On Food in Spain...Pineapple Carpaccio and Galatian Octopus

Those of you who know me, know that I am married to a man who wanders the globe. When Joel is gone we do our best to stay in touch via phone messages, text messaging, email, online chatting and of course...photo sharing. If he is traveling within the US we will even watch a show on Hulu together.

One of my favorite things about his travels are all of the food pictures he sends me. As he is in Spain this week, they have been particularly fun. And of course, I wanted to share a few with you. The first is a pineapple carpaccio. Joel said the pineapple was raw and served with ice cream and a special sweet sauce.

The second just cracks me up as it came with directions:

Galatian Octopus
Bake in oven
Boil coper coin in water
Take octopus out of oven and dip in boiling water 3 times

Top Chef Night: Arctic Char with Salsa Verde of Turnips

A friend of mine loves Top Chef and has invited me to join her in the weekly ritual of watching people cook on tv. I have joined a couple of times...and while I can't say I am adicted, it is a lot of fun to see the creativity expressed by some of these cooks/chefs. I for one am disappointed that the show seems to be more about the end product and less about the process. So, I decided to recreate one of the winning meals for my friends, to see what really goes into a Top Chef dish.

The winning dish a couple of weeks ago was Arctic Char with Salsa Verde of Turnips. And you can find the complete recipe here, though after attempting to recreate it myself, I doubt it was tested. I can just image some poor intern who had to watch footage of all the chefs scrambling to meet their deadline and then attempting to recreate the winning recipe...but I could be wrong.

Anywho, the recipe is full of techniques I have absolutely never tried before and doubt will try again. The only thing I skipped was to dust the char in fennel pollen. I called 12 local stores to see if they had fennel pollen and only one (Kitchen Window) had just over an ounce for $20. Nope. Golden Fig was most helpful and even offered me the name of a farmer they work closely with who could track it down.

One element of the dish required me to melt a pound of butter into some water and then add a juiced cucumber (cucumber pulp pictured). Into this mixture I cooked romaine lettuce. Gross to look at, but it was pretty tasty...and um, low calorie. Cooking the char was most interesting as I let olive oil infused with thyme and garlic heat in the oven at 180 for 45 minutes before removing it and allowing the fish to "baste" in the oil until cooked through. Didn't quite work, but turned out fine.

I dirtied almost every pot and pan in my kitchen and ended up with small lovely little plates of food that my guests assured me were tasty. I also served a bruschetta and ratatouille as I wasn't sure how much food would be edible. Totally fun and a great experience!!

Have you ever cooked a meal you saw on food tv? Tell me!

3-30 Minute Meals: Coconut Macaroons

Last night I had the privilege of teaching my 3-30 Minute Meal class to 16 fabulous individuals at the Cooks of Crocus Hill in Edina.

We talked about basic cooking techniques, great meals you can make quickly, basic grilling tenants, and then finished up with some coconut macaroons (inspired by a Cook's Illustrated recipe). If you missed this class, or want to check out others I am teaching this quarter, click here.

Coconut Macaroons

1 cup cream of coconut (not to be confused with coconut milk)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
4 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
3 cups sweetened flaked or shredded coconut

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with the parchment paper and lightly spray the parchment with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Whisk together the cream of coconut, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl; set aside. Combine the unsweetened and sweetened coconut in a large bowl; toss together, breaking up clumps with your fingertips. Pout the liquid ingredients into the coconut and mix with a rubber spatula until evenly moistened.

3. Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Form the cookies into loose haystacks with your fingertips, moistening your hands with water as necessary to prevent sticking. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time.

4. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets until slightly set, about 2 minutes, remove to a wire rack with a wide metal spatula.

Shiso Ume aka Japanese Plum Paste

Last night, against all better judgment, I had a few of Joel's co-workers over for sushi. Two were in town from California and one is married to an amazing Japanese cook. Needless to say, one of our distinguished guests far trumped my knowledge of sushi in the kitchen. Had I remembered this when I originally planned the menu, I would undoubtedly have cooked Italian or French or Ethiopian or Thai or...

Anyway, most of the sushi turned out well and one in particular I loved. (No pics, sorry guys.) My Caprese-style-Halibut cones were super easy and a great use of our summer veggies. I mixed diced sushi-grade halibut, chopped cherry tomatoes, basil, olive oil, salt and lemon. I rolled this mixture up in nori cones with rice and served with a dipping sauce and wasabi.

The best roll of all was thanks to my out-of-town guest Matt. He brought me a gift of Shiso Ume, which is a Japanese plum paste. It comes in a bottle that looks a lot like wasabi, except it's purple. Trying it alone it has a very tart fruity flavor. As a "closer" roll, I made cucumber rolls with sesame seeds, rice and quite a bit of this paste. According to the box, the ingredients are: Japanese Plum Paste (not helpful), Cucumber, Beef Steak Plant, Xantahngum, Alcohol, Water, Lactic Accid, MSG and Natural Flavor. It was so delicious and very refreshing. Now I just need to find some in town...

Matt showed me some cool ways to make half-rolls and I shared with him how to cool sushi rice off fast with a blow dryer. Though while very awesome, would be totally not approved in his own kitchen. ;)

Have any signature rolls or great sushi tips of your own?