Etoufee with a Rainforest Twist

Etoufee is a classic Cajun and creole dish. “Etoufee” translates roughly to “smothered.”

Traditionally, etoufees are made with shrimp or crawfish but faced, one day, with an abundance of chanterelle mushrooms and some unexpected vegetarians at my table, I thought I’d try a vegetarian version, replacing the shellfish entirely with cleaned and sliced chanterelles. Despite the regional wrongness -- a classic Southern US favorite made with mushrooms most often found in the rainforest -- the dish was a big success.

Another replacement: classically, where I’ve indicated olive oil, the Cajun and creole versions would use butter. I like the foresty flavor the olive oil adds, plus that simple swap makes this dish not only vegetarian, but completely vegan. However the dish works equally well -- and is perhaps even a little richer -- when made with butter.

Mushroom Etoufee

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or butter or a combination of both
1/4 all purpose or unbleached flour
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon black Ppepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teasp dried thyme
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups vegetable or mushroom stock
1 tablespoon hot sauce
4 cups fresh sliced chanterelles or 2 cups dried mushrooms

If using dried mushrooms, start by adding boiling water to mushrooms to cover. Cover with lid and set aside for at least one hour.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until the roux turns a dark golden color, between 15 and 20 minutes. Add onion, celery and bell pepper and continue to whisk until the vegetables start to soften. Add garlic, paprika, black pepper, cayenne, thyme, basil and oregon and continue to whisk for a further two minutes. Still whisking, add the tomatoes and stir. When the liquid has all been absorbed, add the stock, a little at a time, until it as all incorporated. Finally add the mushrooms, reduce heat, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer 20 minutes.

You should now have a thick, rich-looking stew. If it seems too thick, add a bit more liquid: stock, if you still have some, or even a bit of water, a 1/4 cup at a time. If it’s too thin, leave the lid off, raise the heat slightly and stir while the sauce thickens.

Serve over long-grained white rice.

Serves 6

Caesar Salad

There is something splendidly decadent about a well-made Caesar salad. By a lot of people's reckoning, it shouldn’t be a salad at all. It’s rich and dense, full-flavored, full bodied and all the things a salad mostly shouldn’t be.

As a result, the classic caesar tends to go in and out of fashion -- like mini skirts and wedged soles -- because as much as we tell ourselves we loathe it, there’s a part of us that just can’t get enough.

Don’t kid yourself, either: it may be a salad and it may be green, but if you’re looking for a light dinner, you’d best keep looking. On the other hand, with a caesar salad at its base, it’s possible to make a fast and even somewhat elegant supper by whipping it together quickly and plopping some protein on top while you’re plating. A chicken breast or grilled salmon filet are classic, but here’s a fun twist: try throwing a handful of peeled shrimp in while you’re toasting the croutons.

This is a creamy variation of caesar, my own favorite. It’s also a fast approach. Many recipes call for raw egg as you make the dressing, but I’ve encountered so many people who are unnerved at working with raw eggs. In any case, using the mayonnaise is a shortcut that provides a more than acceptable result.

Caesar Salad

For the croutons:

4 slices white bread or two dinner rolls, cubed
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
paprika, garlic powder, pepper, cumin or a popular spice blend: two teaspoons in total

Heat oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add spice and toast briefly before adding bread. Saute until bread absorbs oil and browns. Set aside.

For the dressing:

4 large cloves garlic
1 tablespoon Djon mustard
1.5 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 light salad oil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine garlic, mustard, vinegar, mayonnaise, anchovy paste and salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. While the processor is running, drizzle the oil into the bowl in a steady stream. Correct the seasoning.

For the salad:

1 large or 3 small heads romaine or cos lettuce
caesar salad dressing
croutons
shaved parmesan cheese

Prepare the lettuce. In a large salad bowl, combine lettuce with as much of the dressing as seems appropriate (dress to taste, is what I mean to say here) and the croutons. Top with shaved parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.

Spring is Sprung: Nettle Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Stinging nettles offer the first peeks of green after winter’s grey-brown. They offer a promise, but not without bite. This year, a nasty cold raged through our house days after I saw the first spiny shoots. I hastened to make a healing broth, adding finely chopped baby nettle leaves to the tonic right before serving. They are so full of everything you need to recover from winter, that cold didn’t stand a chance once I’d hit it with a mittfull of nettle leaves.

By now, in my neck of the woods, the nettles are beginning to grow tall and strong. I pluck only the very tender tips of the plant, and only in the brightest part of spring. When first picked, they smell exactly as they look: bright green and filled with promise.

The problem in our house is that, even though we know stinging nettles are super good for us, no one here likes them very much. It’s something about the fine fuzz on the leaves. Even though even light cooking takes the sting out, the fuzz is unpleasant to certain palates; mine among them. I do a very finely chopped creamed nettle-type of dish that I don’t mind very much. It’s inspired by the Austrian preparation of spinach that my mother used to do: very finely chopped nettles are added to a roux (in this case, equal amounts of butter or olive oil and flour) with water as needed and seasoning to taste. This creates a bright green paste that is slightly evil-looking, but surprisingly delicious.

These Nettle Chocolate Chip Biscotti are about as far opposite of that evil green gruel as can be imagined. If you like biscotti, you’ll love these: and never mind if you like nettle or not. Even though I use quite a bit, you can’t taste anything beyond a slight and pleasant earthiness.

Nettle Chocolate Chip Biscotti

3.5 cups unbleached flour
2.5 cups sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup chopped, boiled nettles, with liquid squeezed out
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 300F.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in food processor. Blend dry ingredients. While processor is running add eggs, then nettles. Blend until ingredients are roughly blended. (Some of the flour mixture will appear bright green, some will be pale but moist from the eggs.) Turn out into a large bowl. Add chocolate chips and mix until roughly blended and holds together when packed. If the mixture does not hang together, beat another egg and add it to the mixture a very small amount at a time until the a dough forms when handled.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form a large ball. Separate into two even pieces and form a log from each, about 1-inch high and three or four across. Pack each log portion very tightly, to remove excess air or cracks. Transfer to a heavy parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the logs are dry and firm. Remove to a wire cooling rack and allow to stand for up to half an hour, until logs are cool enough to handle. Using your best bread knife, cut the logs into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a baking sheet. Reduce heat to 265F and bake for 10-15 minutes, turning the biscotti halfway through baking.

Remember: the longer the second bake, the sturdier, harder and drier the cookie will be, so adjust this to your own taste.

Warm Beet Salad with Beet & Red Wine Emulsion and Feta Cheese over Arugala

Though I’ve been evolving this dish over the last several years, I created this particular version for a wedding Foodisima catered earlier this month. The bride’s colors were “fig” and green and the gorgeous red of the beets on the bold green of the arugala fit the bill perfectly.

It’s fun when you can tailor a wedding menu to not only suit the wedding couple’s lifestyle and tastes, but the colors they’ve chosen for their special day, as well.

This salad is at its most delicious when served just slightly warm. Warmth brings out the earthy sweetness of the beets and the rich, salty flavor of the feta while arugala’s sharp bite provides a welcome counterpoint. Vegans take note: without the feta, this is a gorgeous vegan first course.

2 pounds beets
1 cup red wine
½ cup balsamic vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
4 wedges feta cheese

Scrub beets, remove greens and roast beets in a casserole with a tight-fitting lid at 425 F for 90 minutes or until beets pierce easily with a fork.

Allow beets to cool before removing skins. The cooked beets should slide easily from their jackets. Slice beets in ¼-inch rounds, set aside reserving approx. one quarter of the cooked beets. Place the reserved beets in a medium-sized pot with the wine and balsamic vinegar. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until liquid reduces by half: approximately 15 minutes.

Puree beets, wine and vinegar with an immersion blender or food processor, adding salt and pepper to taste. When puree is very fine pour mixture through a fine sieve, pressing with a wooden spoon until as much liquid as possible has been pushed through. Set aside.

To assemble, warm cooked beet rounds slightly.

Arrange a bed of arugala on the plate. Mound one quarter of the sliced beets at the center of the plate. Surround this with about two big tablespoons of the beet and wine emulsion. Top with wedge of feta and serve.

Photo by David Middleton.

Five Foods to Help Fight Swine Flu

Pushing these immune-building foods as helping to fight swine flu in particular seems a bit sensationalist to me but, hey, I didn’t make it up. That part fell to “Internet Chef” Bridget Davis who, oddly enough for a chef, lists the foods, but leaves it up to us to figure out what to do with them.

When the World Health Organisation- WHO releases a global warning about a possible pandemic, currently swine influenza A (H1N1) or the swine flu public reaction tends to take one of the following forms.

You have your pragmatist or ‘well stocked pantry personality’ who is boy scout ready for any possible outbreak including stock piling face masks, bottles of drinking water and long-life batteries.

Lacking a recipe, I considered the five immune-building foods and it occurred to me that an answer could be very simple, indeed. If you were to combine the five, sauté slowly with a cup of coconut milk and then you poured the whole shebang over steamed rice, you’d have a rather lovely lunch.

Internet Chef’s list of the big five is here.

Stinging Nettle

It’s said that stinging nettle is good for almost everything. Depending on what you read, it has the ability to aid in the treatment of coughs, tuberculosis and arthritis. Nettle is an antioxidant and may have anti-inflammatory, anti-microbal and anti-cancer properties.

All of these cures have been proven to various depths, but none of them make nettle sound very appetizing. Yet it is. And while it’s a challenging vegetable to prepare, it can be incredibly satisfying to eat something that tastes this good that is so good for you, it makes steamed kale look like junk food by comparison. (OK: not really, but you get what I mean.)

While there are many preparations possible for this incredibly iron and mineral rich leafy green, I personally find the slight fuzziness that remains in most preparations a bit distressing. As a result, I’ve adapted a classic western European spinach preparation to nettles. It leaves absolutely no fuzziness behind and is great on its own or as a base for other recipes.

Pureed Stinging Nettle

½ pound nettles – choose the leafy tops of young plants
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the nettles carefully, using tongs to avoid being stung.

Blanch fresh nettles in boiling water for two minutes. Drain, reserving two cups of the liquid.

Process the blanched nettles along with two cloves of fresh garlic with a food processor’s steel blade. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for two minutes, until the flour is cooked. Add the chopped nettles and garlic and cook over low heat for seven to 10 minutes. You’re looking for a bright green, even puree, a bit smoother and firmer than a pesto. If the mixture appears too thick, add some of the reserved nettle water, a few tablespoons at a time. Cook, stirring regularly, until the garlic is cooked through. Serve over polenta, tossed into pasta or roasted potatoes.