HUNGRY GERALD

Farm raised salmon. Despicable. Farm raised bass. Nasty. Haven’t tasted farm raised tilapia. Any opinions? The fish from the Spanish farm Veta La Palma is said to be delicious.

Farm raised catfish is excellent however. HG does it this way: Brief soak in buttermilk. Dredge in flour. Dip in beaten egg. Dredge in black pepper seasoned matzo meal. Fry in a big cast iron pan with plenty of sizzling canola oil. Pass the lemon, Frank’s Hot Sauce and cold beer. HG ate plenty of wild, bottom feeding catfish in Harlem cafes during his college days. Always had a slightly muddy taste effectively masked by super-peppery crust crisped in bacon fat or lard. Today’s catfish has a nice, fresh texture. BSK, once a catfish hater, has been converted.

What’s a Cataplan? It’s a hinged, oval-shaped copper pot. Cataplans are used throughout Spain and Portugal to make seafood stews. It’s a bit tricky to handle (watch out for hot steam when you snap open the hinged cover) but it’s the perfect culinary device to get all the flavor out of steamed seafood. BSK used it last night to very good effect. As usual she started with a flavorful saute of sweet onions, garlic, chopped pancetta and, best of all, sprigs of tarragon from BSK’s kitchen garden. Sliced fingerling potatoes from neighbor organic farmer Gary G. were put into the mix to soften. Then came St. Ours Clam Broth. This is a really flavorful clam broth powder (reconstitute with boiling water) that’s much better than the bottled stuff you get in supermarkets. Next into the cataplan were Atlantic cherrystone clams. Then Prince Edward Island mussels. When all of the bivalves were just about open, BSK tossed in some chunks of cod fillet. Served ourselves from the cataplan (which was immediately locked again to keep second helpings hot). Dipped crusty bread and had a joyous time. Take a tip from HG and the folks on the Iberian peninsula and buy a cataplan.

HG’s organic farmer neighbor, Gary G., provides HG and BSK with giant heads of escarole (hard to fit in the frig) at three bucks a bunch. This calls for one of the great comfort dishes — white bean and escarole soup. It all starts with a sofrito of olive oil, chopped onion, browned pancetta, chopped garlic, fresh rosemary and abundant red pepper flakes. Coarsely chopped escarole is softened in the pungent melange. Chicken broth, chopped canned Italian tomatoes are added. A couple of cans of rinsed cannelloni beans go into the pot at the end (Goya is the best brand but Whole Foods 365 is good). Google a recipe to find more exact proportions if you can’t figure it out.

Serve with a dash of good, virgin olive oil or more pepper flakes for fans of the incendiary. The two Frankies of the wonderful Frankies Spuntino restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan say the dish is good hot or cold. They often start off their busy cooking days with a cold dish of the soup splashed with plenty of olive oil. HG thinks this tops Cheerios.

When was the last time you saw or ate Egg Foo Young? It was an Americanized take on a classic Shanghai dish and a staple of the Chinese restaurants of HG’s youth. It was not, like the combo plate or the oft discussed Chow Mein sandwich, one of HG’s favorites.

Curiously, HG had a hankering for it yesterday. So, HG beat a bunch of eggs. Chopped onions and celery. Washed some bean sprouts. Shredded some Nori. Mixed it all together with a bit of salt and pepper. Heated peanut oil to the sizzling point. Made a big bunch of Egg Foo Young pancakes (mini omelets?) and served them with hot mustard, hoisin sauce and a tossed green salad. Don’t think it was the classic Egg Foo Young of yesteryear but it was mighty good. Give it a try.

It’s corn harvest time on Prince Edward Island and HG and BSK are shucking and nibbling. So fresh and sweet is this corn that no butter is needed. Just a sprinkle of kosher salt. BSK, the official corn cook, always makes sure we have some extra ears for morning time corn pancakes.

HG, official pancake cook, mixes flour, two beaten eggs, a bit of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of baking powder and the shucked kernels. HG fries the pancakes in grape seed oil and serves them with Canadian maple syrup. Makes breakfast a meal to remember.

And, here’s a sweet dessert idea. Butter tarts (only available in Canada, for some obscure reason) resemble mini pecan pies (but better crust and less sweet). The perfect end to dinner is a butter tart topped with vanilla ice cream.

Here’s one of HG’s favorite salads, an excellent accompaniment to sauteed or grilled fish. Exquisite Maiko plunges thin rice noodles (vermicelli) into boiling water. When done (it only takes a few minutes) they go into a colander, are doused with cold water and drained. Into a big bowl they go with lots of thin slivers of black forest ham, cucumber and scallion. EM makes a dozen very thin egg crepes and adds slivers of them to the salad. This is beyond HG’s kitchen skills so HG just cooks some scrambled eggs until very firm and adds bits of them — Lacks EM’s elegance but tastes good.

The dressing is a mix of vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice and sesame oil. Of course you want to add salt and pepper to taste. HG likes a bit of heat via sriracha or sambal oelek, two fiery Asian staples.

Curry is usually associated with Indian cuisine. HG never thought about it in connection with Japan. Yet, curry is a staple Japanese dish. A true comfort dish most often served at home (of course there are plenty of great curry shops in Japan — like ramen, curry is one of the basics of Japan’s superior fast-food culture).

HG relishes the chicken curry prepared by Daughter In Law Exquisite Maiko. Savory. Comforting. Hearty. EM’s Japanese version isn’t burn-your-mouth stuff. If you want some vindaloo heat just add cayenne pepper to taste.

Here’s how EM does it (proportions are vague — you’ll have to figure it out by the trial and error method). EM puts two big onions and a big carrot into a food processor and chops it fine. This gets a long, long saute in butter and garlic. Then mushrooms, red peppers, zucchini, carrots, onions, potatoes (any anything else that’s in the vegetable bin) are chopped coarsely. All of this (plus a goodly amount of chicken thighs) are added to the butter and garlic semi-puree. It’s all doused with chicken broth and simmered for an hour.

After that cooking period, EM adds a package of Japanese curry sauce (S&B Golden Curry Sauce is a good brand and you can find it at Whole Foods or at any reasonable Asian market) and all is simmered for an additional 15 minutes. The curry mix is more like a roux so make sure that it breaks apart. At the very end EM adds some soy sauce and Japanese Bulldog Sauce (similar to Chinese hoisin) is stirred in. Served with white rice, chopped scallions and (HG’s choice) Indian mango pickles. Down home delight.

The briniest, freshest hard shell clams (known as Quahogs) are available for $3.60 a dozen on Prince Edward Island. HG bought three dozen. Steamed them. Removed the meat from the shells (easier to eat that way–and less messy). Made a sauce of Chinese fermented black beans, Chinese oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, peanut oil and flavorful
clam broth straight from the steamer. Showered it all with scallions and cilantro. Big bowl of white rice. Ice cold amber ale.

Cantonese delight.

Dan Dan Noodles a.k.a. Cold Chinese noodles with peanut butter (yes, peanut butter) sauce is a blazingly spicy dish that’s great as a summer dinner. HG will not give exact proportions since there are many recipes on the Internet and HG always encourages individual creativity. The ingredients are peanut butter (HG likes a chunky, organic brand) , a bit of tahini, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, lots of finely chopped garlic. HG likes to thin the sauce with some strong, black Chinese tea. Dish demands a lot of heat and HG’s method is to mix sesame oil with the hottest Chinese hot sauce in the market. HG then strains the oil over the dish. HG also like to add some Szechuan preserved vegetables (a little tough to find except at Chinese groceries). Grind some Szechaun peppers over the dish (if you can stand the heat). Cool it off with lots of chopped scallions, cilantro and cubed, seeded cucumber. Some slivers of shredded cold chicken breast are a nice addition.

A supreme Steak last night was brought on by many days of fish, mussel, clam and lobster eating. HG likes steak done only one way, the HG way (see earlier post “How To Cook A Steak”). This is a once a month treat. HG picked out the biggest rib steak from the nice organic beef lady from the PEI Farmer’s market. HG’s trusty big, black cast iron pan got a layer of kosher salt. Heat was turned on very high and the windows are opened (this is a smoky process). The steak was seared until a nice crust developed on each side. Turned the heat down to medium and cooked the steak for a few more minutes. (HG likes steak very rare but not raw, saignant not bleu). Meanwhile, a can of Goya white beans was gently simmered and a small pan of garlic and olive oil warmed. When ready, HG poured some olive oil and grated garlic over the steak. The beans got the same. A glass of old vine Zinfandel was poured.

Yes, the world is a cruel and violent mess. Yes, the American ship of state is getting leaky. But, at HG’s table the peace of the carnivore reigned.