Pan-seared Spring Asparagus with Lemon, Balsamic and Parmesan – “Foiled” Again!

It’s spring, when a young man's thoughts turn to two things; the other one is cooking delicious fresh asparagus! This is an easy method for cooking this delicious spring veggie, and NO we are NOT going to blanch them first. Why the all caps? Well, Day 1 of vegetable cookery in most old school Culinary Academies begins with a lecture on how and why to blanch vegetables. It’s boiling salted water, cook until tender-crisp, “shock” in ice water…or die. Those old-time Chefs really do love to boil vegetables before using them in various recipes. Now, I’m not saying to never do this. For many things like green beans it’s a great idea. But, I’m saying don’t always do it for every fresh vegetable – especially beautiful spring asparagus.

What you’re about to see in this video recipe is closer to what you’d get if you grilled raw asparagus and then drizzled over a nice lemon, balsamic dressing. But, we’re not grilling. We are simply going to pan-sear the raw spears in a VERY hot pan until they just start to get tender. Then, we’ll wrap them up tight in foil with our dressing, and wait for 5 minutes as the residual heat finishes the cooking process, and the asparagus is completely “favorized” (I’m trying to invent new words so I can get one in the dictionary like that Stephen Colbert – “truthiness?” Are you kidding me?).

There is a magical moment of doneness for asparagus; if undercooked they are bitter, if overcooked they are soft and fibrous, but if cooked until just tender…they are sweet and absolutely sensuous. Did I just say asparagus was sensuous? It must be spring. Enjoy!

*Note: I say near the end of the clip, when the asparagus is wrapped in the foil, to “toss” them half way through. What I meant was just to turn over the foil package after a few minutes, so the dressing get re-distributed. Don’t open the foil and mix them or you’ll lose the heat. This note will make was more sense if you’ve seen the clip!

Ingredients:
1 bunch trimmed and washed asparagus
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbl olive oil
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
shaved Parmesan cheese to top

12 Second Coleslaw… in 42 seconds!

OK, I’ll admit it, this doesn’t look like a very exciting recipe, but that’s the point. Sure, the photo is boring. I didn’t even bother to Photoshop in some colorful veggies! When most people think of coleslaw they think of that bowl of soggy shredded cabbage sitting at the end of the picnic table. This is a completely different approach. This is fresh shredded cabbage prepared as a fast (12 seconds to add the ingredients, and 30 seconds to mix), crisp, low-cal, low-carb, slightly spicy, and delicious side dish that you should be eating as part of your regular veggie side-dish rotation. Do yourself a favor and find a grocery store in your town that carries the “angel hair” finely shredded cabbage, ready-to-mix in the bag. My 12 second coleslaw in 42 seconds claim only counts if you use the pre-shredded bag. By the way, I have no problem taking an extra 5 minutes and shredding my own cabbage, but I rarely can use a whole head and so I don’t like to buy those giant heads unless I’m making this for a large group.

There are 2 keys to this super-slaw; the very small amount of highly-seasoned dressing (it really doesn’t look like enough but you’ll see that it is), and the fact that I don’t toss the cabbage and the dressing together until I’m ready to eat. As soon as any dressing hits shredded cabbage, water starts to be pulled out of the leaves, which causes most traditionally made coleslaws to go limp and soggy. By mixing just before you eat, you will experience the true essence of fresh coleslaw; sweet, crunchy and refreshing. I served this under a spicy Jerked Chicken (aka Jerky Chicken), and it was perfect!

Ingredients:
10 oz. bag of Angel Hair Shredded Cabbage
2 tbl Seasoned Rice Vinegar
2 tbl Thousand Island Dressing
1 tsp hot sauce of your choice
pinch of salt
*I didn’t because I only had 12 seconds, but you can certainly add ANY finely shredded raw vegetables to this coleslaw and yours won’t look as boring as mine.

Tarragon Aioli – Keeping it real!

Many of you have never had real “aioli.” Oh, you’ve probably had garlic flavored mayonnaise-based sauces and dips many times. But today we’re talking about “real” aioli. Modern aioli comes to us from the south of France and is commonly used as a dip for vegetables, potatoes, as well as fish and meats. It’s more ancient origin is probably the Italian “Aglio Olio” which simple means “garlic oil.”

The reason I say that you may not have ever had “real” aioli is because 95% of what is served as aioli in American restaurant is nothing more than garlic mayonnaise. What’s the difference? Let me explain. Most cooks simply chop, or mince, or blend garlic with mayo, add other flavors, and call it aioli (some freaks of nature even use roasted garlic!!). Now, I don’t want to sound like some kind of food fascist. I have no problem with roasting garlic and stirring it into mayo, but call it a “roasted garlic mayo.” The only real way aioli is made is by using a mortal and pestle. When you crush the garlic in this ancient culinary tool, you are completely pulverizing the cells of the garlic clove which sets off crucial chemical reactions that you don’t get by simply chopping or blending. There are compounds formed during this crushing that produces something called “allicin,” which gives real aioli its amazingly sharp and intense flavor. The follow excerpt is from www.herbalchem.net:

“Odorless and stable, alliin is the most abundant sulfur compound in whole, unbruised Garlic. It is stored inside one kind of Garlic cell; in a separate type of cell, an enzyme called alliinase awaits. When the cells are broken open, alliin mixes with alliinase, and in about ten seconds all of the exposed alliin has been converted into a new group of compounds: allicin and its close relatives, which give off the aroma of fresh Garlic.

The beauty of aioli made in the traditional method, with a mortar and pestle, is that a small amount of garlic can flavor a large amount of mayo. Also, this real aioli is so strong and powerful that you don’t need half a cup of mayo on your grilled fish. Just a teaspoon of my version is so intense; it will fully flavor a whole piece of meat or pile of veggies. Also, the legendary health benefits of eating raw garlic are largely derived from this allicin production. Fair warning: if you don’t like garlic, don’t even attempt this recipe. It could kill you. But, if you do love garlic this demo may change your life. And by all means, get a mortar and pestle! I use it for other things besides aioli, like crushing whole spices for dry rubs, etc. Once you have your plain aioli recipe down you can start to experience with various fresh herbs, like the tarragon I used here. I served this under my Salmon Cakes recipe, and it was really good.

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves
pinch of salt
tbl of fresh tarragon
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup mayo
dash of cayenne

Blood Orange Tapenade Citronette – Cheating and proud of it!

Sometimes you just have to cheat. I was planning to serve a beautiful seared Ahi tuna loin. I wanted to slice it and serve it on an olive Tapenade. This is a classic combination in the Mediterranean, but I had one problem, I didn’t have the hour it was going to take to shop for, and mince the 12 ingredients that go into my Tapenade recipe. Lucky, I live near a Trader Joes (a CostPlus World Market, or Whole Foods would have also worked), so I went in and bought a jar of prepared green olive Tapenade. Before it went into the basket I carefully checked the ingredients… nothing but vegetables and spices! It was incredibly close to the one I make from scratch, and so I decided to use it guilt-free.

When I got home a quick taste-test confirmed my belief I had made a great decision. It tasted great and I was ready to move on to the tuna. So the point is, if you’re going to “cheat” and use prepared foods, make sure they’re high-quality and all natural. Now, this Tapenade would have made a great accompaniment for my seared tuna all by itself, but I decided to dress it up with some blood orange juice and olive oil as you’ll see in this demo. Bye the way, this mixture is fantastic on almost anything from grilled fish to roasted vegetables. It’s low-carb (as in almost no-carb) and since a small amount goes a long way, it’s also fairly low-cal.

4 tbl green olive Tapenade
1 small blood orange (or half a regular juice orange)
2 tbl olive oil
salt to taste
cayenne to taste

Pan-Roasted Halibut Cheeks with Warm Pancetta Vinaigrette

I was originally going to use scallops for this dish, but when I looked at the fish case at the market and saw fresh halibut cheeks, my menu changed quickly! If you can find halibut cheeks you HAVE to try them. If your market carries regular halibut fillet or steaks, ask the fish person to get you some cheeks. Frozen are fine and they can probably do a special order for you. These are actually sweet, succulent pockets of meat found in the cheeks of the fish. It looks, and also cooks, like a scallop. It is the kind of thing that the fish mongers take home to eat themselves while they laughing at us poor suckers stuck with the fillet!

Warm pancetta vinaigrette is a wonderful sauce for this dish (as it is with almost any dish), and a little goes a long way. I served my cheeks on top of some bright yellow spaghetti squash with is a great, and healthy base for this recipe. Just the pancetta dressing on the squash would have been a winner. Check the site for a demo on how to prep the squash, as it is a very simple and delicious side dish.


Ingredients:
1 Pound Wild Halibut Cheeks (Or Scallops, Tuna, Etc)
3 Oz Pancetta or Bacon
1 Large Handful Pea Shoots Or Sprouts
1 Clove Garlic
1/3 Cup Rice Vinegar
1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
Black Pepper
Salt
2 Tbl Olive Oil
1 Lemon

The Citronette – Why do they call it “Lemon Vinaigrette?”

Remember that post I did recently where I said how stupid it is for Chefs to argue over terms and names for dishes? Well, forget all that! Now, just to be clear, what I really meant is to argue whether something is a relish or a salsa, is basically a waste of time. You know my rule…if you made it, you get to name it. But, when something is just plain wrong, I have to draw the line.

I was at a restaurant recently and one of the salads came with a “lemon vinaigrette.” I asked the waiter if it was made with lemon juice and vinegar, and he said it was just lemon juice and olive oil. So, I say, “then it’s not a vinaigrette, it’s a Citronette!” Well, instead of agreeing with me, and telling me what a brilliant point I had just made, he basically stared at me, as if to say, “listen you jerk, I’ve got other customers, do you want the damn salad or not!?” OK, OK, I don’t blame him; in fact, my wife was giving me the same look. It’s just one of those things that really bugs me… if it doesn’t have vinegar in it, it’s NOT vinaigrette! If you use lemon juice (or some other citrus) then call it a Citronette, that’s the accurate name. Wow, I feel better.

By the way, this wonderful Citronette is a natural with so many dishes; grilled veggies, any fish, chicken salad, etc. I also steal yet another trick from Chef Gordon Ramsey, who adds a little water to his Citronette to make it even lighter.

Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbl Water
1/3 Tsp Salt
Pinch Of Cayene

Almond and Parsley “Salsa Verde” – It’s easy being green!

As you watch me make this delicious and versatile condiment, you might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, that’s a pesto. Well, it basically is. The reason I’m calling it a “salsa verde” and not a pesto, is because whenever you say “pesto” people instantly think of the traditional (and DONE TO DEATH) version with the pinenuts and basil. Now, I have no problem with a nice, properly made pesto. But, I was in the mood for something completely different. By the way, there’s nothing I hate more than Chefs arguing terms and names… “That’s NOT a Confit, it’s a Compote!!” or “That’s not a marinade you idiot, it’s a wet rub!” …Every professional chef or cook reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve heard my rule before; if you make it, you get to name it! For example, my Salmon Mango Bango, ridiculous name, but no one can do a damn thing about it.

So, I’m using the term “Salsa Verde” the way it’s used around Northern California. It’s a very generic term for any fresh green sauce, usually starring some type of herb, but also can be made with spinach, arugula, etc. If you are a regular to this site you’ll see me do many versions of salsa verde, especially when the weather gets a bit warmer. (to combat Christmas shopping stress I want you all to close your eyes and for one minute picture a warm, sunny meadow, lush with fresh herbs) ahhhh, that’s better.

This is a great sauce to experiment with by switching out the nuts, herbs and oils used. Hopefully you saw the Piquillo Pepper video, which this sauce was amazing on. I also had the left-overs on a piece of seared salmon which was sublime.