HUNGRY GERALD

HG’s holiday voyage (Providence and Paris) began with Gifted Daughter Lesley R.’s linguine con vongole (utilizing loads of luscious Rhode Island clams). It ended with a clam feast at the Legal Sea Food outpost at Logan International Airport in Boston. HG is a big fan of Legal. HG recalls grilled Dover sole on the Legal menu in years past that was as good as anything in London or Paris at a tiny fraction of the price. Though the heavenly sole has disappeared, there are plenty of unsurpassed Rhode Island clams. HG had a dozen on the half shell. A fresh, briny kiss from the salt waters. BSK ate her favorite fried calamari done Rhode Island style (with hot peppers). HG/BSK dove into a nice fry up of clam bellies and onion rings. Washed it down with pinot grigio (for BSK) and Sam Adams ale (for HG). Back in New Mexico, HG will have to put clam feasting on hold until summer at HG/BSK’s ocean home on Prince Edward Island. PEI quahogs are very good though they don’t reach the heights of the Rhody guys. The consolation is Colville Bay oysters. HG will do lots of shucking. If you read Hungry Gerald, you are, obviously, a fan of fine prose and fine food. With that in mind, HG recommends a reading of the “Chowder” chapter in Moby Dick. Melville describes (and gives a recipe for) the chowder served to Ishmael and Queequeg at The Pots. You can find it online and in the great novel. Sail on, sail on, Pequod.

This week we left gentle, green Prince Edward Island in a deluge. Thought we might see Noah coming around the bend at any moment. Yes, heavy moisture but not the roaring floods that hit Colorado, HG/BSK’s former home. Sad moments as HG/BSK approached the Charlottetown airport. Will miss our Prince Edward Island neighbors,the Peretts and the Eppigs. Sheryll and Gladys at By the Bay Fish Mart. Caretaker Chris. Postmaster Ceyline. Colville Bay oyster king Johnny Flynn. Andrew MacDonald (and his superb mussel chowder). The Cardigan Market and the Charlottetown Farmers Market. Blueberry and raspberry picking on our fields. The sweet guys who mow our lawn. The sun, the sea, the beach glass, the breeze carrying a whiff of salt and beach grass. Sunsets and endless ocean views from every room in the HG/BSK home. Our kids and grandkids who love PEI. Cuisine by Exquisite Maiko and Gifted Lesley. Until next year…..

Bigger is better in oyster land. HG loves a big, plump briny oyster. There are those that fancy the little guys — the west-coast Kumamotos and such. Patricia Wells, the excellent restaurant critic, cooking teacher, food authority is a member of that party. HG is in opposition. This week HG stopped at Colville Bay Oysters in Souris, Prince Edward Island. HG asked the genial proprietor, Johnny Flynn, for a dozen of the biggest oysters in the house. Johnny picked out some bruisers, each between three and four inches in length. Thick oysters, their shells tinted slightly green (a signature of Colville Bay) filled with luscious brine. They were, without question, the best oysters HG ever tasted. Perfectly balanced between sweetness and sea brine. The texture? It was like eating oyster steaks. The dozen cost 14 dollars. HG was curious about the price of oysters and checked out the oysters at some of HG’s favorite Parisian brasseries. Big, high quality oysters sell for five bucks each. Obviously, the inexpensive brasserie-served plateau de fruits de mer is now, like the inexpensive New York apartment, just a fond memory. HG will confine oyster gluttony to Prince Edward Island. Affordable. And, Johnny Flynn’s product is better than anything the French, British or Irish shores can produce. (BSK insists on a positive mention of Colville Bay’s regular sized oysters: They are of the same delicious quality as the bigs, just smaller and will make most oyster aficionados very happy.)

As part of Exquisite Maiko’s birthday dinner the other night, SJ prepared a real oldie-but-goodie: a gratin of cheese, onions and newly picked Prince Edward Island potatoes. A time honored rustic French dish that does not get enough play these days. It is called Gratin Dauphinois if cream is used as the braising/binding agent and Gratin Savoyard if beef stock is used instead. Thinly sliced potatoes are placed in a heavy casserole that has been strewn with chopped garlic. Butter, cheese and cream (or beef broth) are added and it is cooked in a moderately hot oven. The heat is turned up at the end (or the dish is placed under the broiler) so a nice brown crust is developed. It is the definition of comfort food. SJ added shavings of cheddar and swiss cheese to the dish as well as sliced onions. SJ used milk instead of heavy cream in the dish. Made SJ unhappy. Felt it made the gratin watery instead of unctuous. Too picky. HG found it super delicious. Gratins usually accompany roasted meat. HG finds this a mite heavy. HG likes a gratin to stand on its own, accompanied by nothing but a green salad and red wine. Garlic lovers might try to find James Beard’s recipe for a gratin. HG recalls his gratin utilized olive oil, a bit of white wine and many, many cloves of thinly sliced garlic. Guaranteed to keep Count Dracula at bay.

Getting bored with HG’s press agentry for Exquisite Maiko’s kitchen wizardry? Too bad. Stop reading. But, if you want to know how to make magic with farm raised salmon read on. After a day of Prince Edward Island beach fun, EM julienned the remaining vegetables in the refrigerator (cabbage, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, onions) and tossed them in a bowl with a marinade of rice vinegar, sake, mirin and soy sauce. A slab of salmon was cut into manageable pieces about two fingers long and two fingers wide. These pieces were dusted in flour and sauteed until brown in canola oil. The salmon then went into the bowl, absorbing the the marinade flavors. The marinade had “cooked” the vegetables. This salmon dish was served with perfectly cooked rice, EM’s braised Japanese eggplant and some sriracha (for HG, the sriracha addict). The sublime appetizer was EM’s hand-made pork gyoza. EM will spend a day making gyoza and keeps batches in the freezer. EM has been cooking busily during her stay on PEI. HG’s dream came true: Fantastic dishes prepared at home daily by a talented Asian chef. The dream ends as EM, SJ and family return to Brooklyn. Soon,HG/BSK will be back in New Mexico. There are culinary consolations. Awaiting HG in the high desert paradise HG shares with BSK: BSK’s fabulous roast chicken. Adobo dusted pork chops. Green salads BSK prepares with the lettuces cultivated by HG/BSK’s organic farmer neighbor. Braised escarole in broth with onions, garlic, pancetta and white beans. Green chile stew with peppers freshly roasted at the Santa Fe Farmers Market. Pasta showered with herbs from BSK’s garden.BSK is a locavore and HG’s palate reaps the benefits. And, when HG needs a respite from healthy home cooking, it is off to El Parasol Restaurant in Pojoaque for a steaming bowl of cholesterol rich menudo. Land of Enchantment, indeed.

After contributing nothing, except appreciation, to the sterling culinary efforts of HG/BSK’s talented family, HG finally cooked something. Very blustery day on Prince Edward Island. An abundance of cooked corn and cold chicken in the refrigerator. Corn fritters and maple syrup preceded by chicken salad seemed like a good idea for a lunch while watching the roiling surf. Here’s how HG made the crispy little, corn-filled fritter yummies: One cup of buckwheat pancake flour plus a beaten egg plus a cup of milk and a tablespoon of canola oil. A dash of baking powder. Mixed it all up. Scraped the kernels off five ears of cooked corn. Some more mixing. Fried spoonfuls in sizzling canola oil. Good stuff. On to the the Chicken Salad: First, HG added plenty of sliced scallions to the cut up chicken. (HG and BSK have a tendency to add scallions to almost everything but ice cream). In a bowl HG placed a healthy amount of Hellman’s Mayonnaise (one of the few good supermarket perennials). Added a robust amount of curry powder (feel free to add a bit of cayenne if your curry powder is too mild). Mixed the chicken/scallions with the curry/mayonnaise. Plated it with a spoonful of mango chutney (and some peanuts for crunch.) (Unlike HG’s beloved BSK, HG does not fancy chicken salad. The exception is when HG prepares it.)

HG often accompanies the Asian-flavored salad with papadums, the crisp Indian flatbread.The corn fritters brought back memories of the long-shuttered, wonderful Gage and Tollner Restaurant in downtown Brooklyn. G and T served a thick and juicy mutton chop with corn fritters and the combination worked beautifully. There was a dish on the G and T menu that HG never encountered elsewhere: Sauteed clam bellies. The rubbery tails were snipped off the tender bellies. The bellies got a light dusting in seasoned flour. A swift saute in bubbling butter. A squirt of lemon juice and a dash of hot sauce. Lovely appetizer. HG’s going to make an effort to duplicate this dish and will report success or failure.

Watch out Barney Greengrass, Zabar’s, Russ & Daughters. The By the Bay Fish Mart in St. Peter’s, Prince Edward Island, is catching up. The proprietor, HG’s favorite fish purveyor, Sheryll O’ Hanley, has added smoked mackerel to the store’s pungent treats which include Nova Scotia smoked salmon and peppered salmon spears, cold smoked in the Pacific style. The smoked mackerel is remarkable. Moist. Full of flavor. Accented, but not overwhelmed, by smoke. HG has enjoyed mackerel in the form of sashimi and sushi (daughter-in-law Exquisite Maiko crafts these Japanese treats beautifully.) Gifted Daughter Lesley does broiled mackerel in a tasty Provencal manner. In Paris, HG has often relished marinated maquerau. But, HG has never encountered smoked mackerel anywhere but Prince Edward Island with By The Bay purveying the finest example. Great appetizer with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a grind of pepper. Equally nice on a bagel with cream cheese and sliced, sweet onion. Sheryll told HG her mackerel is caught off PEI and then shipped to a venerable smokehouse in Novia Scotia. Sheryll sells the fish freshly smoked, never frozen. Reminded HG of HG/BSK’s days on historic Nantucket Island. A young man sold freshly smoked bluefish door-to-door. It became so popular he expanded his operations and soon only frozen was available. Sad. It neither tasted the same nor did it texturally hold up. HG hopes that his favorite smoked mackerel avoids that ignominious fate.

SJ returned to Prince Edward Island after his labors in steamy New York. SJ was accompanied by a surprise, a surprise carefully concealed from HG: a visit from the joyous, golden presence of Restaurateur Daughter Vicki. The excellent woman did not come empty handed: Wine, cheese, salumi, artisan pasta were amongst the treats she brought. Three days of feasting began with each family member displaying their culinary chops. Exquisite Maiko sourced a dozen mackerel, so fresh they were still frozen in rigor-mortis, from a Naufrage Harbor fisherman who refused to accept any money for his catch. She deftly produced mackerel-3-ways: tataki (roughly chopped raw fish with scallion, ginger and soy sauce); Shime Saba (marinated mackerel filets served with ginger and scallion); Sashimi (beautifully sliced raw fish with a sauce of ponzu and EM’s own secret Onion Dressing). EM also produced a variety of salads: fresh water shrimp with avocado, soy-sauce and wasabi, cellophane noodles mixed with strips of egg crepe, etc. And, to show off her mastery of the flame EM cooked some tiger shrimp to perfection in the Spanish style with crispy garlic and a dusting of smoked pimenton. BSK countered with BSK’s spectacular sauteed sea scallops. Naturally, scores of Colville Bay and Savage Harbor oysters were consumed. Ears and ears and ears of seasonal corn on the cob (shucked by Grandson Haru and cooked using BSK’s infallible method) and the first tomatoes of the PEI season (with local feta cheese) were on the table. SJ produced a great platter of herbaceous linguine. This was the SJ technique: SJ chopped every herb in the garden (basil, mint, sage, parsley, marjoram, etc.); sliced 2 cloves of garlic paper thin (in the Goodfella’s style), added some chopped anchovy and mixed it all together with salt and pepper. He then heated about a 1/2 cup of olive oil until it was almost smoking and poured it over the herb-anchovy- garlic mixture causing a huge sizzle and the release of an extraordinary fragrance or herbs, garlic and olive oil. Tossed it over warm pasta and mixed it all up. SJ also produced some very good pizza topped with sliced potatoes, olive oil and mix of goat cheese and mozzarella. Restaurateur Vicki did a knock-your-socks off pesto. RV bought a huge bag of the freshest basil from the Charlottetown Farmers Market and using methods learned from RV’s husband, chef Marc Meyer, did a pesto that had sublime texture, taste and aroma. The ambrosial mixture clung to every fold of the special pasta RV brought from New York. Yes, these were three days of incomparable family fun and festivity.(Sadly, daughter Lesley R. and family were back in Rhode Island and so LR couldn’t contribute her exemplary Italian/Provencal dishes and delicious countenance). And, what did HG contribute to this delightful extravaganza? HG ate. HG drank. HG made judicious and complimentary comments. True artists, after all, need an appreciative and knowing audience and HG was glad to oblige.

Periodically, Exquisite Maiko delights the HG/BSK famille with spectacular tempura. Cod, sole, scallops, haddock and shrimp are given the EM treatment which renders them crisp, light as a gentle breeze and full of flavor without even the slightest hint of grease. These are served with room temperature soba in a broth topped with scallions, slivers of nori and a bit of wasabi. Last night, EM introduced some delightful innovations with the help of PEI’s bountiful summer harvest. Beautiful just-picked eggplant was done two ways: Braised in a sweet and fragrant sauce and as crisp, tempura slices. In addition, EM found some fresh okra and created a dish that would convert even the most dedicated okra hater. Rather than slimey, EM’s okra was firm, room temperature and sauced with a number of subtle and elusive ingredients (EM has her secrets). EM also prepared oyster mushroom tempura and was ready to do even more vegetables–asparagus, onions and zucchini. But, having had copious amounts of the seafood tempura, a halt was requested. EM received applause for her matchless Japanese cuisine.

By the Bay Fish Mart in St. Peter’s, Prince Edward Island, is a mainstay of HG/BSK’s cuisine during their long summer by the sea. Sheryll O’Hanley, a sunny faced, efficient woman, opened the store eight years ago and it has become a favorite among the Island’s lovers of fresh seafood. All of the fish (hake, cod, sole and haddock) is from the waters off PEI and Nova Scotia. They are wild caught. There is also farm raised Atlantic salmon. The salmon is free of hormones, chemicals and additives and it the best farm-raised fish HG has ever tasted. When the fishermen are fortunate, Sheryll sells some very superior local halibut. Sea scallops (even better than Nova Scotia’s Digby Bay scallops) come from PEI’s North Lake. Oysters are from South Lake and Savage Harbor. Quahogs and steamer clams are harvested locally. Lobsters (alive and kicking or cooked) are from PEI waters. The excellent little fresh water shrimp (similar to the schie HG devoured happily in Venice) are from Newfoundland. Sheryll departs from her locavore emphasis by importing some firm and tasty Tiger shrimp from Ontario. Mussels, PEI’s signature bivalve, are farmed in St. Peter’s Bay, just yards from the seafood store’s front window. Sheryll, married and mother of a 10 year-old daughter, is a special ed teacher in the off season. She comes to her seafood knowledge quite naturally. Born and bred in St. Peter’s, both of her parents were fishers and she absorbed sea lore daily. In her absence, By the Bay is tended by Gladys MacPhee, another native Islander and mother of four adult Islanders. She has kindly instructed HG in how to steam lobsters to maximize flavor. When HG moves back to Santa Fe (not exactly a seafood center) HG acutely misses Sheryll, Gladys and By the Bay. HG has to comfort himself with New Mexico menudo, burritos, chile peppers and the other delicacies of the region.

Sheryll O’Hanley