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.

tomato-basil-cruda

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.

spicy-turkey-burger

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.

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. 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” →

Fish oil: Not snake oil, just honest good health

Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the essential building blocks of every cell in your body. And fish oil is rich in them. Here’s why you need omega-3 fatty acids and how to add them to your diet, with or without fish.

Every winter morning when I was a kid, my mother would force a soup spoonful of cod liver oil down me. It was ghastly stuff, tasting even worse than the name implies; I credit this dreaded daily ritual with putting me off eating fish for many, many years. But it turns out Mom was on to something.

Fish oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, one of the essential building blocks of all cells. And it seems that every day, we hear more news of the health benefits of these fatty acids, from improved brain function to decreased risk of heart attacks and strokes to alleviating depression. They help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, reduce inflammation and pain from arthritis and have even been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of a number of childhood disorders, including ADD, ADHD and dyslexia. Omega-3 fatty acids are also powerful cancer fighters, helping reduce the risk of colon, breast and prostate cancer. So how do you get these amazing nutrients?

The best and most delicious way to get your omega-3 fatty acids is with a diet rich in fish, particularly fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, lake trout, herring and sardines. At the end of this post, I’ll include a number of seafood recipes that have appeared here at Blue Kitchen.

But with increased warnings about mercury levels in fish, we’re told to limit our intake of certain kinds of seafood. And as a comparatively recent convert to eating fish, I know there are plenty of people who just don’t do fish. So here are a couple of other ideas for adding these vital nutrients to your diet. Continue reading “Fish oil: Not snake oil, just honest good health” →

Simple details, beautiful results: Seared salmon with mixed greens and miso vinaigrette

Thin slices of salmon cook quickly and slightly warm the mixed greens, green beans and snow pea pods tossed with a Japanese-based miso vinaigrette. Recipe below.

SOMETIMES A SINGLE DETAIL CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN A DISH. Recently when Marion and I had lunch at Lulu’s, an Asian-inspired restaurant in Evanston, she ordered a salmon salad that, as words on a menu, had done little for me. But when the dish arrived at our table, it was a whole different story. Instead of the expected chunks of cold salmon tossed with greens, there were thin slices of fillet, still warm from being quickly cooked, simply arranged on top of the salad. Continue reading “Simple details, beautiful results: Seared salmon with mixed greens and miso vinaigrette” →

Lemon Caper Butter: An elegantly simple sauce for fish and more

Lemon Caper Butter adds a lively, delicate finish to Sole Fillets—or cod or chicken breasts or turkey cutlets… Recipe below.

We all have certain little tricks, techniques and simple recipes up our sleeves—versatile weapons in our culinary arsenal we can turn to when we want to liven up or elevate a dish or a meal. A healthy sprinkle of herbes de Provence when roasting chicken, for instance, or [especially lately for me] whisking a little flour and butter together in a hot skillet to make a faux roux to thicken a sauce. Continue reading “Lemon Caper Butter: An elegantly simple sauce for fish and more” →

Shrimp Scampi—easy on the butter, please

Shrimp, garlic, white wine and parsley get together with just enough butter for a rich, indulgent flavor in easy-to-make Shrimp Scampi with Fettuccine. Recipe below.

COMING FROM THE OCEAN AS THEY DO, IT’S FAIRLY SAFE TO ASSUME THAT SHRIMP CAN SWIM. And if you look at most recipes for shrimp scampi, they apparently love to swim in butter. We make this classic dish so infrequently that we always forget this about it. Guess we’re so focused on the shrimp, garlic and parsley—for us, these are the ingredients that define the dish. Continue reading “Shrimp Scampi—easy on the butter, please” →