paprika
parsley with stems
ground black pepper
maldon sea salt

1. remove beak and ink sack if fishmonger hasn't already
2. bring salted water to boil
3. when boiling dip octopus in water three times, 3 seconds each time
4. simmer for an hour; add a half hour for a bigger guy
5. poke with a knife, you'll be able to tell if tender
6. drain, let cool a bit
7. cut the head off, slice the tentacles into bite-size pieces
8. saute in a pan with EVOO for three minutes at high heat; try to get some caramelization
9. when done, put on paper towel to eliminate excess oil
10. place on a rustic wooden platter, drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then paprika and finally chopped parsley