Jakob's Bowl

Improvisation On A Theme Of Four Flavors

I still remember my first meal at the China Moon Café in 1987. I was in my firm’s San Francisco office as part of my weekly Chicago to Tampa to San Francisco and back circle that I endured for over three months that year. It was a Thursday night and one of our Chicago Partners was also in town. She had been instrumental in hiring me five years earlier and knew that I liked good food. She asked me if I had ever been to China Moon, and while I had been cooking from Barbara Tropp’s, The Modern Art Of Chinese Cooking for a few years,  I had never been to her restaurant. I didn’t need to be asked twice to eat in her cooking. A few hours later we were sharing some of the most heavenly Chinese food I had ever eaten at the time, and I will never forget the velvety texture of her scallops…mmmm! She had obviously worked as hard to master the country's cuisines as she had its language and culture, and it was encouraging to confirm that skill in an ethnic cuisine had nothing to do with ethnicity.

Seeing Spots

I was in one of my favorite markets Tuesday night, just north of the city, to pick up a bottle of inky black Cahors wine from the French Southwest, and I will typically walk past the seafood counter just to see if anything interesting was available. At first, didn’t look like there was anything special, but then I spied those little reddish/brown little gems on ice, and the sign read Fresh Spot Prawns: U.S. Wild. I thought that the season had ended in December or early January, but I was wrong. As it turned out there were four areas in which the fishery were still open, that is, until Sunday, February 28th at 4 PM local time. I had managed to stumble into the last Spots (Pandalus platyceros ) of the season in Alaska.

What we call Spot Prawns are technically called Spot Shrimp, and I was so excited because along with the  Coonstripe Shrimp (Pandalus hypsinotis), they are just about the only members of the shrimp/prawn congregation that I will now eat in these days of toxic shrimp farming, not infrequent counterfeiting, and rampant use of preservative washes. These two species inhabit our side of the Pacific from the North Pole to Baja and there are significant fisheries in various areas of Alaska and British Columbia. The Southeast Alaska fishery is well regulated and conducted with pots, which are considered to be one of the most sustainable methods of shrimping. The Spot is named for the paired white spots behind its head and near its tail. Most begin life as males and eventually transform into females – the females molt into special shells that allow them to carry as many as 4000 bright reddish-orange eggs underneath their body.

They are sold live, fresh, and frozen, head on and head off. They vary in size and head-on are often as big as 12 per pound. Over the last half dozen years, I have only occasionally seen them that big in the markets, and only once live here in Seattle. When fresh, they cook up soft, sweet and buttery, like those I bought the other day. I shelled them and made an improvised Spot stock by sautéing the shells in a bit of oil and then simmering them in white wine and water for about twenty minutes. I chopped one medium leek and one clove of garlic cooking them slowly in olive oil until they wilted, added the stock, reduced it a bit, and then added the Spots and eggs - there were three females in my purchase - for about one minute on the heat. I sprinkled in some chopped parsley and a little Aleppo pepper and served it over linguine…a little bit of heaven at the end of the season.

Pistachio Black Pepper Cake

I developed this little number over a decade ago during my time as a caterer. It was actually used quite successfully as a 'base' in a savory application, at the time, since then I've used it a number of different sweet and savory ways.

This is a ‘sponge’ style cake, and without any yolks, it is lighter than a ‘pound’ style cake - but with the booze and butter it's still plenty rich. I believe I first whipped it together in one of my pastry classes, but I also suggested it to the executive chef of the catering company I was working for as the base for an hors d’oeuvre. The first few times I made it in bread pans like a pound cake, sliced it lengthwise about 1/2 inches thick, and then cut the slices into small triangles with legs of about 1-1/2 inches. I spread these out on sheet pans and dried them at low temperature like a biscotti. We then topped the triangles with thin slices of medium rare lamb loin and topped that with a tiny dollop of mint chutney. They were a big hit and were put on the permanent menu. We eventually baked the sponge in thin sheets to cut the preparation time.

Now I typically use the cake as a base fresh or dried fruit compotes, especially cherries at the beginning of summer, and fresh figs at the end of summer. I cut in wedges when I serve it freshly baked, but cut in slices when I serve it toasted. Traditionalists love to pair cherries with pistachios, while Modernists feel that the combination of cherries and black pepper is extremely tasty, so it works extremely well with a sweet cherry and red wine compote. It will also work with just about any properly preserved cherries or dried white figs reconstituted with a good desert wine with the liquid reduced to make the sauce. You will have a number of egg yolks left over, so you can also make a quick sabayon to top the dessert with - for just a touch of richness! Today, I baked it in my twelve-inch by six-inch pan, which is roughly equivalent to a round ten-inch cake pan. It is difficult to see the black pepper in the image, but it comes through nicely in the flavor.

Acute Seasonal Garlic Anxiety Disorder

The relatively warm weather since the end of the year has taken its toll…on my garlic supply. The last three winters have been on the cold side here in Seattle, and the dried garlic didn’t start to ‘go’ until late February with some sub-varieties still holding well into March – just about three to four weeks before the new season’s green garlic is ready. The Rocamboles usually go first, and in many cases its brown spots, shriveling and even a bit of rot. Most of other sub-varieties just start to sprout. Most of the garlic from Anselmo’s Organic Farm started sprouting  about a month ago, and it’s in full swing now, some more than others - the Chesnok Red and a few other Purple Stripes seem to be still holding up -  oh well…maybe it's just an annoyance.

I asked Marie about the new garlic this week, and it seems that even that will be early, thank heaven. She also offered me a sample head of Wonha, a Korean garlic of the Asiatic sub-variety that never made it to the Ballard Farmers' Market this year. I used the entire head for an Asian improvisation the other day. It was quite hot when raw with a very full ‘garlic’ flavor. It heat had dissipated to a sweet warmth when it was cooked. I will make sure that she doesn’t forget about it next year. I marinated some thinly sliced pork sirloin in dry sherry, Japanese Tamari, roasted sesame oil and sherry. Garlic, ginger, leeks, a whole dried Sivri Aci Chile with seeds and ribs removed, coarsely chopped baby Brassica greens, pork stock, more sherry, tamari, sesame oil, and black pepper composed the remainder of the dish. I served it on some Yume ‘New Crop’ Sasanishiki short grain rice from California. It all worked nicely together. To find the reason for my current episode of ASGAD just take a look at my 2009 Garlic Anyone album.

Tuscan Tuna And White Beans With A Twist

The first time I enjoyed the traditional version of this recipe flavored with sage, it was made with As Do Mar yellow fin tuna, Atun Claro, and Cannellini beans, but it never tasted better than the times I had it with Zolfino beans. When my source for Zolfino beans dried up, I preferred to use smaller white beans instead of Cannellini, and I’ve even made it with white Rice beans. Sometimes I am just not in the mood for the flavor of sage, so I use sprigs of fresh thyme instead, and lately I’ve been using tinned mackerel from Spain, Italy or Portugal. This was the ‘twist’ for this recipe today, which should appropriately be called Spanish Mackerel And Ayers Creek Zolfino Beans.

A Vegetarian Winter Skillet

A close friend is in the first of a six week diet that excludes meats, grains, dairy, processed sugar, and alcohol. His main sources of protein during this diet are fish, eggs, and legumes. I decided to offer him a few improvisations with some healthy seasonal members of the ‘vegetable’ kingdom to help ease his culinary pain. I found great organic braising mix composed of young Brassica greens, mainly kales and collards, and I decided to improvise a one-skillet dish with them and the organic Chickpeas of Spello from Ayers Creek Farm that I began soaking Saturday afternoon. After the 24-hour soak, I simmered the chickpeas with half an onion, a clove, a bay leaf, a few cloves of garlic, and some black peppercorns until they were just slightly al dente, about 1-3/4 hours. I reserved the chickpea liquor since it is rich in flavor and nutrients, and in the absence of meat stocks, it acts as a good flavor base.