Good Food on KCRW.com

John Pleshette's Sea Scallops with Chive Buerre Blanc

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:50:33 -0700

Thanks to actor and foodie John Pleshette for his delicious recipes of the week:

Sea Scallops with Chive Buerre Blanc

Serves 6

12 sea scallops
2 green onions
1 lemon
1/2 cup of white wine
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of tarragon
1 stick of sweet butter (1/4 lb)
1 bunch of chives

Mince the white part of the green onions. Place in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the juice of one lemon, 1/2 cup of white wine, salt, thyme, tarragon and a few grindings of white pepper.

Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer. Reduce until there is about 1/4 cup of liquid. Strain into a bowl, then return the liquid to the saucepan.

Cut the butter into thumbnail-sized pieces and put on a plate.

Dry the scallops thoroughly between several layers of papers towels. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large frying pan over a high flame. Add a splash of vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. The butter will melt and foam.

When the foam subsides, add the scallops. Saute about 2 minutes a side. Place scallops on a warm plate while you finish the sauce.

Mince the chives. You should have about 2/3 cup.

Heat lemon-wine reduction over a medium flame. Remove from the heat and beat in the butter, a few pieces at a time, with a wooden spoon.

Stir in the chives.

Divide the scallops into six servings, two per plate. Spoon the buerre blanc over the scallops.

Cellarwise wine pairing

Well-chilled bottles of white wine are parachuting into the parking lot in hopes of being paired with this dish. Because there’s richness, sweetness, and acidity at play here. Your white needs to be on the crisp side but with weight as well. Chef john’s first thought was Austrian Gruner Veltliner.

The ‘07s from Allram are special wines. Look for the Kamptal Strassertaler ($11) or Kamptal Strasser Gaisberg ($17). Brundlmeyer, Pichler and Hirtzberger are equally respected producers. Riesling is a classic match for beurre blanc and scallops, Australian being the way I’d go, such as the ’07 Leasingham Clare Valley “Magnus” ($11or the ’08 St. Hallett Eden Valley ($14). A crisp, flinty chardonnay would shine as well, and my first choice is the hard to find ’07 Crowley Willamette Valley Maresh Vineyard (Oregon, $22), which is worth the search. Alternately, look for the ‘07 Christian Moreau Chablis or the ’07 Joseph Drouhin Chablis (both from France, both $22).

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John Pleshette's Chicken Legs with Leeks and Cauliflower

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:58:46 -0700

Thanks to chef and actor John Pleshette's for his meal of the week recipes.

Chicken Legs with Leeks and Cauliflower

Chicken Legs with Leeks and Cauliflower
Serves 6

6 chicken legs, legs and thighs separated
2 leeks
1 medium cauliflower
Butter
Flat leaf parsley

Dry chicken with paper towels. Salt and pepper skin side.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a deep-sided frying pan with a lid. When butter stops foaming, brown legs and thighs, skin side first. Turn, salt and pepper, and brown the other side for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, trim the root ends and green part from the leeks. Split lengthwise. Rinse under lukewarm water to remove dirt. Drain. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Cut flowerets off the cauliflower. Larger pieces should be split lengthwise; smaller pieces, scored on the bottom with a sharp knife.

When the chicken is browned, remove to a plate. Pour off some of the fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the pan.

Put leeks in the pan, lower the heat, cover. Sweat for about 5 minutes. leeks should be translucent, but not browned.

Add chicken and cauliflower to the pan. Cover. Cook on a low flame for 5-7 minutes or until the cauliflower is firm but tender.

Trim stems from parsley and scatter over the chicken.

CellarWise Wine Pairing
This is simple, refined, and versatile as a dish, with older rather than younger cultural roots, and I think you should look for the same thing in the wines you might pour with it. My first instinct was Rhone Syrah like Crozes Hermitage or St. Joseph, but a better match (and value) might be a rural red blend from farther south. The ripe ’07 Delas Cotes du Ventoux ($10)is a good bet, as would be the rich, angular ’07 Domaine des Lauribert Vin de Pays de Vaucluse ($8). White works here as well, and the ’08 Domaine Pajot Cotes de Gascogne “Quatre Cepages” ($9) might be the dish’s soul mate. A fun alternate from Spain is the lighter, more floral ‘07 Casa Solar Viura Vino de la Tierra de Castilla ($7). Enjoy.

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Pie-a-Day #1 - Cashew Bastilla

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:44:23 -0700

Bastilla

My first pie of the summer is on its way to a (hopefully) happy client and her friends. I've been making this recipe for years out of Kitty Morse's Vegetarian Table: North Africa which is filled with wonderful recipes. When I get permission to reprint the recipe I will, but it's worth it to buy the book. Bastilla is the traditional Moroccan savory filo pie. Usually it's filled with a mixture made of braised pigeon or chicken and scrambled eggs, scented with lots of yummy spices. Using cashews instead of meat is a nice touch especially since the nuts are very rich and meaty. It may sound weird to have a pie made of eggs but believe me, once the filling is encased in layers of buttery, filo dough, cooked to shattering crispness and topped with a blanket of powdered sugar...well, let's just say that Bastilla is an addiction. It's that sweet, savory, crunch thing. Here's the menu that accompanied the pie.

Moroccan Grazing Menu
Eggplant Salad with Capers and Heirloom Tomato Sauce
Moroccan Carrot Salad with Weiser's Rainbows
Corn and Date Salad
Beet and Tomato Salad with Onion and Lemon Vinaigrette
Chicken Charmoula Skewers
Fattoush

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Recipe Tweets

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:24:48 -0700

Do you know what this means:

Honeyed Tagine: brwn lb/500g yam or lamb/T oil&butter/t tumeric&ging&s+p&cinn; +c onion&carrot9m; +c broth/3T honey/9prune. Cvr~h@400F/205C.

That's a Twitter message (or tweet) from Irish woman Maureen Evans as featured in The New York Times. She's tweeting these mini, abbreviated recipes.

This week on Good Food, listen to my conversation with Wired magazine Senior Editor Mark McClusky about this convergence of Food and Technology.

And you can follow me on Twitter.

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Evan's Forte Salad Dressing Recipe

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:38:23 -0700

The most popular salad dressing at Angeli started out as the dressing my mom made every single day of my childhood. Of course then she make it with Wesson Oil and Green Can Shake Cheese, but it was still delicious. The "secret" if there is one is the heavy hand with both garlic and Parmesan.

Forte Dressing

Garlic to Taste (I use 1 clove for every two people)
Salt
Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Using a garlic press, puree the garlic into the salad bowl. Add a bit of salt and mix together with the garlic using the back of a wooden spoon. Add oil, then vinegar ( use a 2/3 oil to 1/3 vinegar mix). Add a handful of grated cheese. Stir.
Don’t apologize to anyone for your garlic breath.

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Noah's Pudding - An Ark of Taste

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:24:42 -0700

Good Food producer Gillian Ferguson recently reported from the Anatolian Food & Culture festival in Orange county. When she returned home, she couldn't get a certain Turkish delight out of her mind:

Ashure, more often referred to as Noah's Pudding, is jam-packed with flavor and has an even richer history to boot.

Ashure means the number 10 in Arabic and traditionally there are 10 ingredients in the pudding. Folklore however tells a different story. The name Noah's Pudding refers to the story of Noah's Ark and it's often said that 40 ingredients are incorporated into the dish. Legend has it that when the ark came to rest on a mountain (believed to be Mount Ararat in

Ashure

Turkey) Noah's family prepared a celebratory meal. Culling all the ingredients that were left on the ship and tossing them into a large pot this famous dessert was born. Just like the pudding itself, the legend of Noah's Pudding has many variants, but in every household the tradition involves sharing the dessert with friends and loved ones.

Sema Hasmer who cooked enough Ashure to feed 500 guests at the festival last weekend was kind enough to share her recipe. Invoking the Turkish habit of göz kararı, or what we might call eyeballing, she says no two Ashure are ever the same and all recipes are approximations with room to embellish. The following recipe makes approximately 8 servings.

Noah's Pudding (Ashure)

2 1/2 cups barley
1 cup chickpeas
1 cup dried beans
dried apricots
dried figs
raisins
sugar (roughly 1 part barley to 3 parts sugar)
hazelnuts (finely chopped)
walnuts (finely chopped)
cinnamon

Common additions include, but are not limited to, apple rind, orange zest, pistachios, rose water and pomegranate seeds for decoration.

Soak barley and beans overnight. The following day fill a pot with water (1 parts barley to 4 parts water, in this case 10 cups water) and bring to a gentle boil. Cook the barley over low heat, stirring frequently, until just tender and the water is thickened. The liquid will be gooey and white. Add chickpeas and beans and continue to simmer. Continue to stir as beans cook.

Like cooking a risotto, add the following ingredients slowly while stirring. Add apricots, figs and raisins stirring between additions to incorporate each ingredient. Finally add the sugar and continue to simmer to your liking. Taste and adjust recipe as needed. Top with walnuts, hazelnuts, cinnamon and if you wish, pomegranate seeds.

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Guinness Cookies

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:19:54 -0700

Guinness

If you're prepping for Saint Patrick's Day and you want to move away from green beer, try cooking with Guinness, that iconic Irish stout. The folks at Chow.com have some recipes on their website. Here's a taste:

1 bottle stout
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup light molasses
Powdered sugar, for dusting

An hour before baking, open the bottle of stout and measure out 3/4 cup. (You will not use the whole bottle: Cover the spout and refrigerate the leftover stout for up to one week, to use in other recipes, such as beef stew or a steamed pudding.) Let the 3/4 cup stout stand for a full hour at room temperature, stirring occasionally, to allow the stout to go flat.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F if you are using a dark-cast metal pan). Grease and flour a 12-cup fluted tube pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugars until fluffy, 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs and beat for 30 seconds. Add the molasses and slowly blend.
On low speed, add the flour mixture in three portions, alternating with the stout, and mixing for 30 seconds on medium speed after each addition. After the last addition, beat gently just until evenly incorporated, only about 1 minute. Do not overmix.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven until the top springs back when touched and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then invert onto the rack to finish cooling. Transfer to a serving platter, dust with sieved powdered sugar, and serve warm or at room temperature.

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Monkfish with Spinach And Root Vegetables

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:23:25 -0800

Monkfish with Spinach and Root Vegetables

Guest Blogger John Pleshette has a wonderful meal for us this week. John says that the Monkfish is so easy to make that he included accompaniments, spinach and root vegetables.

Monkfish with Spinach And Root Vegetables

2 lb fillet of monkfish
Olive oil
Fresh thyme
4 small turnips
4 small new potatoes
4 medium carrots
2 bunches of fresh spinach
4 cloves of garlic
Butter
Italian parsley
Chives

For The Vegetables

Bring a large sauce pan of water to a boil. Salt generously.

Choose vegetables that are approximately the same size. Peel and trim.

Put in the potatoes and carrots first. Boil gently for 5 minutes. Add the turnips. Boil for about 10 more minutes or until the vegetables are easily pierced with a small, sharp knife. Test them separately and take out each vegetable as it is done.

If preparing ahead of time, plunge vegetables in a sinkful of cold water. Drain in a collander.

Otherwise, drain the vegetables in a collander. Add 3 Tbsps of butter to the saucepan. Return the vegetables to the pan and swirl around to coat with butter. Sprinkle with a handful of chopped parsley and chives.

For The Monkfish

Allow the fish to reach room temperature before cooking. Season with sea salt and freshly ground white pepper.

Heat 1/2 cup of olive oil in a frying pan just large enough for the fish. When the oil is quite hot, slip monkfish fillet into the oil and brown lightly on both sides.

Reduce the heat to low and after a minute, add several sprigs of fresh thyme. Poach the monkfish in the olive oil for another 10 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally with tongs. The fish is done when a knife inserted to the center feels warm against your bottom lip.

Remove to a warm serving platter and allow to rest while you cook the spinach.

For The Spinach

Before you start to cook the fish, dump spinach in a sinkful of cold water. Trim off the stems and drain in a collander.

Peel the garlic and slice into thin pieces.

Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 tbsps of butter in a saute pan. When the butter is hot, add the garlic slices.

As soon as you smell the garlic, add the spinach. Salt generously and keep turning over with tongs until the spinach has collapsed but is still a vibrant green.

Surround the Monkfish with the vegetables and spinach.

Serves 4

Cellarwise Wine Pairing

These days it’s not very fashionable to recommend California chardonnay in serious food/wine pairing situations, but it’s a good choice here. The richness of the monkfish calls for more weight not less, and the spinach provides its own challenge, so chardonnays with tropical fruit notes, good cool-climate acidity, and minimal oak are the way to go. Regionally, look for Sonoma County (including Sonoma Coast & Russian River Valley), Monterey (including Santa Lucia Highlands), and Santa Barbara (including Santa Rita Hills) bottlings of non-reserve status (more affordable, less oak). As a value pour try the ’07 Chateau St Jean Sonoma county ($11), or for a few bucks more go for the excellent ’07 Bueller Russian River Valley ($15). The ’06 Logan Monterey county sleepy hollow vineyard ($20) is always solid, if you can find it try the unique ’07 mount Eden Monterey county ($18) as it should excel here. The ’07 Four Vines Santa Barbara county “naked” ($12) offers a more crisp version of the attributes we’re after, or go with the prototypical ’06 Sanford Santa Barbara county ($18). Enjoy.

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Cabbage Soup Diet?

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:02:54 -0800

We've received a lot of email about Mark Peel's Cabbage Soup (Good Food 1/24/09). A listener named Marc recently wrote wrote:

"To the carrot slices and celery heart in Mark Peel's cabbage soup recipe I added a scoop of bean sprouts (the soup mix) from Dexter Scott's "Jazzy Sprouts" (at many of the farmers markets in L.A., including Hollywood). Terrific. Also, personally I like picante so I added dried jalapeños."

If you tried one of the recipes featured on the show, share your experience with us. Email us and, if you want, send us a photo.

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Inauguration Day: The Popover.

nobody@vox.com(Good Food on KCRW) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:35:23 -0800

Popovers

The exuberance of the Popover: a dish fit for the explosive sense of pride that Tuesday brings.

Thinking about Inauguration Day food festivities all of a sudden I realized that this can’t be a beer and popcorn afternoon grazing session, or late night ice cream buffet. No, Inauguration Day is a morning celebration. We need to begin Tuesday morning with a bang; with a dish worthy of taking a day off to immerse ourselves in simple happiness. The popover popped into my mind (yes, I did actually think that). When was the last time you had a popover? I don’t know any friends who make them regularly. I admit to occasionally running into Neiman Marcus just to have a bite of eggy, chewy, buttery, goodness with a bit of butter beaten with jam. It’s that bit of jam that puts the popover into high gear. Now is the time to crack open that jar of special friend-made or artisanal farmers market preserves. Lay out an assortment of jams, jellies and preserves, maybe some lemon wedges, powdered sugar and if you want to be decadent some fresh ricotta whipped with a bit of sugar till super smooth in the food processor. Dust some cinnamon on top. Yum, no….YUM.

Popovers can be scary to make, and sometimes the pop fizzles. I’ve found that this King Arthur recipe with pictures and detailed explanation works really well. Popovers are such a hopeful bread.

Popovers

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