Fish/Seafood
Thinking of Mauro – Fregola with bay scallops and cream of asparagus
Jan 18th
Pensando a Mauro – Fregola con capesante e crema di asparagi
Here I am, I arrived in Nancy, France yesterday, my hometown…jet lagged as ever and since everyone is still sleeping at 4 am, I thought of finishing this post, that I had started over 6 months ago. It feels good to be home, that’s all I can say. Everything feels right. If I can find fregola in France, I will buy it and have my parents try it. Even though, they’re from Italy, but are not very familiar with Sardinian cuisine.
I love those tiny Sardinian pasta balls, they’re hearty, rustic and irregular, they remain al dente and are delicious in so many different ways. I love rustic pasta and ingredients that remind you of old traditions and cultures. You can find those in any Italian grocery store or at the Rainbow in San Francisco. They’re imported from Sardinia and are served in Sardinian restaurants. I have never seen those served in traditional Italian restaurants.
Fregola reminds me so much of my wonderful Sardinian friend Mauro (from Cagliari) who recently moved from San Francisco to London. He introduced me to Sardinian cuisine, and restaurants in San Francisco. Maurino, questo piatto di fregola l’ho fatto proprio per tè!
If you’re in San Francisco and interested in tasting the delicious cuisine of Sardinia, you have to try out La Ciccia, it’s a real Sardinian restaurant where the chef and owner is born and raised in Sardinia.
You cook fregola like you would cook pasta, in water then drain it and serve it with like you would serve pasta, with your favorite sauce. In Sardinia, they serve it with a lamb ragù. I cooked mine like a risotto, added scallops, then served it with a asparagus sauce, it was delicious and delicate. If you look at the pictures, you can see some crawfish in the fregola but do not really liked the quality of the crawfish so will not use it next time. I did not add parmesan cheese in the fregola, I am one of those who don’t add cheese in fish or seafood pasta dishes. If you’re interested, more fregola recipe here.
Ingredients for 2
For the fregola
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 cups fregola
- broth1/2 cup white wine
- 1.5 cups small bay scallops
- 1 tbs panna or cream
- salt and pepper
for the cream of asparagus
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1.5 tbs yellow onions, chopped
- 1/2 bunch asparagus, cut in 1 inch trunks
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- salt and pepper
- Lemon olive oil for drizzling
Preparation
First start preparing the fregola like a risotto. Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and let it brown and softens. Add fregola, stir well. Add broth and wine gradually and keep stirring. Cook that way until the fregola has become soft but still slightly hard on the bite and al dente. Adjust with salt and pepper, add cream and stir well. Keep hot.
Saute scallops in olive oil and add to the fregola.
In a small pan, heat olive oil, add onions and cook until soft. Add asparagus and broth and let cook until asparagus are tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Let it cool and blend in a mixer. Pass it through a sieve to obtain a smooth cream.
Serve fregola in a plate, add cream of asparagus all around and drizzle with lemon oil and parsley and serve hot.
Fast food my way – Grilled tuna steak on brussels sprouts quinoa and roasted bell pepper relish
Dec 22nd
Fast food à ma façon – Steak de thon grillé, vinaigrette aux poivrons grillés et roquette avec quinoa aux choux de Bruxelles
This is a recipe for those days you want to eat well and not spend a whole day in the kitchen. I can almost call this a fast food meal, and anything I classified in my “less than 30 minutes” category can be called “fast food”, now 30 minutes is fast to me, of course comparing to some frozen meal you throw in the microwave, might not be. Of course everything is subjective. But since we are comparing this to homemade meals, and nothing else, this is definitely fast food.
You can substitute tuna with any other white fish, and quinoa with rice, but quinoa being very nutritious, it’s always good to add it into a regular diet.
Lately, I have been using brussel sprouts mainly shredded mixed with other vegetables and I really like them this way. It’s one way among others to prepare them. If you serve them whole as a side dish, may people tend to be reluctant and un-excited to eat them. Shredding them, make their flavor more subtle and friendlier and less intimidating to certain people.
Ingredients for 4
For the tuna
- 4 tuna steaks
- 1 small green bell pepper
- 1 small red bell pepper
- 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
- 2 scallions, chopped
- 1tsp chives, chopped
- 3 tbs olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp tabasco sauce
- one pinch of cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
For the quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 onion finely sliced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3/4 lb brussel sprouts, shredded
- about 12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half lenghtwise
- smoked paprika
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the relish
Broil peppers under broiler on all sides until the skin darkens. Remove from oven, let them cool, then remove seeds and peel. Cut in small cubes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
For the quinoa
Steam quinoa in a medium size pot with vegetable broth for about 20 minutes. Heat olive oil in a pan, brown onions. Add tomatoes and garlic and stir for a few minutes. Then add shredded brussel sprouts. Mix well to combine all ingredients, then add paprika, salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes, until sprouts are tender but still green and with a tiny crunch. When quinoa is cooked, add to the pan. Mix well for a few minutes to combine all ingredients.
Grill tuna steak on a skillet, Add salt and pepper and serve with two tbs relish on top and quinoa on the side.
On the thumb – Green bean salad mimosa with herb-butter shrimp tartines
Oct 25th
Sur le pouce – Salade de haricots verts mimosa et tartines de crevettes au beurre d’herbes
Sur le pouce, is literally translated by “on the thumb”, je mange sur le pouce, or I eat on the thumb, which means eating fast. It originated in the XIX century when workers didn’t have time to eat, they cut a piece of bread with a knife, and eating it using their thumbs.
Today two things made me happy and brightened up my day, this quick lunch sur le pouce (even though I used a fork!) and my new lamp (created by Shmulik Krampf, an extremely talented Israeli Artist who blows glass they way they do it in Murano, Italy). What do my lamp and this meal have in common? well they’re both colorful, vibrant and make me feel alive.
Sometimes when I come back from the gym, I don’t have time to cook for myself, so I eat snacks…and today I decided to not eat snacks and indulge myself…but still having a limited time, I had to make something quick. It all took me 20 minutes, which I think it’s almost like fast food.
Why do we call this mimosa? Mimosa refers to devil eggs, we call them “oeufs mimosa“, so here since we have boiled eggs, we can call them mimosa. I am not sure if “we” can, but I do.
Asparagus can be used if you don’t have green beans, it’s as delicious, and you can use scallops instead of the shrimps. Garlic, herb, butter those ingredients are a perfect match with seafood.
Ingredients for 2
For the green beans
- 250 g fine green beans
- 2 eggs, hard boiled and grated
- 2 tbs capers, rinced and chopped
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1/2 tomato, seeds removed, and diced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
For the shrimps tartine (3 toasts each)
- 18 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 ts paprika
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- 1 tsp dill, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp butter
- 6 slices baguettes, or country bread, toasted
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the green beans
Bring a large pot to a boil with water. Cook grean beans for about 5-7 minutes until tender but still a little crunchy. Drain, and place in a container filled with iced water. Set aside.
Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing the capers, scallion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Drain green beans, place on a plate. Add grated eggs, tomatoes, then pour vinaigrette on top.
For the shrimps tartines
Add paprika to the shrimps, and coat well. Add salt and pepper.
Mix butter, garlic and herbs with a fork and form an homogenous paste. In a pan melt butter/herbs slowly, then add shrimps. Cook at medium temperature until the shrimps are cooked but still juicy.
Toast bread slices. Place three shrimps on top of each tartine, and pour some butter/garlic mixture on top.
Serve with green bean salad on the side.
Life is full of contrasts – Lentil and marinated smoked salmon salad
Sep 25th
La vie est pleine de contrastes – Salade de lentilles et saumon fumé
It’s quite a fun way to eat lentils…lentils are very versatile and I think not popular enough especially since they’re highly nutritious. I have rarely seen them in restaurants other than in soups. In France they’re considered rustic, something you would eat during winter and with smoked sausage or meat. I like them with smoked fish like salmon or trout, it tones down the smokiness of the fish (if the fish is too smokey like my salmon, actually this salmon was too smokey and salty). Here I like the combination of a hearty rustic ingredient with a more elegant and refined one. I have always loved contrasts. They’re unexpected, interesting and always leave you a feeling of wanting more.
Lentils and spinach are among the ingredients French kids have a hard time eating, if you ask any kid in France what they don’t like to eat, they’ll probably say, j’aime pas les lentiles et j’aime pas les épinards! but obviously I don’t want to make this a generality.
You can also combine fresh salmon with smoked salmon, then you would need to cut both salmon in cubes. Here I striped the salmon since I only used the smoked kind.
Ingredients for 4
For the lentils
- 200 g lentils du Puy
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 1 celery stick
- 1 clove
- salt
For the lentil vinaigrette
- 1 tbs hazelnut or walnut oil
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp whole grain mustard
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
- salt and pepper
For the salmon marinade
- 4 large slices of good quality smoked salmon, cut in strips
- 1 orange
- zest of 1/2 orange
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp dill, chopped
- 1/4 tsp fennel pollen
- 1 tsp capers, chopped
- Piment d’Espelette
- Pepper
Preparation
In a pot of water cook lentils with clove, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf and salt and cook until lentil are tender but not mushy. Drain and remove the cooked vegetables from the lentils and set aside. In a mixing bowl, prepare vinaigrette mixing all ingredients together.
Cut salmon in stripes, mix all ingredients of the marinade and pour over the salmon. Mix well to coat the salmon. Let it marinade in the refrigerator for about one to two hours.
Place a small amount of lentil salad in the middle of a plate (you can use a rind to mount the salad) and top with some salmon stripes. Drizzle some extra marinade on top.
The great seaweed – Spirulina tagliatelle with vegetables, shiitake, shrimps and sea spaghetti
Jun 30th
Tagliatelles à la spiruline aux légumes, shiitake, spaghetti de mer et crevettes
I have been quite excited today, I managed to prepare this colorful pasta dish and my parents really liked it. I was not expecting such a reaction from two traditional Italians eating a pasta dish that has nothing to do with Italian flavors. I went shopping to La Vie Saine which is a healthy and organic supermarket with lots of unusual products, and I just wanted to see what those green tagliatelle tasted like. Their color comes from the Spirulina which, in the US is mainly a seaweed used as a dietary tablet supplement. Spirulina is very high in protein much more than any type of legume.
In addition to the spirulina tagliatelle, I used a specific seaweed, mainly found in Brittany coast (Roscoff area) called Himanthalia Elongata and has a very high vitamin C content. Unlike most other seaweed, it’s not produced in Japan. It’s basically a brown seaweed that has the form of big button where long stems start their ramification.
I really loved this pasta, it’s colorful and absolutely delicious. Now I am curious to see if it’s available in the US. Upon my return, I will start my spirulina pasta hunting! I am always excited to see the new trends in France, even though you still have a traditional cuisine, new trends are arising and I noticed that la cuisine aux algues (seaweed cooking) is getting quite popular. Of course, not among the traditional eaters, but among adventurous eaters, interested in a new and healthy cuisine.
Ingredients for 4
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 350 g spirulina tagliatelle
- 2 carrots, sliced lengthwise in a ribbon
- 1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise in ribbons
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced
- Sea spaghetti seaweed
- 1/3 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup shrimps
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a pan, heat olive oil. Add garlic and ginger. Stir and add shiitake, cook for about minutes, then add the rest of vegetables. Let the zucchini soften but do not overcook or they’ll break.
Soak sea spaghetti in cold water for about 15 minutes, then boil them in water for another 15 minutes or until they get soft. Drain and set aside.
Add sea spaghetti to the vegetables and stir. Add shrimps and broth, salt and pepper.
Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and add to the pan of vegetables. Stir well and serve.
It’s not Paul, the octopus- Grilled octopus salad with fennel, peppers and olives
May 12th
Ce n’est pas Paul le poulpe – Salade de poulpe grillé au fenouil, poivrons et olives
Has anyone heard the story of Paul le poulpe, or Paul the octopus? Well my cousin came to visit a few months ago and he told me about this octopus story. Paul was a French octopus whose life lasted from 2008 to 2010, quite a short life…maybe that’s a lifespan for an octopus.
Paul was very famous, simply because he could predict the winner of the soccer games. He predicted 12 out of 14 games during the world cup. For French people, soccer is the national sport, getting to know in advance which team would win, and most of all getting scores from a mollusk whose destiny is to be in a pan along with tomatoes and onions, rather on TV with sports commentator, is something linked to the divine. I have no idea how an octopus could predict such scores, but it did, doesn’t this sound odd?
I have not met Paul, and I am sure he was quite a smart animal…now I have to admit that I love octopus in any form, shape and recipe. I do feel a little guilty to eat it, but when I eat it, I simply don’t think about this and I enjoy every bite of it.
Animals are amazing and teach us humility and kindness. My life changed since I had my dog and my parrot…all they want is to be with me, cuddle and eat. Maybe one day, I will buy an octopus to cuddle with, and will stop eating it, but in the meantime, I think I will still enjoy it. Doesn’t this sound cruel? I wish one day, I will stop eating any animal form…
Ingredients for 4
- 600 g octopus
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 1 cup small creamer potatoes
- 3 tbs celery leaves, chopped
- 2 tbs kalamata olives
for the vinaigrette
- 3 tbs olive oil
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 pinches paprika
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook octopus in water for about 2 hours or until tender. Slice in small thin pieces. Set aside in a mixing bowl. Grill fennel, peppers, onions on a skillet. Add to the octopus. Add all other ingredients and mix well.
Cook potatoes in salted water, and cook until tender, cut in half and add to the octopus.
For the vinaigrette, mix all ingredients together. Add to the octopus mixture and toss. Serve lukewarm with toasted bread.
Ocean tagine – Tagine with squid, fava beans and leeks and simple pepper quinoa couscous
Mar 22nd
Tagine de la mer – Tagine aux seiches, fèves et poireaux
This was a dish I made while I was in France…since my dad was in the hospital, my mom and I just cooked simple meals because by 1pm we needed to be at the hospital. Tagines are wonderful if you don’t have to much time to eat but still want to enjoy a healthy and flavorful meal. Clay pot cooking is one of my favorites, and as soon as you try it, you will have a difficult time going back to a regular-pan cooking. It preserves all the aromas of each ingredient and infuses all the flavors together.
Like in papillotes, you can cook anything you like in tagines, just be creative, with a little audacity, and you’ll get a fabulous dish. A couple of years ago, it was not as easy to find a tagine claypot, but nowadays, most stores carry them (at least in California); tagines are becoming more trendy, simply because it has traveled outside borders and everyone has discovered their health benefits, and still keeping amazing aromas.
I have seen many types of couscous in France (in France we call the actual grain semoule, couscous being the Algerian dish, made with vegetables, meat and semoule) different kinds of whole grains, such as kamut, quinoa, spelt, etc…since my mom had diabetes, I tried to make dishes that were good for her, or at least that did not aggravate her diabetes. This quinoa couscous is a perfect grain to go with any tagine. Of course people who don’t like squid can use other ingredients such as shrimps, or white fish. I kept the couscous simple with no major strong flavors, to really enjoy the tagine broth, couscous being a minor addition in this meal, necessary but secondary.
Ingredients for 3
- 1 lb squid
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 1 1/2 leeks, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 1/2 lb fava bean, peeled
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp ras-el-hanout
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 inch ginger, grated
- salt and pepper
For the quinoa couscous
- 140 g quinoa semolina
- 1 tbs olive oil
- vegetable broth
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- salt
- cracked pepper
Preparation
For the tagine
Heat olive oil in tagine and brown the onions. Add leeks and cook for about 5 minutes. Add squid, and all other ingredients except for the fava beans. Mix all ingredients well. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook fava beans for three minutes. Remove from heat, drain and peel fava beans. 10 minutes before end of cooking time, add fava beans to the tagine, cover and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle with fennel leaves or mint and serve with couscous.
For the quinoa couscous
Proceed like for a regular wheat couscous. Bring vegetable broth to a boil. Coat couscous with olive oil using your fingers. Add broth to the couscous, cover and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Using a fork, separate the grains, add lemon juice and cracked pepper. Adjust with salt if necessary. For broth quantity, I cover the couscous with 5mm of extra broth above couscous.
Did you say “comfort”? – Saffron rice with vegetables and squid on wilted spinach
Dec 22nd
Riz saffrané aux légumes et calamars sur épinards sautés
If you don’t like squid, you can use anything you like, such as shrimps, mussels, chicken, etc…I have a little weakness for strange things coming from the sea with tentacles, so you’ll find many recipes on this blog with squid, octopus, etc…
The rice was cooked like paella along with the vegetables and the broth, but it’s definitely not paella. It’s a simple dish that would fit in the category “comfort food” even though I don’t like to think of food as being comforting. It makes me feel that at some point, it replaces a friend and that is a strange perception. I don’t think there is a translation in French for “comfort food”, I would think the closest word would be “appaisant” or “calmant“, appeasing? calming?
The presentation is not that delicate, nor elegant, but it is indeed colorful. This is one of those dishes you really enjoy when you have a craving of rice, seafood and greens but also when you don’t have time to “take care” of your dish. It just cooks by itself with no surveillance.
In a week from today I will be on a flight to go home, let’s hope by then the bad weather will no longer be bad…so that means eating a lot of seafood. In France during the Christmas holidays, seafood is all over, crab, lobster, oysters, etc…and its the time of the year when seafood it’s the freshest.
Ingredients for 4
- 9.87 oz (or 280 g) basmati rice
- 1 lb squid, cleaned
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 carrot, peeled and julienne
- 2 zucchini, julienne
- 1 fennel, chopped
- 1 dose saffron
- 16 fl oz vegetable broth
- 1/2 tsp paprika
For the spinach
- 2 bunches spinach
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add shallots and garlic, stir. Add vegetable julienne, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add saffron and stir. Add rice. Coat the rice with oil. Add broth where saffron had been infused. Then add squid. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and cook at low temperature for about 15-20 minutes.
For the spinach, heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic. Stir a little without burning the garlic, add washed and drained spinach. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cook until the spinach are soft.
Divide spinach in each dish and spoon over calamari-rice on top.
I heard it’s from Nice – Polenta and shrimp soup
Dec 14th
On dit que ca vient de Nice – Soupe de crevettes et polenta
I wish I could take the credit for this amazing soup, but unfortunately I cannot. I did change proportions of some ingredients but that’s the extent of my contribution to the recipe. One day going through my thick Mediterranean cookbook, my attention got caught by this interesting and colorful soup. The creator being Daniel Ettlinger, a famous French chef, originally from Alsace (as his name sounds very Alsatian), but settled down in Nice most probably for its smoother climate. He also worked in Milan so, Italy has contributed to his culinary influences. Winters are rough in Alsace-Lorraine and most people are attracted to move to the Southern part of France just to enjoy the Mediterranean climate.
Of course, polenta is definitely an Italian ingredient, most regions of Northern Italy consume it on a regular basis, but many dishes from Nice do use it too. Nice being not too far from the Italian border, many similarities are found in the local cuisines of the towns close to the border.
I never really used polenta in a soup, and I was a little curious about the texture of the soup. I thought the polenta would absorb the liquid and turn it into a thick texture. It did, but you just have to add broth or water, and adjust the consistency.
I loved this soup and will make it again. In the original recipe, Daniel Ettlinger added fried onion rings. He cut onions very thinly, toss them in flour and deep fried them, they were added at the end on top of the soup, but I decided to leave them out.
You can use paprika, piment d’espelette or hot chili. Since I just ran out of piment d’espelette, I used paprika. Paprika is definitely an essential ingredient and should not be left out.
Ingredients for 4
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped roughly
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 cup (or 50 g) medium grind polenta
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 20 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1 pinch paprika
- piment d’espelette
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pot, add onion and saute until golden brown. Add polenta and stir for about 5 minutes until the polenta has browned. Add vegetable stock and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. If by the end of cooking time, the soup gets too thick, add more broth.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillt, and saute shrimps until cooked on both sides. Add garlic and scallions. Add paprika and/or piment d’espelette.
Arrange shrimps in a bowl, and pour polenta-broth mixture on top. Add a drop of olive oil.
It tastes like fall – Salmon with white grapes
Nov 23rd
Ca sent l’automne – Saumon aux raisins blancs
Grapes for me is the fruit that symbolizes fall, probably because of the harvesting of the grapes in France (vendanges). Today, I wanted to feature a very simple French dish using grapes and combined with salmon, and this one turned out much better than it used to, probably because this time I cooked the salmon skin up and not down (touching the pan). So if you have some salmon and want to try something quick and new, this would be a good choice.
Usually, I do not combine fruits and fish, but it works very well in this case. The grapes don’t have a strong flavor, and their slight sweetness associated with the acidity of the wine and crème fraîche balances the dish very well.
You can use scallops instead of the shrimps, and substitute white fish to salmon.
I bet most of you must be getting ready for Thanksgiving with all the food preparation and planning, so this salmon would be perfect after you’re done with the festivities and the turkey. I know Thanksgiving is a huge celebration in the US, when the families gather and get together around a traditional meal. For us, it’s more like an opportunity to have a dinner with friends, since everyone is off, and right now I still haven’t figured out what I will have for dinner. I have absolutely no idea…I can always serve this salmon, and see the look on everyone’s face when instead of a beautiful golden the turkey, I bring out salmon. I don’t think I’ll have the guts to do that!
So if one of those nights, you’re up for quick, easy and delicious, voilà! you got your meal!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Ingredients for 4
- 4 salmon fillets (or steaks)
- 20 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 bunches white grapes, peeled and seeds removed
- 3 shallots, chopped
- 3.38 fl oz (or 10 cl) white wine
- 1/3 cup fish fumet
- 1 tbs crème fraîche
- salt and pepper
- dill for decoration
Preparation
Peel and remove seeds from grapes. Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a pan and add shallots. Cook slowly until soft. Add shrimps, let them cook both sides, then add grapes, wine and fumet. Let the sauce reduce to half. Add cream, salt and pepper.
At the same time, in a non stick pan, cook salmon in 1 tbs olive oil about 2 minutes on each side, or longer if you like the salmon well done.
Place salmon in a plate, arrange shrimps and raisins, all around, then pour the sauce on top. Decorate with dill.
