The Finished Product.....sort of...

Not only did I spell 'outtakes' wrong on my clip, but there are a few other glitches that happened.  But be it as it is, here is one thing you can do with the anchovies that I talked about yesterday.  Here is the recipe.

   4 or 5 salt packed anchovies

   1 medium can of crushed red tomatoes

   3 cloves garlic

   1/4 cup capers

   extra virgin olive oil to cover bottom of pan

   sea salt and coarse ground pepper to taste

   red pepper flakes

   Fillet and rinse the anchovies

   If you're using salt packed capers, rinse in a bowl of running water for 10 minutes

   Chop the garlic fine or you may want to do it the way Big Pauli did it in Goodfellas and slice them paper thin with a razor blade.  

   Heat oil in a medium sauté pan on high and add the garlic

   Sauté garlic for about a minute, DON"T BURN IT, and add the crushed tomatoes

   Add the anchovies (which you have patted dry) and capers, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

   Reduce heat to 1/2 and stir

   Sauté for 10 minutes.  More if you so chose.  

   Serve over pasta and top with fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Delicious!

Salt Packed Anchovies!

   I would like to talk today about a rare delicacy, salt packed anchovies.  Now these anchovies come from Liguria, on the northwest part of Italy, near France.  They are harvested in nets by local fishermen and packed in salt.  These anchovies are not the kind you're going to find cremated over your pizza, who's main purpose is to make a person very thirsty and willing to purchase more beer.  No, these are the Rolls Royce of anchovies, the variety that the best chefs in the best restaurants in the world use.  

   I love them because they're so pure and so fresh.  And that is the reason they are used by chefs in the know as well as the simple village tables in Southern Italy. They taste like the seas from which they come and actually when rinsed are not as salty as the types that the supermarket sells in little tins or bottles swimming in oil.  Their flavor is mineraly and a bit sharp and they lend themselves well to sauces, or even eaten on a cracker or baguette with a bit of cheese.

   They do however, take some preparation.  You must filet and rinse them.  Here's how I do it.  I rinse an anchovy first for a second just to wash off the chunks of salt in-crusting it.  I then take a sharp knife and run it up the underside from tail to head, then bend one side over.  I then insert the point of my knife under the spine at the head and peel it back towards the tail.  The spine and bones along with the tail will come off which you discard.  You can also cut the fish in half from the head down and remove the spine that way.  It takes a little practice but soon you will be filleting like a pro.  I then put my filets into a small bowl of cold running water for about 15 minutes.  You can also soak overnight to remove more salt.  After the rinsing I pat dry with a paper towel.  They will still be salty, but that flavor!  They do take a little work to prepare but the effort is well worth it.  I also remove all the anchovies from the beautiful little can they come in and store them in a tupperware container, they will last indefinitely.  

   If you are like me and you love Italian food, you'll want to stock these in your pantry!  Here's a couple of places where you can buy them online.  If you live in a large city, you can find them at a good Italian food store, or you can just google 'salt packed anchovies'.  Enjoy!

   http://www.amazon.com/Anchovies-in-Salt-800-grams/dp/B002ESDVJS

   http://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=P-SPA

Baked Mussels with garlic and butter

Before I describe this dish, I have to apologize for the small field of view on the video.  I rendered it in 'portrait' as opposed to 'landscape' which would make it wider.      So, without further adieu, let me continue.  I love mussels.  They're live, they smell like the sea and they have their own special nectar that emanates from them as they're cooking.  First and foremost, they're fresh.  And fresh is core to cooking for me.  Usually I sauté them in butter and garlic, or steam them in wine and herbs, but this time I've baked them.  I've made this butter, garlic, parsley spread that I've dolloped onto each mussel which I have split in half.  They actually come out reminding me of escargot.  The butter melts, blends with the garlic and parsley, and mixes with the mussel nectar producing this aromatic sea sauce that you sop up with crusty French bread!  And you pop the delicious mussel morsels into your mouth and wash them down with crisp white wine.  Takes me to Spain or the southern coast of France.  Oh yeah baby!  

   I served this with a quick red sauce that I made with tomato sauce, crushed red tomatos, salt packed anchovies and capers, sea salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil spooned over pasta al dente.  Just the way I like it.  Enjoy! 

How to make a perfect fillet with sauted mushrooms and rosemary

Everybody loves a good steak on a cold rainy night.  So I did what any man would do, I made one.  A fillet mignon is one of the most perfect chunks of protein you can get.  An 8 oz steak will give you 31.51 grams of lean protein, 312 calories and 19 grams of fat.  Good clean, lean protein.  Now the mushrooms sauted in butter and salt ruin all that but who cares?  Part of living good is living good!  Now I like to use a non-stick grill with some extra virgin olive oil on it under which I put my gas flame on high.  I cook the first side of my steak on high for about 3 to 4 minutes.  When I flip it, I turn the flame down a bit and its another 3 or 4 minutes.  That gives me a rare/medium rare fillet.  I like mine bloody, but you might not.  The secret is searing it and salting it.  

   Now on the mushrooms, You'll notice I added white wine but I'm drinking red.  You can use red wine in the sauted mushrooms or no wine at all, but I find that I don't like the color the red wine gives them.  Whatever you do, make sure you keep the heat fairly low especally if you're using a stainless steel pan because you don't want to burn the garlic or the butter.  

   You can serve this with a full bodied cabernet, a merlot or a French bordeaux or burgandy.  Enjoy!

Friday morning at the Farmers Market

I love farmers markets.  I visit them as often as possible because really, what is better than fresh ingredients if you want to create a really good, wholesome meal?  Not only that, they're fun!  And in The City, there's a lot of them to be found.  I know many restaurants who's chefs plan their specials around what is in season that they find at the farmers market.  In my little burb they have a fish vendor that supplies fresh fish to some of the finest restaurants in the city.  Pacific salmon, blue fin tuna, chilean sea bass and fresh mussels and clams.  And their prices are so good!  I've been buying fish from them for years and its quite the best kept secret.  Here's their link.   http://www.yelp.com/biz/dry-dock-fish-co-fullerton So every friday morning in Whittier I peruse the farmers market to pick up what I will have on my 'menu' for the weekend.  Or I may go to the Yorba Linda one on Sat. morning or the great market on Sundays at Belmount Shores.  If I feel real adventurous I'll go to the grandaddy of them all, the farmers market on Farfax in LA.  If you really want to make something good, and you take pride in what you prepare, check out your local farmers market.