Bastille Day a perfect excuse for mussels, frites and all things French

A pair of simple, delicious French recipes this week—Mussels steamed in wine with shallots, garlic and lots of parsley and oven-fried pommes frites flavored with herbes de Provence.

Lafayette, we are here.” Those famous words, marking our returning the favor to France in World War I for their vital assistance in our Revolutionary War, were undoubtedly followed by the less well known, “Now, when do we eat?”

Because in addition to contributing to American independence, the French are rightly far more known for their contributions to food and cooking. And not just for their stellar, elaborate concoctions. It’s more their understanding of how a few well-chosen ingredients perfectly combined can become something wonderful—and their daily celebration of food in even the simplest dishes. So when I saw that this week’s post would go up on Bastille Day, that was all the excuse I needed to feed my inner Francophile in the kitchen. Continue reading “Bastille Day a perfect excuse for mussels, frites and all things French” →

Trio of big flavors makes one simple meal: Salmon with Arugula Bacon Salad

Seared salmon fillets and an arugula salad are both flavored by bacon, for a quick, satisfyingly flavorful meal. Recipe below.

Is there anything bacon can’t make taste better? Okay, pig meat is having its moment, as we all know. Chefs everywhere are going crazy for every cut of pork, the fattier the better, and bacon is turning up in some pretty strange places. I’ll admit that it didn’t do a lot for a chocolate bar I once sampled. But when paired with the right partners—especially equally big-flavored ones—the addition of bacon is hard to beat and even harder to resist.

Salmon may not seem like an obvious choice to pair with bacon—or seafood in general, for that matter. But all of those “surf and Turf” combos of the late ’60s were on to something, I think, beyond the marketing gimmick novelty. Continue reading “Trio of big flavors makes one simple meal: Salmon with Arugula Bacon Salad” →

The other white fish: Skate Meunière with Browned Butter and Capers

This simple, classic French preparation makes the most of skate wing’s mild, sweet flesh, brightening it with lemon juice and capers. Other white-fleshed fish—sole, flounder, halibut, ocean perch—may also be used. Recipe below.

“ARE YOU ENGLISH” The question surprised me. I answered with a simple no. “Well, did you live in England for a while?” Again, no. I was curious as to what had the fishmonger at Dirk’s Fish & Gourmet Shop convinced that I had some English connection. Turns out it was the pound or so of skate wing fillet he’d just wrapped up for me. Continue reading “The other white fish: Skate Meunière with Browned Butter and Capers” →

Wow factor: Seared Scallops with Asian Slaw

Equally impressive as a starter or main course, quickly seared sea scallops nestled on a colorful, lively slaw. The whole thing is topped with a big-flavored, slightly spicy cilantro sauce. Recipe below.

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Yeah, life is unfair, but sometimes that works in your favor. Take scallops, for instance. How can something so simple to cook [and in fact, so hard to screw up] be so unfailingly impressive? Maybe it’s their distinctive drumlike shape that is made for presentation. Or the anticipation of their rich, slightly sweet flavor. scallop-shell-bedford Whatever it is, even knowing that they were most likely just lightly seasoned and sautéed for a couple of minutes on each side [how much easier can things get?] doesn’t lessen their impact.

Scallops are versatile too, a blank canvas if there ever was one. Their mild, meaty flesh takes on flavors beautifully, and they play well with a whole host of cuisines. Here at Blue Kitchen, they’ve been cooked with tarragon and brandy and served over garlicky sautéed spinach. And paired with shiitake and oyster mushrooms to create a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. Today, they’re taking on the bright Asian flavors of a slaw macerated in rice vinegar and a cilantro sauce that packs just a little bit of heat. Continue reading “Wow factor: Seared Scallops with Asian Slaw” →

Lingering in the Mediterranean: Spaghetti with Seafood, Almonds, Capers and Parsley

A host of Mediterranean flavors come together in this quick, delicious seafood pasta. Recipe below.

seafood-spaghetti

Since our recent Washington, DC visit and Mellen’s amazing seafood bourride, we’ve continued to think a lot about Mediterranean cuisine. So when we came across the sumptuous cookbook Olives and Oranges: Recipes and Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Beyond, we knew we’d be cooking more than a few things based on recipes we found here.

The authors of this beautiful cookbook know a thing or two about the region’s food. As the daughter of a foreign correspondent, Sara Jenkins had lived in Italy, France, Spain, Lebanon and Cyprus by the time she was a teen. She put her love of Mediterranean flavors to work as chef of New York City restaurants such as Il Buco, I Coppi, Mangia and Porchetta. Co-author Mindy Fox is editor of La Cucina Italiana and a former editor at Saveur. She has written for many magazines and collaborated on a number of cookbooks. Alan Richardson supplies the amazing photographs.

The book opens with what Jenkins calls “My Flavor Pantry,” a comprehensive description of oils, vinegars, olives, seasonings, herbs, spices, anchovies, cured meats, pastas, legumes and more, all crucial ingredients in the Mediterranean kitchen. Then she takes us from small plates and salads through pastas, risottos, fish and meats, right on up to sweets and cordials—more than 140 recipes in all, divided into quick-cook and slow-cook categories. Continue reading “Lingering in the Mediterranean: Spaghetti with Seafood, Almonds, Capers and Parsley” →

Seafood Bourride: A delicious, creative mix of Mediterranean flavors

There are countless variations on bourride, a traditional Mediterranean seafood soup/stew. This one, prepared by our friend Mellen and served over Israeli couscous, was the best thing we ate by far on a weekend trip to Washington, DC. Recipe below.

mellen-seafood-bourride2

When I started Blue Kitchen way back in the fall of aught-six, I had great plans for having occasional guest cooks do posts here. So far, I’ve failed miserably. Aside from Marion [a co-conspirator here, really, not a guest], I’ve only had one guest cook, the lovely Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen, who made her delicious Brazilian Rice and Beans. When I smelled this wonderfully fragrant stew percolating in Mellen’s kitchen, I knew it was high time I made good on my plans.

Our friends Mellen and Steve live in a beautiful 1800s house in the historic, convenient and cosmopolitan DuPont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. The neighborhood is home to foreign embassies, ethnic restaurants, art galleries and shops—and is the center of DC’s vibrant nightlife. So when they invited us to come visit them for a long weekend, it took very little arm twisting to get us there. Mellen and Steve—and Mellen’s kids Madeleine and Taylor—were gracious hosts. Madeleine even gave up her room for us. The whole weekend, conversation flowed like wine. So did the wine, often on their rooftop deck.

In today’s second post, I’ll talk about some of the DC stuff we did on our visit, with a focus on food. But now I’m going to concentrate on this delicious seafood stew/soup. A bourride [boo-REED] is a Mediterranean fish soup, something like a bouillabaisse but with a consistency more like stew. There are probably as many variations on it as there are cooks who make it, and options vary wildly, from suspiciously quick and simple to complex and slow-cooking. Many use thick slices of toasted bread as a base, others call for potatoes. Mellen uses large, pearly Israeli couscous. One common thread among all recipes, though, is making the most of plentiful fresh seafood in the region. Continue reading “Seafood Bourride: A delicious, creative mix of Mediterranean flavors” →

Five easy meals for summer

With the fourth of July weekend in the rearview mirror, summer is officially in full swing. And as much as we may like to cook, there’s no shortage of diversions ready to lure us from the kitchen. These five recipes run the gamut, from quick cooking to outdoor cooking to no cooking at all. Gathered from the Blue Kitchen archives, they’ll help you get great summer meals on the table with minimal time and effort in the kitchen.

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1. Tomato Basil Salsa Cruda with Pasta

Cooking doesn’t get much easier than this—salsa cruda is Italian for uncooked sauce. The only thing you cook for Tomato Basil Salsa Cruda with Pasta is the pasta itself. The hot pasta warms the salsa of raw, chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil, filling the kitchen with a big, delicious fragrance. And the uncooked salsa slightly cools the pasta, making for a light summery meal.

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2. Spicy Turkey Burgers

In the days before air conditioning, a separate summer kitchen was sometimes added to homes to keep the heat of cooking out of the house. Today, the ubiquitous grill Continue reading “Five easy meals for summer” →

Fishing for compliments: Simple, delicious Mussels in Tarragon Cream Sauce

Quick to make, beautiful to look at and hands-on fun to eat, Mussels in Tarragon Cream Sauce make a delicious main course for two or a sociable starter for four or more.

mussels-tarragon-cream

THERE’S JUST SOMETHING COOL ABOUT EATING WITH YOUR HANDS. Intimate and involving, with a slouchy casualness. It’s something best done with significant others or really good friends, and usually involving wine or cocktails or really cold beer.

Steamed mussels are all that with an added layer of cool that chicken wings or burgers can’t match. Pulling open the shells to get at the sweet, briny mussels within, scooping up the creamy broth with empty half shells… even the clatter of the discarded blue-black shells as they’re tossed into a communal bowl. Depending on their preparation, mussels can conjure up little French bistros, Spanish tapas bars or lovely sunburned evenings at a beach rental cottage.

Usually, this kind of cool comes at a price. Not mussels. They’re downright cheap, especially compared to other seafood choices. Depending on where you’re shopping and the variety you’re buying, you can usually pick up a two-pound sack for $2 to $4 a pound. That two-pound sack will feed two as a main course or four [or five] as a first course. Continue reading “Fishing for compliments: Simple, delicious Mussels in Tarragon Cream Sauce” →

Tubas and inspiration: Spicy Lemon Maple Salmon

Spicy Lemon Maple Salmon fillets have a subtle but lively flavor and just a hint of heat. Finishing them under the broiler caramelizes the glaze. Recipe below.

IF WE HADN’T GONE TO THE TUBA MUSEUM, I probably wouldn’t have made this dish. Actually, it was the Travelers Club International Restaurant & Tuba Museum, a wonderfully quirky little place we visit anytime we find ourselves in Okemos, Michigan. As we did this past weekend.

No, we didn’t have fish there, although they do serve it. What caught my attention was the maple malt Marion ordered. I was quite busy taking on an amazing slice of pecan pie, so I turned down her repeated offers of a taste. But I took her exclamations of its deliciousness to heart. And I found myself remembering the Spicy Sweet Chicken I’d made about a year ago, marrying the sweetness of maple syrup with the heat of Chinese chili paste. So later in a book store, when I saw the word maple connected with salmon on the cover of the current issue of Cooking Light magazine, something clicked. And with a quick look at the recipe, I knew I would be putting my own spicy spin on it. Continue reading “Tubas and inspiration: Spicy Lemon Maple Salmon” →

Weeknight cooking from the pantry: Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

By keeping a few simple canned ingredients in your pantry, you can have this quick, lively pasta in under a half an hour. Recipe below.

WE ORIGINALLY CAME ACROSS THIS RECIPE in Men’s Health magazine, where it was published in an anonymously written column aiming to provide men with simple, nutritious, inexpensive recipes. This was a couple of years before its author, James Beard Award winner David Joachim, published A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make. Continue reading “Weeknight cooking from the pantry: Linguine with Red Clam Sauce” →