Summertime Food

I love eating in the summer. Hell, I love eating during each and every season, but the fresh produce and the warm air of summertime lend themselves to good eating weather. Last weekend I headed up to Inverness to spend the night at a beach house rented by my good friends, J. and E. The house was amazing and they didn't ask me to chip any money in for my stay, so I decided to repay them in fine food. I packed up the car with a cooler, some bags, and three bottles of wine, and headed for the ocean.

I decided to make my olive tapenade, which is actually Thomas Keller's tapenade, but it is the best one I have ever tasted. I love it because the flavors are so fresh, and if you use good quality olive oil it is so delicious. This is great as a sandwich spread, on crackers or veggies, or on fresh bread with cheese. I don't want to post the entire recipe here since I'm sure it is copyrighted - but if you want to shoot us an email at lawyereats@gmail.com I might be persuaded to send it to you ;). The big difference between this tapenade and others I have made is that he makes a garlic confit first - he boils garlic in canola oil for about 40 minutes, at just a tiny boil, until the garlic is soft and infused with the oil. Then he mixes a tablespoon of that, chopped up, in with pitted nicoise olives, some anchovy (I use paste), a little dijon, and olive oil, processes it, and then stirs in more olive oil along with fresh parsley and chives. I use less olive oil then he asks for. It is simple and OH so delicious.

Next I made one of my favorite appetizers, suggest to me by someone over on the Cooks Illustrated board (though it is not a CI recipe). The recipe is Spicy Shrimp Remoulade on Molasses-Buttered Toasts, from Epicurious. The key to this recipe is finding the westphalian style pumpernickel bread, not spreading too much butter on them, and not baking them too long. If you cook them too long they become SUPER toasted and they are inedible - I have made this mistake once. I made the toasts ahead of time, along with the sauce, and mixed fresh beautiful shrimp into the sauce day of before I left for the ocean. I just cooked my shrimp in a little hot water in skillet until it was pink. I think this recipe would taste almost better with lobster but I've never tried it......

Spicy Shrimp Remoulade on Molasses-Buttered Toasts
Bon Appétit July 2005

Molasses butter
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons light molasses
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Remoulade sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons finely chopped celery
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
2 1/2 teaspoons drained prepared white horseradish
2 teaspoons minced shallot2 teaspoons ketchup
2 teaspoons whole grain Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

24 1 1/2-inch rounds or squares cut from Westphalian-style pumpernickel bread slices

8 ounces cooked peeled medium shrimp, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

For molasses butter: Using fork, mix all ingredients in small bowl to blend.
For remoulade sauce: Mix first 12 ingredients in medium bowl.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Spread molasses butter lightly over bread; arrange in single layer on baking sheet. Bake until bread begins to firm up, about 10 minutes. Cool.
Mix shrimp into remoulade sauce. Top toasts with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with chives. Place toasts on platter.
-----

Next I made a family recipe, roasted peppers with olive oil and parmesan. I buy bags of small sweet peppers at Costco, though I've seen them as well (for an INSANE price) at whole foods. Basically they look like little red, orange, and yellow jalapenos but they aren't hot at all. The secret to this recipe is to buy as many orange/yellow peppers, and as few red peppers, as you possibly can. For some reason the orange/yellow peppers roast MUCH better than the red ones. I find that the red ones are almost impossible to peel. Get them home and spread them on a cookie sheet. Turn the oven up to 350/400 - and roast them until they are soft and the skin begins to blister. Then throw them all into a paper bag for about a half hour, with the top closed. This will help the skins to release and will make them easier to peel.

Peeling the peppers is really the most painful part of this recipe - but it is so worth it. I get a bowl and a spoon and pour the peppers back onto the baking sheet. I find the easiest way to peel them is to get your thumb inbetween the skin and the pepper in one area and work your way over the whole pepper, then pop the skin off in one piece. Getting the little peels off one at a time is too much of a pain. Use the spoon to scrape the seeds out of the inside of the pepper, as they are bitter. Once you have them all peeled, run a knife and fork through the bowl a few times to get them all into bite-sized pieces.

Next I mix in the tasty ingredients. I just guess on this until it tastes right, so these are estimates - I would say for one cereal bowl of peppers, add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, 1/4 a cup of olive oil, a tiny clove of garlic crushed or minced, three tablespoons of grated/shredded parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. You can add more olive oil if you think it needs it. You can also make this with your favorite jarred roasted peppers, but really nothing tastes as good as the freshly roasted sweet peppers.

To go along with all of this I made a quick crostini - a big loaf of Acme bread, sliced thin, with garlic infused olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan on top. I stuck them in the oven until crisp and then put them all in a big ziplock bag. I also brought along two hunks of good cheese - humbodlt fog goat (my favorite!) and a super-sharp gouda. Lastly, I threw in a salami and a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans into the mix.

Needeless to say we all ate and drank well that night, and I've been munching on the leftovers all week. Three cheers to summer time eating!!

Emilia

Badda Bing - Squid Vicious!!!

So two Fridays ago I went to the Badda Bing class at Hip Cooks. As usual, it was totally fun and I had a great time making conversation with my classmates and perfecting my knife skills. The menu was not my favorite, though. The first course, watermelon, feta, cilantro and olive salad, was fabulous. It's super easy too. Just cut watermelon into chunks, sprinkle on the feta (or just put chunks of it on top), add fresh cilantro, fresh mint and a few pitted olives on there in an artful fashion, and then put a bit of salt and a dash of olive oil and/or balsamic reduction which you can buy at TJ's. It was really delicious and very pretty.

The squid stuffed with squid ink risotto in roasted pepper marinara sauce was not as great, largely because it was a case of "too many cooks spoil the broth". Risotto takes a lot of patience, and by the time we started on it we all had a glass of wine and were chatting and making conversation, and three people took turns stirring the risotto over each pass of adding liquid, and I think the focus risotto requires just wasn't there. So it wasn't very creamy or dreamy like the risotto I had at Farfalla last week. The squid ink was interesting though and I am now not afraid to make squid. It's really easy if you buy it pre-cleaned and poach it in any sauce you like, and you can easily stuff it with rice or whatever, too. The reason I went to this class was to learn how to cook squid since I'm such a fan of it, so that mission was accomplished. And the main course was not unedible by any means-- it was tasty, I just think the texture of the risotto could have been better.


The dessert was also not my cup of tea- a chocolate polenta cake. I am not a big polenta person and the grittiness of the polenta was unappetizing to me.


For wine, we drank Pinot Grigio as I had predicted. It was nice and went well with all the food.


All in all, another great time at Hip Cooks and a great learning experience. I now feel empowered that I can easily go buy some squid at Fish King or Whole Foods, whip up a delicious marinara sauce, poach the heck out of those squids, and serve a delicious and impressive dish-- all without looking at a recipe. I love that feeling-- empowered to just use ingredients and make good food in a no-stress fashion. One of these days though I'll have to suck it up and buy a good knife. Sigh!


By the way, I heard that Hip Cooks is opening a new site on the Westside, so all of you West L.A. folks will be able to gain easier access to my favorite cooking school.


Really excited to hit up Thrill of the Grill 2 with Emilia in a couple of weeks!



:-P

Tips!

Indeed! And I must say, this little webspace was meant to be a wonderland of all things gourmet/foodie/etc. in Emilia and Patch world, a world which is abundant with aforementioned things gourmet/foodie/etc. Never was it meant to solely be a vastly superior version of Zagat! ;-) I know, I know that's what it seems like, but you have to trust me on this. Especially the vastly superior part. Just kidding. Zagat provides a fine service that I have utilized in the past.

On that token, I have a great tip, too, which my mother taught me. If you need to chop fresh spices up quickly, put them in a little cup or glass and use scissors to quickly mince them up. Then use your hand to scoop them out. Quick and easy. I do it on fresh basil leaves all the time. As always, your hands have to be clean.

:-P

hipcooks: Cooking from the Hip

When I first moved to L.A. last fall to start my real adult life as a real adult lawyer (eeeek!) one of the things on my to-do list, along with practicing fastidious car maintenance and making my new apartment a haven of comfort and style, was to learn how to cook. Loving food so much, I have always been intrigued by the mystery of cooking. I figured it's about time I demystified it and learned how to do it myself. I had only cooked a couple of real things before (not counting eggs and sandwiches) and really enjoyed it, but I wanted to learn to cook without recipes, to cook from the heart and with whatever is in the fridge, to know how to cook a piece of fish or whip up an impressive dinner on the fly. I also love having people over, and therefore I fancy myself one of those people who say they just loooove entertaining (doesn't it sound glamorous?). Coming to L.A., I decided I was ready to become that woman who has her friends over for raucous dinner parties and exciting cocktail soirees.

I'm still working on these goals, but I have made great strides in learning to be a real cook thanks to HipCooks. Run by the entrepreneurial Monika and her small team out of a loft in the Brewery District by downtown L.A., HipCooks offers a variety of themed classes (everything from sushi to Persian) seven days a week and twice a day on weekends. You show up to the loft for the class you sign up for online (they fill up really fast...oh man, why, why am I giving them publicity?!) and the classes have anywhere from five to twenty people, usually with a wide range of cooking experience. You all gather around a giant round wooden counter and whoever is teaching that day goes through the menu of the class. Usually there are a few starters, a main dish, and dessert. The proper booze for the meal is also discussed and opened.

Then we get to cooking. The class is taught with a combination of demonstration and participation, and usually there is a knife skills segment. The class mantra is stress-free cooking with healthy, non-processed (but not low cal or low fat, hallelujah) ingredients and using your creativity in the kitchen to make food to your taste to share with friends. There is also an emphasis on entertaining, having a dinner party, etc. After the meal is all done, we pour the wine or whatever we are drinking and sit around a large dining table and eat the meal we have just prepared- which every time has been delicious. Conversation is had, and a couple of days later the recipes are emailed to you, although you are encouraged to use them more for ingredients and refreshing your memory and cook from memory if possible to really "get" the recipe in your repetoire. All the food, drinks and instruction cost $55 per class, which you pay in advance on their website.

It's FUN FUN FUN! And I have learned sooo much. I love it.

Tonight, I am going to the Badda Bing class, which is a follow up to Veni Vidi Vici. Both of these are Italian-inspired classes. The menu for tonight is watermelon salad with feta, cilantro and olives; squid stuffed with squid ink risotto in a tomato-pepper sauce; and chocolate polenta cake for dessert. "A light Italian, white wine" will be served (dollars to donuts it's Pinot Grigio, my beloved!). I will definitely write about it.

The other classes I have been to are:

My First Class: Bastille Day - Summer in Paris

Their description: "Ooooh la la! Strolling along the Seine, smelling the flowers. Time to duck into a warm French bistro for a hearty meal? Here is a French menu that is as easy as a breeze that whispers Louise Moulle! Or mussels, in wine, parsley, garlic and lemon The most wonderful hearty Coq au Vin, with a new twist - with tarrgon, wine, grapes and bok choy Pots de creme au chocolat for dessert, and Chateauneuf de Pape to drink, mais oui!"

The coq au vin was absolutely wonderful. It was served with crusty bread. The chicken was tender and delicious. The recipe was fun and a great introduction to cooking with booze. I still haven't had a chance to make it for anyone, but I hope to very soon, especially since I have a wounded soldier red wine bottle in my fridge that is begging to be cooked (it was a very old Burgundy and when I opened it it had gone bad...now it shall be reincarnated as tasty food!!!). The pot de creme au chocolat was also delicious.

My Favorite: A Cocktail Party

Their description: "Attention Hipsters! Let's get together for an evening of creative and fun nibbles perfect to effortlessly throw an outrageous cocktail party. Learn to whip up the Perfect Martini Vanilla Martini, Hipcooks Mojito, Caiprinhas, Lemon drops, with fresh ginger, and a dessert drink, if you behave. Nibbles: Candied nuts Warm crab dip Leek and goat cheese tartlets Crisp potato cakes with goat cheese and thyme Endive gorgonzola and roast pear Cups with caviar, crème fraiche and chive Warm goat cheese & nut-stuffed, proscuitto-wrapped dates Polenta slices with asparagus Tuna tartar on cucumber strips with wasabi roe Dark Chocolate Hearts with Raspberry cream"

This class was FABULOUS. Not only did I learn how to perfect my cocktail skills and discover the UNIVERSAL SECRET TO ALL COCKTAILS (if you're really nice, I'll tell you sometime), but also I learned to make fabulous and surprisingly easy little appetizers which I actually made, with smashing success, for my wine tasting party a few weeks back- namely the tartlet (which I made with whie wine sauteed mushrooms) and the tuna tartar appetizer. Loved it.

Latest Class: The Thrill of the Grill


Their description: "Are you intimidated by everyone’s favorite summertime stove? No need! Let's cook a delightful and delicious meal as yummy and flavorful as summer itself. It's a snap! Gazpacho Andaluz with garlicky croutons Grilled pork loin with a pomegranate glaze / grilled stuffed chicken with pomegranate sauce Fruited and herbed tabbouleh Grilled peaches stuffed with amaretto marscapone Pinot Noir to drink.... or should we make Sangria? OK, both!"

This was a great class and it was really fun to learn some grilling fundamentals and spend half the class outside. Like the other classes, this one took all the mystery and intimidation out of the cooking situation, here the grill. The food was delicious. The gazpacho was amazingly simple and super tasty, I will definitely do it for myself sometime. I also hope to make the grilled peaches as a treat next time a friend invites me to a grillfest, as they were very easy and absolutely delicious. We also learned a quick and dirty sangria that I would definitely throw together for friends in a pinch.

Stay tuned for posts about my lovely HipCooks cooking classes as time goes on. Emilia can write what she thinks, too, as she is joining me in September for Thrill of the Grill 2 at Hipcooks: "Andalusian garlic & almond soup with green grapes - the soup you MUST try; Grilled marinated ribeye with tapenade and chimichurri (an Argentinian sauce); Zuchini parcels stuffed with portobello mushrooms; Apple and peach crumble with vanilla ice cream". Hurray!

:-P

100 Easy Summer Meals - Thank you Mark Bittman

I came across this fabulous article in the New York Times today - Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less. It sparked my creative juices for cooking, and Patch's too! So we each went through and picked out three recipes, which we are committed to trying before Sep. 1. We will report back our results and our favorites.

Patch's choices are:

- 3 Cut eight sea scallops into four horizontal slices each. Arrange on plates. Sprinkle with lime juice, salt and crushed chilies; serve after five minutes.

- 65 Sauté squid rings and tentacles in olive oil with salt and pepper and garlic; add chopped tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes break down. Serve over pasta.

- 81 Combine crab meat with mayo, Dijon mustard, chives and tarragon. Serve in a sandwich, with potato chips.

She plans to serve them all at a dinner party - first course of mini crab sandwiches, second course of scallops, third course the pasta, with Chardonnay.

My choices are:

- 53 Put a tablespoon of cream and a slice of tomato in each of several small ramekins. Top with an egg, then salt, pepper and grated Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees until the eggs set. Serve with toast.

- 37 Frisée aux lardons: Cook chunks of bacon in a skillet. Meanwhile, make six-minute or poached eggs and a frisée salad. Put eggs on top of salad along with bacon; deglaze pan with sherry vinegar and pour pan juices over all.

- 11 Warm olive oil in a skillet with at least three cloves sliced garlic. When the garlic colors, add at least a teaspoon each of cumin and pimentón. A minute later, add a dozen or so shrimp, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley, serve with lemon and bread.

I will probably just make these for myself for dinner - maybe I will make the top one next week for my roommate and I, as she is a vegetarian.

Stay tuned for updates on our adventures in easy summer cooking ;) After reading this article, I am officially starving......good thing I am going to Piccino tonight!

Emilia

Perfect Pasta Salad (thanks Pam Smart!)

The pasta salad I made for our family bbq is from a cookbook by Pam Smart, called CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day. Its a GREAT cookbook. She is a former editor of Cooks Illustrated, which is one of my favorite resources, and her books read and work like a more gentle, less scientific version of the CI books. This particular book gives you a basic recipe for something - say, waffles - and then gives you easy variations on the basic recipe. Her waffle variations include cornmeal, blueberry, chocolate chip, etc etc.

She does the same thing for pasta salad, and her method has become my pasta salad bible, if you will. I'm not sure if one NEEDS a bible for pasta salad but it can't hurt, right?

Here is her method:

1. Cook 1 pound of pasta - small shapes like penne, fusilli, ziti, rotelle, etc.
   
2. Prepare 2 pounds of key ingredients - cooked and raw veggies, beans, seafood, mild cheeses
3. Add intense flavors - cured meats, stronger cheeses, nuts, olives
4. Add onions and herbs
5. Add dressing - she offers several different variations for use in italian, asian, and greek pasta salads, amongst others

The salad I made for the bbq on Sunday used tri-color rotini. The key ingredients were celery, garbanzos, roasted red peppers, bell pepper, artichoke hearts, and mozarella. For intense flavors, I added pepperoni, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. I used a half of a red onion, parsley, and oregano. For the dressing I used her creamy vinaigrette - Sartini olive oil from Trader Joe's (my favorite cheap oo), fresh garlic, dijon, lemon juice, sea salt and fresh-ground pepper. It was DELICIOUS.

The only thing that I disagree with P. Smart on is when to dress the salad. She says to put the dressing on no sooner than 15 minutes before you serve. I find that putting it on an hour or two before, and chilling the salad, then bringing it closer to room temperature before serving really melds all the flavors together. In fact, I like it almost better the next day.

The book gives specific recipes for 7 or so different pasta salads, and then a list of possible ingredients so that you can design your own. The book has terrific recipes for waffles, chocolate cake, and brownies, but I think it is worth it just for the section on pasta salad. Her recipes are fresh, full of great ingredients, and they come out right every time, because her instructions are SO easy to follow.

Click Here for a USA Today article by Pam Smart, describing her pasta salad method. It includes some free recipes for a few of her dressings.

Cheers!

Em