We Will Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Program . . .

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. . . when I return in a few weeks.

I know.

Just when I start rubbing my hands together, thinking Summer!  I'll have more time to cook, more time to

invent recipes, more time to blog . . .

Then I leave.  Then I come home for

all of one day, 

then I leave again.

I'm a bad blogger.

Sigh.

The recipe that goes with the photos will be revealed when I return. It's a fun way to grill fish.

See ya.

Copyright © 2005-2010, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Oven Roasted Halibut Fillet with a Relish of Blood Orange, Meyer Lemon, Green Garlic and Spring Red Onion

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Slender stalks of green garlic and tender spring onions are fleeting seasonal delicacies that should be snatched up from your green grocers or farmers markets while they are still available.

Green garlic is a mild immature version of its grown up dried self, pulled from the ground before its bulbs form, and can be used now in fish dishes, light soups, sauces, and relishes such as the one featured here.

Spring onions are simply yellow, white or red onion youngsters; slim and delicate, mild and sweet.

Pair these two kids with the puckery flavors of blood orange and Meyer lemon and you've got a mouthwatering topping for a thick mild white fish like halibut. Cod, rockfish and sablefish will work just as well, but may take less time to roast depending on their thickness.

The cooking method used here is fast and easy.  Prepare the relish while the halibut is roasting in the oven; they will both be finished at the same time, ready to serve in about one-half hour from prep to plate.

A perfect springtime weeknight offering.

Roast Halibut Fillet with a Relish of Blood Orange, Meyer Lemon, Green Garlic and Spring Red Onion

Christine's original recipe
(print recipe)

Ingredients:

1-pound piece of halibut fillet

1 large Meyer lemon

1 small blood orange

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon gray salt with herbs (sel gris aux herbes)

2 sprigs fresh oregano plus 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 green garlic stalk and 1 spring red onion stalk

Halibut Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Oil the bottom of a ceramic baking dish. Set aside.

Rinse fillet under cold water and gently pat dry.

Place fillet in baking dish, skin side down (skin removed) and rub the top with olive oil.

Sprinkle the fillet with the herb salt and cover the top of the fish with lemon slices. Reserve the remainder of the lemon.

Lay the oregano sprigs over the lemon slices.

Roast for 15 to 18 minutes or until the fish is cooked through but still very moist. It should be springy when pushed with your finger.

Meanwhile ...

Relish Preparation:

Wash both the green garlic and the spring onion stalks. Remove the outer layer of skin from each, slice off the root ends and thinly slice each one crosswise until you reach the neck.  (The necks may be saved for soup stock.)

Using a sharp knife and working over a bowl to catch the juices, remove the skin, seeds, white pith and membrane from the blood orange and the remainder of the Meyer lemon. Chop each citrus separately, reserving juices.

Heat a skillet over medium low and add 1 teaspoon or so of olive oil.

Sauté the green garlic and spring onion slices for about 1 and 1/2 minutes, stirring to separate the rings, until they are softened but not browned.

Add both chopped citruses and their juice to the pan, stir and sauté 2 minutes more, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

Add the white wine, stir, turn the heat up to medium high and cook until the liquid is reduced by one half.

Stir in the chopped oregano and continue cooking until the pan is almost dry, 1 minute more.

You may have to adjust the heat as you go along to prevent the relish from burning.

Remove the pan from the heat.

To serve, remove the oregano sprigs and lemon slices from the roast halibut and slice the fish into serving size pieces.  Place on warm plates, top with the relish and a few more sprinklings of herb salt.

Enjoy! 

Cook's Notes:
Sel gris aux herbes may be found in my Amazon store. Click on the link in the sidebar.

Copyright © 2005-2010, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Steamed Pacific Halibut with Sautéed Early Spring Vegetables

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The hours, minutes, days are flying by.  I cook, I take photos - do I have time to post them?  Seems not.

Spring can be like that.  So much work to do outside: the garden to ready for planting; mowing, clipping, weeding, and generally cleaning up after that messy person Winter who leaves her clothes strewn everywhere.

In this season that's not quite full-blown spring yet not really winter anymore, take advantage of the early spring produce that abounds:  green garlic, spring onions, leeks, baby bok choy, savoy cabbage, fennel, carrots, Hawaiian ginger, and that citrus-y wonder, blood orange.  Pair these with wild-caught Pacific halibut for an easy recipe that will get dinner on the table quickly so you can get back outside and work awhile longer before the sun sets.

I received inspiration for this recipe from my bestest-friend-in-the-world, Erika.  She treated me to a delicious dinner when I visited with her last week of mahi-mahi over leeks, kale, chard, and early onions from her Sacramento Valley garden, plus freshly grated ginger - lots of it.  It was fabulous.

I'm showing you a few photos from that dinner because the evening sunlight coming through Erika's west windows played over our plates of steaming vegetables and fish, enhancing an already beautiful setting, and I just had to share.

And while I didn't have the exact ingredients that Erika used, our local Co-op had some pretty wonderful substitutes.

Begin by slicing all your vegetables fairly thinly, the bok chot being the exception - it should be cut into 1/2-inch pieces.  Start your sauté with the onions, garlic, leeks and carrots, then add the rest per instructions below.  Use plenty of freshly grated ginger at the end.

Steamed Pacific Halibut with Early Spring Sautéed Vegetables (Spring Onions, Leeks, Green Garlic, Baby Bok Choy, Savoy Cabbage, Fennel, Fresh Ginger and Blood Orange Juice)

Recipe inspired by my dear friend Erika
(print recipe)

Ingredients:

3/4-pound fresh Pacific halibut fillet, rinsed and patted dry

1 large leek, cleaned and thinly sliced crosswise, white and light green parts only

1/2 of a large fennel bulb, cut lengthwise into thirds, thinly sliced crosswise

1 stem green garlic, thinly sliced

1 stem spring onion, thinly sliced

2 baby bok choy, stem end removed, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch chunks

1 medium head savoy cabbage, core removed, cut in half then in thirds lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

juice from 1 large blood orange

olive oil for the pan

sea salt to taste plus generous grindings of peppercorn medley

Preparation:

Using a large skillet (I almost always use cast iron), heat about 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium-high.  When the pan is hot, turn the heat down to medium or even medium-low to prevent scorching and add the leeks, onion, garlic, and carrot and sauté until they begin to soften and cook down, about 5 minutes. Adjust the heat so they do not burn.

Add the fennel and bok choy next and repeat the sautéeing process, tossing the vegetables with tongs so everything cooks evenly, about 5 minutes more.

When the fennel and bok choy have softened, add the savoy cabbage and toss.  Drizzle on the blood orange juice, toss again, and allow to cook, tossing often, until the cabbage has cooked down slightly, about 5 minutes, then sprinkle on the grated ginger and toss again.

Season the vegetables with a good sea salt, make an indentation in the center of the vegetables and lay the halibut in it.

Sprinkle the fish with sea salt and generous grindings of peppercorns, turn the heat to low if it is not already there, and cover the pan.  Cook gently until the fish flakes when pierced with a fork but is still juicy and springy to the touch, about 7 minutes for a 2-inch thick fillet.

To serve, cut the fish into portion-size pieces and serve on a bed of the vegetables.

Enjoy!

Copyright © 2005-2010, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Seared Black Cod With Sautéed Fennel And A Tomato Cucumber Salsa

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We were in Portland, Oregon. One block off the Pearl. This is where hip, chic, trendy, spendy and not so spendy bars and restaurants, from brew pubs to haute cuisine and everything in between, abound. And what do we do? We cook in our hotel room.

It's true. Mr CC and I spent four fun-filled days in Portland visiting our youngest, soon-to-be-married-to-a-lovely-young-woman son and had dinner out in the city renowned for its diversity of restaurants, just once.

I can hear all you foodies who know and love Portland (as we do) gasping in disbelief, but it's true.

For breakfast and lunch we found great eating spots (which will be posted soon on my almost defunct due to my negligence but now being resurrected blog, Box Car Odysseys), and we prowled around and found great places to have locally-brewed beers, but . . .

Now all this is not to say that we didn't eat well. We ate very well. One evening we were treated to a wonderful home-cooked meal at the parents of our future daughter-in-law. Another night we enjoyed a barbeque at her sister's house. Yet another time we had a huge lunch so late in the day that we kinda skipped dinner altogether. And on Saturday morning we headed for the farmers market. . .

The Saturday Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University should be on every foodie's list of places not to miss. In a shady grove of shade and grass, the scope of abundant, organic goodness from local cheeses to locally caught, fresh fish, a plethora of sun-kissed fruits and vegetables, even desserts - my little foodie heart was ready to burst with excitement. How could I not cook?

Knowing we had limited cooking resources (check out the room's very cool but dinky kitchen) and not about to go out and buy things that we would either end up wasting or schlepping back home in a cooler, we made exacting choices and cooked minimally. What you see on the plate at the top of this post was superbly delicious, owed to a great extent to the excellence of the farmers market vendors.

Our black cod , a highly nutritious and abundant northern pacific coast fish, also known as Sablefish, came from Stonewall Bank Seafood (they don't seem to have a web site).

The fennel, basil, tomatoes and cucumbers came from Spring Hill Farm's extensive selection of vegetables and herbs.

A little sautéed fennel, some herbed gray sea salt found at Zupan's, a salsa, of sorts, consisting of tomato, cucumber and basil topped with Annie's Organic Balsamic Viniagrette and we were eating very well indeed.

Christine's Seared Black Cod with Fennel and a Cucumber Tomato Basil Salsa
Makes 2 generous servings

Ingredients:
8-ounce filet of black cod, skinned
1 small fennel bulb, cleaned and cut into small dice
2 teaspoons butter
2 very red tomatoes (ours were Early Girls), diced
1 long green cucumber, peeled and diced
5-6 leaves large-leaf, deep green basil, cut chiffonade
2 tablespoons balsamic viniagrette
a pinch or two of herbed gray salt
Preparation:
Dice the tomatoes and cucumbers and prepare the basil chiffonade. Toss them all together in a bowl with the vinaigrette. Set aside at room temperature.

In a skillet over medium high heat, saute the fennel in the butter until golden brown and tender.

Move the fennel to the edges of the pan and add the black cod filet. Cook until just golden on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side.

Remove the fish to a warm plate and sprinkle with the herbed salt.

Spoon the salsa over the fish, cut into two servings and enjoy while it's hot.

Cook's Notes:

> The cooling effect of the tomato cucumber salsa is a great foil to the hot-out-of-the-pan fish and slightly caramelized fennel.

> And for dessert. . .

. . . we nibbled on luscious, lightly salted chocolate chip cookies from Two Tarts bakery whose booth at the farmers market sported quite a long line.

With a view of the bridges over the Willamette River and Mt. Hood from our hotel window, we lacked for nothing more.

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Cocoa Spice Encrusted Seared Wahoo

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The very same wonderful neighbors who grow our lamb every year and often bring us fresh-caught crab are also known to go on a fishing trip or two after which they share the bounty of their catch with us. Yes I do know how lucky we are.

Last summer neighbor Chris went on such a trip to Baja and brought back a number of different kinds of tuna. In the bunch that he shared with us was this loin of Wahoo, a relative of the King Mackerel. While this fish is not in the tuna family, you could've fooled me: It looked like a tuna, seared like a tuna and tasted delicously like a tuna only really, really juicy. All the fish caught on Chris' trip were loined and flash-frozen on-site making this the freshest thawed fish I've ever tasted.

Michael Chiarello's NapaStyle Cocoa Spice Rub was the perfect base for the thick coating on the loin. The spice rub has cardamom in it so I embellished it with more cardamom and extra salt to bring out the flavors. You don't have to try to find a loin of Wahoo to make this dish; albacore or yellow-fin tuna would work just fine.

Seared Wahoo with Cocoa Spice Rub
Christine's original recipe
(print recipe)
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons NapaStyle Cocoa Spice Rub
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon fine Kosher salt
1 loin of Wahoo or tuna
2 teaspoons olive oil for the pan
1 teaspoon butter for the pan
Preparation:

Grind the spice rub, cardamom and salt in a mortar and pestle until it becomes a very fine powder.

Pat the loin dry with paper towels and then roll in the spice mixture, coating the fish entirely. Use up all the spice powder by patting it on with your fingers to make a thick coating.

Place the oil and butter in a heavy skillet over high heat.

When the butter has melted, add the coated loin and sear quickly, turning the loin with tongs until all the loin is seared and browned.

You can serve the loin at this point if you like your fish very rare. Otherwise, place the pan in a hot (400 degree) oven for 2 more minutes to cook the fish a little longer. The center will still be rare.

Remove the loin to a cutting board and allow it to rest for 2-3 minutes then slice it into rounds with a very sharp knife.

Serve with steamed green beans tossed with a small amount of butter and a sprinkling of toasted chopped pecans.

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Vegetable Curry Stock Plus A Curried Pumpkin And Leek Risotto

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Right now, as I'm typing this, I'm munching away on this particular plate of risotto because, as I said to Tanna earlier this morning as I was answering comments, visions of hot, creamy, veggie-filled risotto have been dancing through my dreams lately. And although it's finally a sunny day, as opposed to all the rain we've been getting, it's darned cold out with an icy north wind blasting; a perfect day for a stick-to-your-ribs (or in my case, hips, but, hey, a girl's gotta stay warm somehow!), hearty risotto.

The fact that I posted a risotto recipe yesterday doesn't bother me in the least, nor should it you. That dish was made earlier this month before the farmers market closed for the winter. Sometimes things just work out this way.

What I really want to tell you is how today's risotto came about. You see, the other day I made a veggie curry poaching liquid for catfish that was soooo delicious (both the catfish and the poaching liquid) that I had to save the stock for another day, me being on a definite curry kick just now and, really, could you, should you toss such a healthful, tasty elixir down the drain? I thought not. I remember saying to Mr CC that this would be fantastic in a risotto, to which he murmured, mmmmmm. Or something to that effect.

So in order to make this risotto, you first have to poach some catfish. Or at the very least, make this incredible stock.

Vegetable Curry Stock
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
2 small yellow onions
3 celery ribs
3 small carrots
1 small parsnip
1 long stem fresh tarragon
4 stems fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 stems fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fine Kosher salt
6-8 whole black peppercorns
2 2-inch strips Meyer lemon peel
2 heaping teaspoons yellow curry powder
olive oil spray for the pan
1/3 cup dry vermouth
1 1/2 quarts water
Preparation:

Place the water in a stock pot over medium high heat.

Peel and coarsely chop the vegetables and sauté them until lightly browned in a heavy skillet that has been sprayed with a film of olive oil spray.

Deglaze the pan with the vermouth, scraping up any browned bits, then add the pan contents to the stock pot along with the herbs, salt, peppercorns, curry and lemon peel.

Bring the contents of the stock pot to just under a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

Strain the liquid, adjusting the seasonings if necessary.

Should you go on to poach some fish in this, which I highly recommend, be sure to strain the used stock through a fine-mesh strainer when all is said and done. Then keep it tightly covered in the coldest part of the fridge and use it up within, say, 3 days. If you can't use it within that time, put it in the freezer.

Now on to the risotto, which is really the star of this post.

Curried Pumpkin and Leek Risotto

Here is where I usually either claim as my own the recipe that follows, or give credit to whomever inspired me. Well, risotto has been made for so long and in so many ways that I can't really lay any claim to it, nor do I wish to. So I'll just say that the ingredients that went into the risotto were inspired by what I thought would go well with the vegetable curry stock, which is my own, with grateful thanks to Italian cooks everywhere who make risotto, in all its iterations, without batting an eyelash.

Ingredients:
6 cups vegetable curry stock
1 1/2 cups leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
1 small onion. peeled, cut cross-wise then into thins half-moons
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
1 heaping cup cooked pumpkin (mine was a small French type called "rouge" that I found at the farmers market. You can see it in the photo above.)
1 1/3 cups arborio rice (I used a locally produced arborio from Lundberg Farms)
1 tablespoon olive oil for the pan, used in small increments as needed

Preparation:

Put the curry stock in a saucepan and heat on medium high until it begins to steam.

Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and keep warm.

Place a teaspoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Sauté the onions, leeks and garlic until softened and golden brown (that's the way I like it, anyway), adding a bit more oil to the pan to prevent sticking.

Add the sage and the arborio rice and stir until the rice is coated with the oil, then continue sautéeing until the rice has toasted just a little bit.

Pour in the Meyer lemon juice and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Ladle in 1 cup of the curry stock and stir until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.

Continue to add the stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently, until each addition has been absorbed and the rice is creamy and just a little bit firm to the bite. I used 5 cups of the stock.

Now add the pumpkin and stir until most of the lumps are incorporated.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the risotto to rest for 5 minutes. You can add parmesan cheese now if you wish, but I liked it without.

That's it. It took all of 40 minutes to prepare the risotto, from cutting the veggies to dishing a heap of it onto a plate and eating it hungrily. It was creamy and savory with curry spice but the sweet acidity of the Meyer lemon came through beautifully and wasn't overpowered by the curry as I feared it might be. I think I just may be getting good at this risotto thing.

As for the top photo with what looks to be some kind of meat in the risotto? That was my doing: After staring at all the starchy carbs I was about to ingest, I opened a can of local albacore, heated it up and added some of it to my plate. If you strive to eat low-carb, at least go for balance when you fall off the wagon. Buon appetito!

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Pan Seared, Oven Roasted Freshwater Bass with Meyer Lemon Zest and Capers

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As we were taking our leave from our hunter-gatherer son, Josh and his bride Kelly's first Thanksgiving, Josh gave us these bass fillets that he'd recently caught while on a fishing trip. He's on another trip right now, so I can't ask him if they were smallmouth or largemouth bass. My guess is smallmouth. This is wild, freshwater river and lake fish, not the sea-going bass that is so overfished in the ocean. I was mistaken about the species of fish: Josh tells me that "the bass ... are striped bass, an anadromous sea-run bass native to the east coast, transplanted out here (California) long ago. They come from the ocean up into the river systems in the fall and go back out to sea in the spring. They are not commercially fished here and sport fishing takes place when they are in fresh water ... ." (This is directly from the fisherman's mouth.) If you don't have access to this fish, halibut fillets may be successfully substituted.

Large, thick, tender white meat fillets with no bones, they were dipped in buttermilk then in seasoned breadcrumbs, seared on the stove top and finished in the oven. The only way they could have possibly been better, in my humble opinion, was if they'd been eaten just-caught from the river while sitting around a cozy campfire.

Pan-Seared, Roasted Freshwater Bass with Meyer Lemon Zest and Capers
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
2 freshwater bass fillets, about 1-inch thick in center
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
zest and juice from 1 Meyer lemon, keep separate
1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, rinsed and drained
1 cipollini onion, peeled, cut crosswise then sliced into thin half-moons
olive oil for the pan
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Wash the fillets under cold water then pat dry with paper towels.
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Trim the filets of any thin side flaps, as these will cook too quickly. Save them for another use.
Set up your mise thusly:
Zest the Meyer lemon into a small bowl.
Strain the juice into another small bowl.
Rinse the capers, drain and place in yet another small bowl.
Slice the cipollini and set aside.
Using two wide, shallow bowls, put the buttermilk in one and the seasoned breadcrumbs in the other. See my Cook's Notes about the breadcrumbs I use.
Heat a large, heavy skillet (I used cast iron) over a medium-high flame, add olive oil to coat the bottom.
Dip one fillet in the buttermilk, coating it completely, then dip it into the breadcrumbs, coating the fillet intirely.
Place the fillet in the hot skillet and, working quickly, repeat with the other fillet.
If necessary, add more olive oil to the skillet to prevent the fillets from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the fillets are in the pan, don't move them around, let them sear for about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, sprinkle half the lemon zest over each fillet.
Flip the fillets and sear the other sides another 2 to 3 minutes, maintaining the flame at medium-high and taking care that the breadcrumbs don't burn.
Sprinkle on the rest of the lemon zest, then drizzle the lemon juice and the capers around and over the fish.
Remove the pan from the heat and nest the onion slices around the fillets.
Place the pan in the oven and roast the fish for 7 to 10 minutes but no more than that or it will be overcooked.
Test for doneness by putting a fork gently into the center of one fillet and pulling up some of the meat. The meat should be moist but flake easily.

Cook's Notes:
Sadly, I used the last of my cipollini onions, which I get seasonally from our farmers market. I know I can buy them at the grocers or online, but it's just not the same. *Sigh*.

I buy lightly salted croutons from Brio, our local artisan bakery, and keep them in the freezer. When I want breadcrumbs, I take out a cupful of croutons and buzz them in the food processor. The croutons are a mix from the breads that have been baked that week and include lots of whole wheat cubes.

One of these bass fillets made 2 generous servings paired with a side dish of roasted broccoli, carrots and whole garlic cloves. The other fillet kept Mr CC in fish taco heaven for several days and me with a delicious lunch at work.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Marinated, Grilled Pacific Salmon at the...

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Ready for HOTM #5? Joanna and Ilva have been building a heart-healthy databank of recipes from food bloggers around the globe. I love this growing collection of recipes for the inspiration it gives me and for the reminder that adapting heart healthy eating habits is, indeed, a diet for life. Now in its fifth month, the theme is Waterlife and it's not just about fish, but anything that swims. Go to their blog, The Heart of the Matter, and read all about it. If you'd like to join in, send your post to them by July 23rd.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of heart-healthy seafood is salmon. Pink-fleshed, moist, firm, delicious wild-caught Pacific salmon. Marinated and grilled in summer or poached in an herb-y white wine stock in winter, it's one of my favorite foods.

Salmon is packed with healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, known to reduce inflamation, reduce blood clots, lower bad cholesterol and strengthen the immune system.

What I offer here today is not just any salmon, but salmon out of our local, cold Pacific waters. Straight from our neighbor's boat and into my freezer this past May, we shared the last of it recently when Mr CC's family came to the wilds of northern California to camp and spend a week visiting with us.

Asian-Style Marinated, Grilled Salmon

Christine's original recipe

Ingredients (approximate, as I don't measure):

1 large shallot, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup peanut oil

1/4 cup lightly seasoned rice wine vinegar

juice from 1 lemon, 1 lime and 1 orange

1/3 cup (packed) cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons organic, wheat-free soy sauce

6 salmon filets (about 2 pounds), skin left on

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients except the salmon, whisking well. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. I sometimes add a touch of kosher salt and a few grinds of black peppercorns. If the citrus is sour, I might add a pinch of sugar.

Lay the salmon filets in an oblong glass baking dish and pour the marinade over to cover.

Seal with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, no longer than 45 minutes as you don't want to "cook" the flesh, turning the filets over halfway through the process.

As we use a gas grill, the following instructions are for that beast only.

Remove the fish from the marinade.

Spray a fish holder (I know it has a name, but I'm forgetting it at the moment) with olive oil and lay the marinated salmon filets in side by side, fitting them snugly. We had to use several of these for 6 filets.

With the grill set at about 425 degrees, lay the salmon skin side down and close the grill lid for about 4 minutes. If flareups occur you can lower the heat but not below 375.

Open the lid and check the salmon. You want the flesh to yield a bit when pressed with a finger.

Flip the fish and place sunny-side down on the grill for 3-4 more minutes, depending on the thickness of the filets. You want those great grill marks but you don't want to overcook the fish. The flesh should be very moist and just cooked through.

Remove from the grill and allow to sit for just a few moments, where it will continue to cook until perfect.

Cook's Notes:

My notes from this dinner tell me that we served the salmon with a bulgar pilaf made with sauteed, chopped portobello mushrooms, red bell peppers, zucchini and sweet onion, a green salad with garden-fresh (ok, farmers market-fresh)tomatoes and cucumbers, and corn on the cob. For dessert we had homemade, low fat, sugar-free Tahitian vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries swimming in raspberry wine, which will be the subject of another post.

People said, "Yum!"

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Prawn Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Crisp Comte Cheese Caps

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My posts are few and far between these days as I re-think eating habits and the incorporating of foods that make for a healthier eating lifestyle.

For the past few weeks I've cut all meats and a goodly portion of dairy products from my (and, subsequently, Mr CC's) diet. Opting for fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains instead. And, interestingly enough, I've been quite happy, have not felt deprived, and have lost 5 of those extremely-hard-to-lose last 10 pounds that I've been packing since Thanksgiving.

I didn't set out to do this. When our vegan son Jeffrey was here, I cooked entirely vegan for all of us because it was just too much hassle to do otherwise. After he left I discovered that I really liked eating fruits, veggies and grains and didn't miss the meat and dairy that had started feeling heavier and harder for me to digest.

So, here I am, on the cusp of change, thinking, thinking, thinking of ways to be creative and inventive without using the meat and dairy I've spent a lifetime cooking with.

Then I saw these US wild-caught prawns and, for the moment, meatless went careening 'round the corner. Add to that a chunk of Comte cheese that had been sitting idly in the fridge and cheeseless, joining meatless, zoomed right over a cliff.

I'm still on my food re-assessment kick, don't get me wrong. Expect to see some changes coming out of my newly-tiled kitchen. But a little seafood and a smidge of cheese isn't what I consider to be unhealthy eating. Not by a long shot.

Prawn Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Crisp Comte Cheese Crisps
Christine's Original Recipe
Ingredients:
2 large, deeply cupped portobello mushrooms, stems removed, caps brushed clean
olive oil spray for the baking sheet
1 1/2 cups hard, salty cheese, such as Comte or parmesan-reggiano, coarsely grated
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
10 large prawns (preferably wild-caught in the US), peeled and de-veined
juice of 1/2 of a large orange
1-2 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh basil, thinly sliced (chiffonade)
good olive oil for the saute skillet
Good coarse sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel de Guerande)
freshly ground black pepper (I use Tellicherry)

Preparation:
Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray. Place the portobellos on the sheet, smooth side down, and roast in a 350-degree oven for about 25 minutes.
Turn the portobellos over in the last 10 minutes of roasting to allow them to drain of liquid. Keep warm.
Set a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Do not add oil.
When the pan is hot, place about 3 tablespoons each (very approximate) of cheese in small piles in the pan. Don't crowd.
Allow the cheese to melt and bubble and form circles about 2 inches in diameter (bigger if you wish). When you can lift the edge of a circle with a spatula, start working around the edges until the melted cheese can be lifted and turned over. Do that, and melt the other side of each round taking care to not let the cheese or the weeping oil burn.

IMPORTANT: As the Comte cheese melts, it will weep oil. Wipe the excess from the pan with each addition of cheese.
Be very careful to not allow the cheese fat to burn in the pan as this will impart a nasty flavor to the finished crisps.

Remove the cheese crisps to a paper towel to drain. Repeat until all the cheese is used. You should get about eight crisps from this amount of grated cheese.

This next series of steps is to be done very quickly so have the rest of the ingredients prepped and close at hand.
Heat a small amount of olive oil in another cast iron skillet over medium heat.
Reserving 4 of the prawns, chop the remaining 6 prawns into small pieces.
When the pan is ready, add the minced garlic and stir until soft and aromatic, about 1 minute.
Add the chopped prawns and saute, stirring, until they turn pink, about 1 minute.
Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Immediately remove the garlic and prawns to a plate and return the pan to the heat.
Place the 4 reserved prawns in the pan and quickly sear until pink and barely cooked through, about 1 minute.
Add the orange juice and golden balsamic vinegar to the pan and allow to boil for about 1 minute. The liquid will thicken and the large prawns will finish cooking. Turn them during this time so they become coated with the glaze.
Remove the prawns from the pan.
Sprinkle the basil into the pan and stir briefly. Remove the pan from the heat.

To assemble:

Place a portobello mushroom, round side down, on a plate.

Spoon 1/2 of the chopped prawns into the mushroom cup.

Place 2 of the large, sauteed prawns over the chopped ones and drizzle 1/2 of the glaze with basil over it all.
Top with a cheese crisp.

Cook's Notes:
I can't stress enough the importance of not allowing the cheese oil to burn. If it does, a very nasty flavor will imbue rest of the crisps and it's very off-putting.
If I were to make this again, I might spoon the chopped prawn saute into the mushroom caps, top them with a grated cheese such as gruyere, place them in the oven long enough for the cheese to melt then continue with the rest of the steps.
I liked the cheese crisps but, if I were to do this again, I probably would use parmesan-reggiano instead. Why? I just like it better.


It's time once again for Weekend Herb Blogging, an event where food bloggers around the world post recipes featuring herbs and plants. Hosted this week by Ahn at her lovely blog Food Lover's Journey, this event was begun almost 2 years ago by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. If you're not familiar with WHB, click here to read how to join in the fun. Then check in with Ahn, from the land down under, on Monday for her international round-up.

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