Starter – shady morels

Broccolini with Garlic and Red Chilli

Broccolini and chilli form a killer combination. This dish is a go-to when you want something easy and delicious. Usually I pair this with some form of grilled meat and call it dinner. As I write this, I’m realizing it would make a perfect side for a beautiful porchetta roast, especially along with some braised fennel. After biking to work all summer, I think my heart has finally recovered enough from my last pork belly escapade to try that out soon too.

This recipe works well with either broccolini or broccoli rabe. I prefer broccoli rabe, but some people find it to be too bitter.

You can also chop it up, then add it to some orecchiette with some grated parmesan and a healthy dose of olive oil for an exceptionally easy and delicious pasta dinner.

Ingredients:

1 bunch broccolini or broccoli rabe (rapini)

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1/2 tbsp dried red chilli flakes

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Set a saute pan to medium heat, then add the olive oil and garlic. Sauté for about 30 seconds, then add the broccolini. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, then add the red chilli flakes. Cook for another 2 minutes, then add salt and pepper and remove from heat. The broccolini should have a bit of crunch left to it, so don’t overcook!

Enjoy!

Romesco Sauce

You can put this stuff on anything! There are a tonne of variations; for this one I just took one of the simplest recipes I could find and added roasted tomato and dried chilis.

I made a big batch last week, and it was gone within a few days. I put it on chicken, grilled veggies, in a grilled cheese, mixed it into a vinaigrette, and then I ran out of sauce, so even I do not know the full extent of its capability!

This sauce is even vegan, gluten free, and paleo. So it’s a great sauce to make if you have dietary restrictions.

For a quicker version, use canned roasted red peppers and fresh garlic. Omit the tomatoes.

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds fresh red bell peppers

2-3 ripe plum tomatoes

6 cloves of garlic

1.5 cups of fresh almonds

0.5 cup of good olive oil

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, or sherry vinegar if you have it

1 Tbsp dried red chilis

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees f. Place red peppers in a deep sided baking dish and roast for 15 minutes, flipping after about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and garlic, then roast for another 10 minutes. You want a nice char on the peppers, so don’t worry about burning it since they will be peeled.

2. Place the roasted peppers in a plastic bag and seal, set aside the tomatoes and garlic. This will steam the peppers and make them easier to peel. After about 10 minutes they will be cool enough to peel. Discard the skins, stems, and peels.

3. While the peppers are cooling, lightly toast the almonds in a sauté pan. Don’t burn them.

4. Toss all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a consistent paste. Don’t over do it, you still want some texture in the sauce.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Sauteed Morels

I’ve never made zucchini flowers before, but I came across some particularly handsome specimens at a local farmer’s market and decided to give it a try. They’re not cheap, but they’re pretty cool looking and I’ve been curious about them for a while.

All the recipes I’ve seen tend to stuff the zucchini flowers with a mixture of cheese and things, then tempura batter and fry it. This sounds delicious, but I hate frying at home, so I decided to simply sauté the zucchini flowers for an easier and healthier option. For the stuffing, the possibilities are endless. Just combine any mixture of cheese, garlic, shallots, herbs, etc. and it will be delicious. The peas were a nice touch to give the stuffing a little bit of bite and some nice springtime flavour.

The morels on the side were a nice touch, and I basically included them because we are nearing the end of the season here in the Pacific Northwest. I’ll continue to incorporate my favourite mushroom any chance I get, and this recipe works!

Ingredients:

6-8 Zucchini flowers

Half a cup of freshly shelled english peas

1/2 cup of fresh feta, I used Salt Spring Island Chili Feta

2 cloves of garlic, minced

A couple sprigs of mint, leaves chopped

Zest of one lemon

One red chili, finely chopped (optional)

Salt and pepper

Handful of morel mushrooms, cleaned of debris

Good knob of butter and a bit of olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine the peas, lemon zest, half of the garlic, and a pinch of kosher salt in a mortar and pestle. Crush to make a rough paste. You still want some peas to remain more or less intact, but just beat up a little bit. Fold in the feta, mint, and chili to finish the stuffing.

2. Prepare the zucchini flowers by gently pulling away the petals to reveal what is apparently called the stigma (if you google “flower parts” like I did, it should come up as the first photo result). Cut off the stigma, because apparently it’s bitter.

3. To stuff the zucchini flowers, load up a good dollop on a small spoon. With the zucchini flower on its side, gently pull away the top two petals and slide the spoon into the cavity. Use your finger to push the feta and pea mixture into the flower, and then close up the flower petals around it. Set aside so that you can get the morels started.

4. Heat a large stainless steel or cast iron pan to high heat, wait for it to get smoking hot, then add the morels to the pan dry. Make sure they are spaced well apart. After five minutes, give the pan a little toss to move the mushrooms around, then add a glug of olive oil, the butter, and remaining garlic. Sauté for another five minutes, keeping the mushrooms moving around a bit. Remove from the pan and season, then set aside.

5. Add a little more olive oil to the same pan with the morels now removed, and return to medium high heat. Delicately place the stuffed zucchini flowers in the hot pan and arrange so they are well spaced, you may need to work in batches. Cook on one side for 5-6 minutes undisturbed, then remove with a spatula. The stuffing will be barely contained by the zucchini flower at this point, so you’ll need show some finesse here.

6. To plate, I just haphazardly threw the morels on a plate, arranged the zucchini flowers on top in a parallel or crossed arrangement, then sprinkled some extra chopped mint and cracked pepper.

Enjoy!

Lemon Braised Fennel

Just a little Wednesday morning quickie.

This is a super simple dish! Serve it as a perfect side, add it to a risotto for an incredible depth of flavour, or just eat it for an amplified fennel experience. I served it as a separate course as part of a light Valentines dinner I made to serenade my better half.

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb, quartered 1 lemon

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 sprig of fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. Heat pan to medium high, add olive oil, and add the fennel. Flip once a nice golden brown colour is developed, then remove from heat.

2. Add chicken stock and lemon juice to pan, then add the shallot, garlic, lemon zest, and half of the thyme.

3. Braise for 45 minutes, then remove. Sprinkle with the remaining thyme leaves and a touch of olive oil. Crack some pepper over and serve.

Crostini of Fava Bean and Pea Puree with Sauteed Morel Mushrooms

This dish is meant to show off the morel mushroom in all it’s earthy glory. The fava bean and pea puree is exceptional on its own, but forms a fresh, spring inspired bright green canvas for the morel mushroom to unleash its complex umami flavour and unique texture. For me, this dish performs the perfect marriage of the quintessential spring vegetables. It’s food you savour with every bite, and you wonder how a simple combination of things could ever be so mind blowing. If you’re going to make anything from this blog, make this. Serve it as an appetizer, and people will lose their minds!

If you’ve never had the pleasure of eating a fresh morel mushroom before, I implore you to seek some out at a local farmer’s market and make this dish. You will have to go now because the season is extremely short, from mid May to early June in the Pacific Northwest. Fava beans can also be found at the same time, usually at green grocers from May to mid summer.

One day, I will write about a successful mushroom forage, where the bounty is consumed on the spot with a camping stove and a select combination of ingredients. This is the dream, but to date I have been completely unsuccessful in my morel foraging escapades. In the meantime, I will venture further and further into the woods in the pursuit of my namesake. They are elusive little buggers, but I will find them one day!

Ingredients:

For the fava bean puree:

1 lb fresh fava beans (aka broad beans) in their shell, about 12 total

1/2 cup shelled peas

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

3 sprigs of mint

Zest and juice of one lemon

1/2 cup shaved Pecorino Romano

1/2 cup high quality olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

To shell the fava beans is a two part process; it’s intimidating at first, but you’ll be flying through it in no time:

First, take the stem portion of the bean and pull back like you’re peeling a banana. A thin string should peel down the seam of the bean, allowing you to pull apart the sides more easily. Shell as you would a pea, and reserve the beans for part two.

Second, set a small pot of water to boil. Toss the shelled beans in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and toss into an ice bath, or rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. To peel the individual beans, hold the fava bean like a guitar pick, with the black line at the end of the bean facing outwards. With your other hand, make an incision right above the black line with your finger nail, and peel down the end. Now squeeze with the fingers holding the bean, and it will pop out into two firm pieces.

Disclaimer: they have a tendency to fly across the room when you are popping them out of the inner shell, but your aim will improve (maybe).

To make the puree:

1. Place all the ingredients with the exception of the olive oil and the Pecorino Romano into a food processor. Pulse on and off, until all the ingredients are roughly chopped.

2. Add the Pecorino Romano, and half of the olive oil, and pulse again a few times to combine. Do not puree to an indistinguishable mush, you want all the character and texture of each layer to come through.

3. Transfer to a bowl, and add the remaining olive oil, stir to combine. The result should look like this:

For the sauteed morels:

8-10 fresh black morels, or whatever variety you have access to

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove of garlic, peeled

1 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a cast iron pan to high heat, add morels to the pan and allow to cook dry for 5 minutes. Don’t overcrowd the pan, you want high dry heat to really bring out the mushroom flavour and aroma.

2. Add the olive oil, then toss the morels around a bit for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and garlic, and continue to move the morels around. Continue to saute for 2 minutes, then season and remove from heat.

To make the crostini:

Take a few slices of baguette or french bread, and lightly toast with some olive oil in the morel pan. Rub with a garlic clove sliced in half to finish.

To plate, spread a dollop of the fava bean puree over the crostini, then top with a few of the sauteed morels. Drizzle over some olive oil, and finish with some freshly cracked pepper and sea salt.

Enjoy!

Spicy Lemon Roasted Cauliflower

This is a shameless copy attempt at Nuba’s famous “Najib’s”, which are little cauliflower pieces spiced up and fried until crispy, then tossed with salt and lemon.

Fry if you prefer (I think the restaurant does), but I prefer to bake these to the point where charred edges start to form.

Serve it either in a mediterranean style wrap; on a platter with some olives, hummus, and pickled cabbage; or just eat it by itself!

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

1/2 tbsp ground cumin

1/2 tbsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp grape seed oil, or equivalent

1 tsp kosher salt

Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees C. Place a metal baking pan in the oven to pre-heat. Meanwhile, cut the cauliflower into 1″ pieces, toss in a bowl with the cumin, paprika, cayenne, and olive oil.

2. Remove the pan from the oven after about 5 minutes of pre-heating, and pour the cauliflower bowl into the pan. Make sure the cauliflower is well spaced, otherwise you effectively steam it instead of developing a crispy exterior. Looking from above, you should be able to see the bottom of the pan around each piece of cauliflower.

3. Leave the cauliflower undisturbed for 30 minutes. You will want to bottom edge to develop good caramelization, and a little char, which won’t happen with cauliflower if you keep it moving.

4. After 30 minutes of roasting, now give the cauliflower a toss. You may need to free some pieces with a spatula. Turn the oven to broil on high, and place the pan back into the oven and watch closely for about 5 minutes, or until you are satisfied with the colour. We are just trying to get a little bit of extra char on some of the extremities.

5. Remove from the oven, and toss the cauliflower in a bowl with the salt and lemon juice, and serve.

Enjoy!

Seared Scallops in a Coconut Curry Broth

I’m back! Rest assured, I have been doing plenty of cooking over the last three months but not so much writing. However, it now looks like I have enough material to keep a sustained stream of posts running for at least a couple months, so expect weekly updates henceforth!

It’s best to treat this as an appetizer. The overall cooking and prep time is minimal, so it’s a great first course when planning a meal for special occasions. I use a smaller 8″ pan that just fits enough scallops to still allow an individual sear on each, but prevents the coconut broth from over-reducing.

Serves two as an appetizer, but it will be a battle determining who gets to soak up the last drops of the broth.

Ingredients:

150g Scallops (the extra large ones)

1 Tbsp Curry powder (I used Madras)

1 Tbsp Olive oil

2/3 cup coconut milk

1 Shallot, minced

1 Thai red bird chile, roughly chopped

1 Lemongrass stalk, outer layers removed and cut into 4-5cm pieces

2-3 Chives, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp butter

2 Slices of good white bread

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cut the scallops in half, so that you create two cylinders out of one scallop instead of two half-moons. This also creates an even number of scallops, which is imperative when it comes time to share this dish with another. Coat each side of the scallop generously with the curry powder, sprinkle on some salt and pepper too. Heat a sauté pan to medium-high and add the olive oil. With some tongs, gently arrange the scallops in the pan, being careful to not overcrowd (or else they will steam and not sear). Sear for 1-2 minutes, then flip and add the coconut milk. Turn down heat to medium.

2. Immediately add the shallots, lemongrass, and chile to the pan and give it a light swirl to incorporate the ingredients. Continue to cook on medium for 2 minutes, then add the chives and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low while you get the toast ready.

3. Heat a separate pan to high for the toast. Butter the bread generously, place butter side down into the hot pan, and toast until the buttered side is crispy and golden, but the other side still has a lot of give.

4. Serve the scallops still in the pan with the coconut broth, with toast on the side to soak up the rest of the fragrant broth.

Enjoy!

Sous Vide Five Spice Pork Belly with Lime Emulsion

This dish was the result of an entire night dedicated to sous vide pork belly. Three variations were conceived based on the original base recipe, and this one emerged the unanimous favourite among the testers. It was an unforgettable experience, and I’m also grateful that I didn’t inadvertently put anyone into cardiac arrest by serving three courses of pork belly.

There were some amazing contrasts happening in this dish which prevented it from being too heavy. The richness of the pork belly was cut by the tart lime emulsion, and complimented by the exotic five spice. The crisp sear on the pork belly created a pleasing texture contrast to the melt-in-your-mouth delicateness of the sous vide pork. It really was an explosion of flavours and textures so this would best serve as a starter or tapas style dish, and would be overpowering as a main.

The basic method involved a five spice brine for 12 hours, followed by a 10 hour sous vide at 80 degrees C. The pork belly was exceptionally flavourful, tender, and juicy right out of the bath. Searing and serving with a complimentary sauce took it to a whole other level, and really showed the capabilities of the sous vide method.

For the brine:

1 L water

1 cup salt

1/8 cup Chinese five spice powder and 1 Tsp peppercorns in a cheesecloth satchel

2 Star Anise

For the pork belly:

500g good quality fresh pork belly, cut into 1 inch wide strips

1 Tbsp Chinese five spice powder

For the lime emulsion sauce:

3 Limes juiced, zest of 1 lime set aside

1 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Bring 1 L of water to a boil, remove from heat and add the salt, spice satchel, and the star anise. Let cool to room temperature.

2. Pierce pork belly with a knife all over. Place in brine and refrigerate for 12 hours.

3. Set sous vide to 80 degrees C. Rinse pork belly after the brine is complete to remove excess salt. Pat dry with a paper towel and season with the remaining five spice powder. Place the pork belly in a Zip-Loc bag and remove air with the water bath method. Ensure the Zip-Loc bag has a good seal, and place in the 80 degree C water bath for 10 hours.

4. Just before the sous vide bath is finished, combine the lime juice, sugar, and lime zest. Pour mixture into a small saucepan and simmer until reduced to a third. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter to emulsify. The sauce can be held tepid, and re-heated carefully when the pork is finished. Ensure the sauce is whisked while being re-heated.

5. After 10 hours in the sous vide bath, remove pork belly from Zip-Loc bag with some tongs and set aside. Place a small saucepan on high heat, wait for pan to be piping hot then sear pork belly for 90 seconds a side, or until a beautiful golden brown colour and crispy exterior has been achieved. The caramelization will actually happen quicker than you think at this point, so you will need to watch it to ensure the pork belly doesn’t burn.

6. Pour the lime emulsion into a shallow pasta dish, then top with the crispy pork belly. Garnish with julienned green onions, cilantro, or thai basil.

Enjoy!

Cod Cheeks with Sauteed Pea Greens, Wasabi Vinaigrette, and Crispy Shallot

Sometimes creativity is inspired out of a lack of choices, this is one of those cases. I had recently returned from a trip to God’s Pocket Resort, located North of Port Hardy, BC. Our fridge was nearly empty after returning, but I was keen to taste the bounty of the trip. This particular ling cod was caught on the way back from surfing a remote beach break on the West coast of Canada’s mainland. Catching the fish was a magnificent end to what was already an incredible and unique adventure.

Filleting a fish like this is no easy task for us novices, but the advantage is you can take some cuts typically unavailable at your local fish monger and especially rare at the supermarket. In this case I’m talking about the cod cheeks, but I’ve heard that salmon belly is quite delicious as well, stay tuned for future posts! Halibut cheeks are more readily available, and can be easily substituted in this recipe:

1 Shallot, thinly sliced

About 2 tbsp light olive oil, or grapeseed oil (a few glugs, technically speaking)

2 Cod (or halibut) cheeks

Good bunch of pea shoots

Wasabi vinaigrette, ingredients follow

Salt and pepper to taste

For wasabi vinaigrette:

1 Tbsp wasabi mayonnaise, (or 1 Tsp. wasabi paste + 1 tbsp mayonnaise)

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 Tbsp light olive oil or equivalent

Mix all vinaigrette ingredients together, whisk to combine, and set aside for use.

To make:

1. Preheat large saute pan to medium heat, add 1 tbsp of oil and the shallots. Saute shallots for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until a nice golden brown colour and crispy texture develops. If the shallots are browning too quickly, lower the heat. Keys are to keep the shallots spaced enough that oil surrounds each individual piece and to saute long enough to develop the crunchy texture. Set aside once cooked.

2. Heat the same pan to medium high, then add another small glug of olive oil. Season cod cheeks with salt and pepper, and saute for 5-6 minutes. These will cook quite quickly, so the challenge is to get some color without overcooking. Set aside once done.

3. Heat saute pan to high, then add pea shoots and toss for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add Wasabi vinaigrette to pan and toss a few times. Transfer to plate, and top with cod cheeks and crispy shallots. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!