Amuse Bouche: Deviled Egg with Smoked Salmon, Wasabi and Caviar

My practice run went swimmingly last night. Much thanks to A and M. Pants for their heroic clean-up efforts after I was too tired to move.

Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Wasabi and Caviar

We served this with Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut, my favorite sparkling wine. I'm trying to keep my menu mostly local and I've heard talk of Laetitia having some good bubbly. Obviously more research is needed.

4 large cage-free eggs
1/4 -1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 oz smoked salmon, finely diced
1 1/2 TB dill, finely snipped
1 1/2 TB chives, finely snipped
1 small shallot, finely minced
1 1/2 tsp dry wasabi
1/4 oz sturgeon roe

Place eggs in a medium sauce pot. Add enough cold water to cover and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. As soon as water begins to simmer, cover pot and take off heat. Let eggs sit in pot for ten minutes. After the time has elapsed, drain eggs. Crack the wider end of the eggs but do not remove the shells. Return the cracked eggs to the pot and cover with cold water and a few ice cubes. Let stand until cool, then peel.

Gently cut eggs in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the yolks and place in a bowl. Set aside the whites. With a fork, mash the yolks until smooth. Add the smaller amount of mayo and all remaining ingredients, except for the roe. Combine well. If mixture is too thick, add more mayo until easily spoonable. Fill egg white crater with enough of the filling so it has a slightly rounded dome. If not serving immediately, gently cover and chill until needed.

Right before serving, add a dollop of caviar to each egg half and garnish with a tiny dill sprig or more finely minced chives.

Serves 8

Red Gold

(Full credit for the title of this post goes to the super-fabulous AM, who is my borrowed big sister. I hope you don't mind GG)

Have I told you about my new favorite ingredient? I purchased it at Dean and Deluca when I was in New York and ever since I opened up the tin and took a good whiff, I've been schemeing about how to cook with it. First, I used it in place of the cayenne in this recipe. Then, I tossed it with cauliflower florets, olive oil and salt which makes a deliously spicy, smoky version of cauliflower popcorn. After that, there were the oven fries. Finally, I made Mushroom Paprikash, harkening back to my Hungarian roots. When I first mentioned this particular incarnation though, M. Pants (aka the partner) wrinkled his nose and thought it sounded odd. I made it anyway. And its bloody fantastic. Absolutely perfect for the chilly weather we've been having. I highly encourage you to pick up your very own tin of red gold and start experimenting, then let me know the results. I need to fill my new smoked paprika fix. Perhaps in brownies with toasted almonds and cinnamon?

Smoky Cauliflower Popcorn
1 medium head cauliflower
olive oil
salt
smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 425F. Cut cauliflower into florets and toss in a large bowl with enough olive oil to lightly coat, salt and paprika, to taste. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes then remove from oven and toss gently. Return to oven and roast for about another 15 minutes, or until cauliflower is cooked through and slightly browned. Taste for more salt then devour!


Mushrooms Paprikash, adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

1 oz dried wild mushrooms
1 lb crimini mushrooms
1 TB butter
1 TB olive oil
2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 bunch chives, chopped
1 lb cooked egg noodles

Place dried mushrooms in a bowl. Cover with very hot water. Set aside for about 20 minutes or until mushrooms are softened.

Wash and quarter criminis. Drain mushrooms, reserving soaking liquid. Remove tough stems from wild mushrooms and discard. Chop mushrooms.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add butter and oil. When hot, add criminis and cook until lightly browned. Add chopped mushrooms, paprikas and salt. Stir to combine. Pour in 1/4 cup reserved soaking liquid and sour cream. Cook until slightly thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Add half of chives and stir well. Taste for salt. Serve mushroom mixture over noodles. Sprinkle chives over and serve.

Serves 3

P.S. I switched over to Blogger 2.0. What do you think of the links? Are there any others that would be helpful?

A Little Bit of Borrowed Inspiration

It's still too darn hot to cook. Just the idea of turning on my oven or stove makes me want to run a cold bath and stay in it. From my rapidly growing collection of daily food blogs, I remembered two very interesting posts. And thus comes forth dinner.

We asked our neighbor, who conveniently calls Hawaii her home, if she had any good poke recipes. Not only did she loan us her Hawaiian home cooking book, she also rustled up a curiosity she found in the local Asian market: a poke kit. It was made up of a small packet of red Hawaiian salt, ogo (a feathery pink branching kind of seaweed) sesame seed and chili pepper. According to the directions, I added the ogo to a bowl of water and let it soak for 3-4 minutes. I drained it, chopped it into bits and added it to a pound of ahi chopped into 3/4" pieces. I tossed it with a tablespoon each of tamari and sesame oil, 3 green onions sliced into very thin rounds, a chopped garlic clove and a bit of chopped manzano pepper. I let that sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 350 (I know, I know, cold bath) and cut 12 wonton skins in half. Eschewing Heidi's other ingredients, I bake them plain on a Silpat for 10 minutes or so, until they were browned.

I carefully broke apart a Savoy cabbage into whole leaves, scooped a few spoonfuls of poke into them, garnished with some daikon sprouts and added the wonton chips. Of course we gave some to our neighbor, and she said that it tasted just like how it's made at home. Sometimes, I even impress myself.

Next time, and there will be a next time, I'll let the poke sit a bit longer in the fridge. Our second helpings tasted even better than the first.

P.S. I am well aware that I also need to take some very good instruction from these folk (Matt's permalinks still aren't working so well). My photos kind of stink.