Main navigation

Recipes 4 Survival

Header Right

Subscribe

Archives for February 2018

By

President’s Day, Greenbacks and Oysters Rockefeller

oysters finishe dish

I’m sure you’re all wondering, ‘ How can Oysters Rockefeller be a Recipe 4 Survival?’  I’m not going to labor over the point but on some level, Oysters Rockefeller is a perfect Recipe4Survival. Short of only a few ingredients that are not staples the benefits of the vitamins & minerals intake balance it all out in my book. The dish is quite reasonable to prepare, whether you’re up to shucking your own oysters not. If you’re not up to shucking oysters they can be opened painlessly by par boiling them.

Over the weekend, a few years back, I was an oyster shucker for an Open Oyster party at The Diamond in Greenpoint. Obsessed with these Fisher Island oysters, I asked if I could take a dozen home with me as my ‘tip’.  My request was obliged kindly .

As I sat down to write this piece I had almost forgotten why I even thought to make Oysters Rockefeller in the first place, then I remembered. I got the iDea because I have creamed spinach & butter in the freezer from my crepe making caper last week and 9 unshucked oysters in the vegetable crisper draw in the fridge.

So I began my research into Oysters Rockefeller.  Thanks to Wikipedia I learned that the closest anyone can get to a recipes which of course is top secret and may even have been taken to the grave is that there is no spinach in Antoine’s Oyster Rockefeller. The dish was conceived at New Orlean’s Antoine’s Restaurant after the craze for escargot waned. It is said that there are 18 ingredients in Antoine’s recipe. Legend has it that a patron exclaimed with delight after eating this dish, “Why, this is as rich as Rockefeller!”

Seeing that Pernod, Herbsaint or Absinthe is a traditional ingredient in the recipe I was out the door like a bolt to support the liquor store round the corner to get a bottle of Pernod which I love and couldn’t imagine why it’s been absent from my top shelf.  In any case it was a more reasonably priced bottle of Absinthe, Absinthe ordinaire liqueur that I took home vs. the name brand Pernod which was substantially more expensive and certainly not necessary for this recipe or my gentle sipping – when the mood might hit. With this bottle in hand I then trucked down to the Essex Street Market to get a bunch of Italian, flat leaf parsley, scallions & watercress.  Breadcrumbs, garlic  & capers are staples to me.

So that’s it.  Oh, a stick of butter warmed while I was out getting the absinthe & the greens.  Immediately upon getting home, out came my compact Cuisinart to make a compound butter. That’s it folks, Oysters Rockefeller is flash baked oysters, with a green, herbal compound butter. NO spinach.  To make a compound butter:

I roughly chopped half of each bunch of the greens, parsley, watercress & scallions. I added this to the warmed stick of butter I broke down into 4 pieces in the Cuisinart. Then I added 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 Ts, capers, & 2 Ts of the Absinthe.

Compound Butter for Oysters Rockefeller

Compound Butter for Oysters Rockefeller

I was so excited I completely forgot to add the breadcrumbs nor did I top them with Parmesan, again not called for in what I think is the closest I could get to the traditional recipe. Tarragon & celery are believed to be in the traditional recipe. I did not feel these ingredients to be necessary but if I had easy access to tarragon, believe me, I’d use it. I’d also use fennel in place of celery but let me tell you – by making a compound butter with basic greens like  I did – I believe you can feel confident saying you made Oysters Rockefeller.

Preheat the oven to 375 °

Make the compound butter as described above.

Shuck or steam to open  the oysters

Cover each oyster with at least a tablespoon of the compound butter.

Place on bed of salt in an oven proof pan and cook off for 7 minutes.

oysterknifestrainerliquoroystersprepped

 

oysters Rockefeller

oysters on a bed of salt ready for the oven

Serve to your friend with a wedge of lemon, a cold bubbly drink of any kind and MMMmmmm.

You’ll want more and more, straight away.

Because we were still hungry I whipped up a rice dish with sauteed scallions, parsley & the watercress.

 

By

Indian Summer Gleaning

 

Get me to the farm

The weather word was, “This weekend will most likely be the last warm days we see until next March.” A long way of saying, Carpe the Indian Summer if you ask me so catching wind of this was the perfect impetus to hightail it out of dodge to… you guessed it,  The Ocean State and yes, the weather did her part and shone in a truly memorable way.

It was before 8AM when I woke to the sun shining through the 2nd floor windows of the bedroom I was snuggled into with 1 standard poodle & my gorgeous RhODy Boy. The late night draft through the slightly opened window near my head was warmer now. The ocean surface glistened like diamonds were scattered across it with a bright white runway leading directly back to the sun right through the middle of the wide expanse of the sea’s surface. The leaves glistened, the dogs were hungry and stretching, ready for their walks.

All I wanted to do was get to a farm (stand) to get some ingredients to make lunch for my friends that have offered their open home & heart to me for the past few decades. I called on a local friend who I remember years ago mentioning that he & his wife farm a plot of land on a cooperative/community organic farm in Middletown. Fortunately he answered my Sunday morning phone call and gave me all the information I needed; the address of the farm, basically where it is in Middletown & he mentioned that there may be a farmer, Jim, Garman who tends to 4-5 acres out there – yah, maybe if he’s there, he’ll have something for you.

According to mapquest we were less than 15 minute away from where I took in the warmth of the morning sun over a great coffee & the best ginger molasses cookie

Newport Empire Tea & Coffee breakfast

True indulgence

I’ve ever had, at Empire Tea & Coffee on Bellevue Ave. and what a beautiful view it was.

Stone Soup parable

Even though I thought I had an idea where the farm was from my friend’s directions I was happy for mapquest because I really may not have found the Island Community Farm  but boy did I and YUP, off in the middle of the field was a spry young man wearing a grey T-shirt, dusty jeans, I could tell from afar, the prerequisite wide-brimmed straw hat, a van with all the doors open, cardboard boxes scattered about & a blond dog barking a bit more ferociously then I would expect. I marched right down there, crossing the black mesh covered fields, waving, though not a white handkerchief, the wave performed just the same.  The situation played out exactly like the Stone Soup parable, D: Please sir, might you have a delicata squash or an onion for my lunch this afternoon? Farmer Jim/ FJ: I’m so sorry, I sold off all our delicata squash yesterday. The fields are really farrow, the pickings are slim, Why don’t you take a look at my Long Pie pumpkins  over there.  Walking through a field heavily laden with butternut squash of all sizes I asked, D: Do you think I could I grab a couple of these? Butternut squash is one of my absolute favorites.  FJ: Oh sure, they’re very picked over, take what you want.  D: Jim, might you have a box or crate I could throw a couple of these squash into. FJ: Sure, just over there is a box you can use, next to that royal blue crate, (in the middle of the field we were standing in) The Long Pie pumpkins neatly lined up were further down the field.  While straightening out the box I  noticed in the royal blue crate, a bunch of delicata squash. I couldn’t help myself but to say, D: Jim, I notice a few delicata here. As I squatted down rifling through less than a dozen of them. FJ: Oh, those are the last few I’m bringing to my wife but if you really want want, sure go ahead and take a few.  I asked if I could take the one good sized one. Jim was fine with that.  I grabbed one on the Long Pie pumpkins that I earmarked for RhODy Boy who gets pumpkin every day to help with his colitis.

I amassed nearly a dozen squash & the pumpkin, we discussed price, I gladly gave Jim the cash which as you can imagine was reasonable for both of us and he helped me across the field. By the time I got to the car, Jim gifted me with a huge sweet potato, 3 dikons he let me pick, a purple top turnip he picked on our walk across the field and then offered up 3 beautiful hakurei fancy baby turnips

Now that I’m home with my haul I had to figure out where to store my haul, hence my newly adapted root cellar

adapted root cellar

adapted root cellar

By

Oatmeal Crème Brûlée, not just for Sundaes

oatmeal sundae and the NYSunday Times

oatmeal sundae

I guess I’ve always had a ‘thing’ for oatmeal’. Certainly not as a kid tho.

For my birthday many moons ago I hosted, an Oatmeal Sundae ™, party at The Pink Pony which unfortunately no longer exists but was truly a very special space. The famed owner Lucien, let me set up my own pots on hot plates and served well over 2 dozen friends in his bowls & silverware in the back, library, screening room area. I had steal cut oatmeal made with water & one batch with milk & many toppings – the usual suspects, yogurt, honey, toasted walnuts, bananas, & berries. I swear, a few of my friends still talk about this to this day and will most likely love seeing that I’ve written about it here.

I made oatmeal the first season of Recipe$ 4 $urvival when it was on MNN. To that porridge I added peanut butter & raisins to the mix. One of the calls I got in response to this episode went something like this, “We were going to have pizza but now we’re having oatmeal in our house instead.” Recipe$ 4 Survival was a huge hit on MNN for a good long while, maintaining an unprecedented prime-time slot. Here’s a link to the youtube compilation I put together of a few greatest hits episodes.

But then, just last weekend when I was pursuing the breakfast menu where my extended family were gathering for one last meal following  my nieces Bat Mitzvah celebration the Oatmeal Creme Brûlée jumped off the page/screen at me.  I texted to my bro that unfortunately I would not make it to breakfast but I’d be making Oatmeal Creme Brûlée in my house. So this is exactly what I did the other night.

I halved the recipe I picked to springboard from.

Ingredients:

Milk, 2 Eggs, Sugar, Cornstarch, Butter & soaked Steel Cut Oatmeal

What I did: 

While I warmed 1 C of milk I mixed the egg white of 1 egg & 1 full egg with 1/4 a C sugar, 1 T of corn starch

The milk is warmed just until you see steam then tempered this into the eggs, sugar & cornstarch mixture. Mix well. I did this with a whisk in about the time you can read this, never mind having to pull out some crazy equipment.

Pour the tempered milk & egg mixture back into a sauce-pot & warm over a minimum flame until thick & bubbling, stir in a pad of butter, I used 1 T.  Mix well until you have crème. Pour into another bowl & cover with plastic wrap directly on the crėme & set aside.

Make the oatmeal:

I brought 1/2C of milk & 1/2C of water to a boil, added cinnamon – because I have it, a dash of salt and 1 cup plus a bit more of steel cut oats I rehydrated the night before. You’ll have oatmeal in under or about 5 minutes.

The recipe I ‘made my own’ called for layering the oatmeal, then berries, then the creme into ramekins & baking them off. I was having none of that. I pour the entire batch of creme right into the warm perfectly cooked steel cut oatmeal. Mixed well and served topped with sliced banana & toasted walnuts.

 

 

By

Mushrooms Soup

plated mushroom soup with chanterelles garnish

plated mushroom soup with chanterelles garnish

mushrooms for mushroom soup

mushrooms for mushroom soup

Again I proved myself correct, I cannot stand to follow recipes. While trawling instagram I I saw a post for Jamie Oliver’s 5 ingredient mushroom soup and that was all it took. Unable to find that recipe I used another mushroom soup recipe. Utterly underwhelmed with the recipe I began working from, let me give you an idea of how I made my mushroom soup.

Ingredients

Jamie Oliver’s recipe calls for crimini mushrooms only. I find this odd when there’s such a great variety of mushrooms to work with and we all know they’re one of the most nutritional foods we can eat.  The mushrooms I used included oyster, portabello, crimini, shitaki & a few chanterells & about 2 Ts of dried porcini I re-hydrated with 1C of boiling water. After  about a half hour I strained the soaking liquid through a fine sieve lined with a double layer of cheese cloth.  I added this into the simmering broth

I find slicing mushrooms an absolute joy. Prepping them, just as much fun. I never wash mushrooms, some I remove the outer layer from the cap and snip the tough bottom of the stem off, then I slice away to my hearts content. JO’s recipe calls for a red onion – diced. I happened to have a red onion, I diced half of that. I also added a few thinly sliced garlic cloves. I prepared about 5 Cs of vegetable broth from a bullion cube & boiling water.

Short of adding of a good dollop of cream, currently I’m using Mexican Crema, it’s a bit more reasonable & the exact same thing as creme fraiche, to well sauteed mushrooms, onions

& a sliced or minced garlic clove or two I splashed it all with a good jerk of Outerbridges Sherry Pepper sauce, my absolute favorite food additive and a few showers of my Grain moon eclipse blend Salt of D Earth. Should you not be as much a nutter for Outerbridges Sherry Pepper sauce as me, a splash of Marsala, brandy, standard white wine, or a good squirt of lemon juice will help brighten the mix.

 

Begin by cooking the mushrooms & onion with a knob of butter or olive oil if you wish for a good 20 minutes or until all the mushroom liquids cook off, then hit this mixture with a shot of the wine, or lemon juice, then add say, four cups of a broth or stock and if you have it, the strained porcini mushroom broth , fresh thyme. Turn the heat down & let this simmer for a good 15 – 20 mins. Turn the heat off  & let the mixture cool before adding a good dollop or 2 of the creme, heavy cream, half & half or milk.  JO’s recipes calls for making a cornflour roux, which I did but I think this is completely unnecessary.

 

Transfer in batches to a blender or use a wand to emulsify.

Serve with any number of garnishes, parsley, truffle oil, croutons, or maybe chanterelles or any mushroom you wish – garnishes – what a great an infinite topic that could be for a cookbook. I get so many iDeas each and every day.

Must jump now in hopes of capturing a few of my fleeting thoughts.

Oh, this made a nice amount of soup. I think I got 6-8 servings out of it.

 

By

Fall Head Over Heals for this One

Imagine, if you wish, how many chef & restaurant newsletters, food -blogs, foodie magazines and the sorts that I get on any given day – suffice to say,  “A LOT” and I pretty much peruse all of them to see if something will catch my eye. Sure enough, just this morning in Lucky Peach subject line: What You Need to Know About the Trendiest Beer, Squash, and Opening a Restaurant. All I saw was: What You Need to Know About Squash then I scrolled down through the email until I stopped at this picture & recipe:  img_0252Fettuccine with Butternut Squash and Red Poblano Crema. So I clapped onto this glorious looking dish, pictured in a pot just like my favorite pot. Learning that red pablanos can only be had for about two weeks a year I was out the door and off to the Union Square Farmers Market like a shot. 

It was nightmare Wednesday the 9th that I made my first batch of my all time favorite dish, SpecialD now – Rick Bayless’ Fettuccine with Butternut Squash and Red Poblano Crema 

img_1568

First things first- roast the peppers and 3 or 4 garlic cloves in their skin. You’ll have to shake the pan under the flame or turn them over to thoroughly char the pepper’s skins. While this is cooking prepare the neck of the butternut squash into1/8″ planks img_1571

img_1573 img_1575

Then into ribbons.

By the time you’re done with this the peppers and garlic should be ready to be removed from the oven. When they’re cool enough to handle, remove the skin and seeds. img_1581 Cut the best looking pepper into ribbons, these will be used as a garnish. Coursely chop the two other peppers and toss them into a food processor with the roasted garlic dents.  Season to taste with S&P.  Then you add about a cup of Mexican crema which can easily be substituted w/sour cream or creme fraiche. img_1585

Cook the butternut squash ribbons off in well salted water for about 4 minutes. Pour the red poblano creme sauce into a pan over a medium flame/temperature. With a slotted spoon or tongs add the cooked off squash to the crime sauce and add 8 oz of fettuccine to the boiling salted water. I used fresh pasta which cooked off in about 5 – 8 minutes. Always reserve at least a cup of cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the creme sauce & mix in the roasted pepper ribbons and about a 1/4 cup of Parmesan.

img_1586 Top with finely chopped cilantro- if you have it. Dish out, eat up!. Who ever doesn’t think this is the most Dlicious meal, dish, food, sustenance, cibo,  they’ve eaten in a long time, ya gotta let me know.

After making the Butternut Fettuccine for a second time I roughly chopped up the leftover bottom, cleaned out the seeds and steamed that off.  While this steamed off I tossed a can of Trader Joe’s smoked trout and a dollop of olive oil mayo w/a grated apple which I slathered onto a toasted baguette wedge and ate w/the steamed butternut squash chunks.

Last but certainly not least I whipped up probably the best Butternut squash (& leek) risotto I’ve ever made.  Back at ya with that very simple recipe.