A Foray into Spicy...and Baby Octopi/Octopodes/Octopuses!....

Betcha didn't know all 3 forms of plural "octopus" was correct!! (insert suleyman and...progeny joke here). Here's what I made on Fri for dinner: slow simmered baby octopuses in a spicy tomato reduction with asparagus, scallops, shrimp, and squid.

back story! :)...so all day Friday @ work I had this major fixation with making seared scallops again, but with the porcini risotto i had posted about--and maybe some baked asparagus b/c I was feenin' some greens and baked produce. And when I went to Whole Foods I saw baby octopuses, mussels, shrimp, bass, mexican scallops in addition to the jumbo Cape Cod ones my head kind of exploded!

...and after seeing all these pictures of my friend's crawfish extravaganza and all these clam bakes on Man vs. Food in Boston and Seattle...I had all these ideas running thru my head--and remembering my flight on JetBlue a while back wherein Mark Bittman showed u how to cook octopus around the time I discovered grilled octopus (period) @ Kefi...

I paced back % forth at the seafood counter for like a good half hour and the guy at the counter thought i was nuts b/c i bought half a pound of everything :P I wisely left back the mussels for another day.

Strangely...NO FISH SAUCE in this one!! But I think in some other incarnation of this (which will resemble my mom's shrimp in a tomato/garlic thing...it's nuts...it's like casserole level thickness in sauce).

I also decided that since the octopus/seafood orgy was going to take like at least 45 min to slow simmer, I'd bake myself a version of the asparagus I used to do--but this time with shaved pecorino, lemon, and this Borsari citrus salt I got @ Whole Foods that was particularly intriguing!

I also decided to go with white asparagus to try to break down the difference for my own palate...and with manchego cheese slivers of course. And for shiz and giggles--threw some fresh pecans in there to roast as well!! Def helped calm the flavor :)

I grossly underestimated the flavor reduction in the prosciutto (AGAIN) with the "reduced" pecorino shavings too, so the drippings mixed with the Borsari citrus salt (pretty light hand this time around) with the lemon juice was WAY intense but SO FRICKIN' AMAZING. I mean it felt like I was scrounging around for things to sop up the drippings and was a pretty big hit w/ my roomies too. The manchego melted well and balanced out the strong tart savory flavor with a little musky, "creamy" taste. Maybe a little smokey? I can't pin point the descriptor!

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"RECIPE" for SPICY SEAFOOD PASTA:

...not giving it the long sexy foodie fetish name :P...

1/2 pound baby octopus in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup olive oil, 2-3 bay leaves, lightly sauteed shallots/garlic (just personal preference to have both--and I like to put in like half a bulb or more of garlic!!) :) season as u will...dump 2 cups of halved grape tomatoes in there (I ended up throwing in about 4 roma-sized tomatoes diced in there too b/c i like my reduction really thick and tomato-y esp since I don't wanna use tomato paste).

1/2 pound shrimp (maybe less is better), 1/2 pound scallops (the baby/mexican scallops are probaby a better choice), 1/2 pound squid sliced. I seared these lightly b/f dumping them all into the pot to slow simmer for ~45 min on REALLY low heat, stirring occasionally. I tried to add in chili pepper (i usually don't cook spicy) but couldn't taste anything and was worried so I put in pepper flakes...and then cayenne pepper eventually :) It was of adequate heat, suffice to say--even for a chili n00b like me :)...

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BAKED ASPARAGUS:

wrap thin slices of prosciutto--I think stripping the normal slice into 3 long strips would be ideal. Don't be fooled that it doesn't look pretty or whatever proportional when wrapping it around the thin strips of manchego around the asparagus stalks. Shave some pecorino or parmesan or whatever other cheese u wanna play with. I squeezed half a good sized lemon over it all with a nice sprinkle of the Borsari salt. Bake @ 350-375 for about 15 min. YAY.

Dinner in Balestrate!...

We're starting w/ Sicily in my....way overdue postings from the Italy trip! Why? b/c I lurved Del Capo market, the sweets in Balestrate & when Angela and Scott (and Karen) made some fantasmic fish and risotto and arancini! and...then the pics from Erice/Trapani! woohoo! and Palermo pizza!

A little..."preview" if u will...(of artsier shots i might not be able to make work in the rest of the entry :P...

We'll start this all with the dinner in Balestrate complete with my silly "chocolate" tasting with the stash I bought in Pisa. That'll be saved for another post b/c this one is just massive, hehehehe. Now...from the beginning...

We had lovely fennel w/ grated orange zest plus half anorange but u just can't see it in the pics. Fennel fennel fennel...kind of have an odd relationship with fennel--didn't like them grilled in a salad @ Olive's in Soho, kinda really enjoyed them raw and shaved with the diluted fish sauce aka nuoc cham aka dipping sauce (which btw totally makes badass salad dressing)...

...but here, we sauteed with some stock (if i remember correctly?) with the lemons and orange and pomegranates totally rocked and had a new depth of flavor....which i can't rightly describe since it's been so long :) but it was great with the risotto too :P

Getting out the pomegranate seeds for the fennel! Easiest way to get it all out tho--is to cut the pomegranate in half and then pat the back of it with a spoon and all the seeds come flying out :) Okay so you can see all that orange half and other stuff here... :)

The ladies workin' hard stirring away @ the fennel & risotto...

We also had a artisanal porcini risotto from one of the vendors (?) that works with Scott's company (yummers! I took home a pack and Karen took home a pack of saffron risotto!). Here are innumerable pics of that going down too :) Simmer simmering away!

In the meanwhile...Scott preps the fishy fish with capers, then salt & pepper--olive oil, then garlic! So...I forget what kind of fish we got at the market that day, but it was large and bootiful! Angela broke down the whole thing and descaled it and all!

Beautiful fish no? Shame we couldn't figure out what kinda fish it was but it sure was ginormous when it locked eyes with us and the fish-man :P

...and we even tried to go buy tweezers to remove the little bones but all i could remember to say was "Stiamo cercando per una pincetta per a prendere l'osso nelle pesce"...but i couldn't remember how to say "take out" or "remove" and kept making pinching motions and saying "sopraciglia" for eyebrows. Needless to say, my Italian has gotten supremely rusty! Anyhoo--so tons of pics of Scott drizzling the fish in olive oil after patting in some lemon slices, capers, garlic, and sea salt.

WEEE!! All packed up and ready to go...but see we actually forgot the garlic for a minute so...back open it goes :D...NUMMY NUM NUM...So that was a final "before" look @ our pesce...and....AFTER roasting in the oven! :D So many pictures...so little space hehe.

WOOHOO! so purty...and yummy! Note this is actually ish "other" people make but i'm still super jazzed eh? :P...seriously even putting all these photos back in sequence makes me a little giddy. In the midst of all this, I did a whole chocolate tasting set-up on the table as well and went back and forth stalking everybody in the kitchen and having them re-stage taking things out of the oven etc... :P

...and this!! yes that's STEAM...lots of it! bootiful bootiful steam! (and not a dirty wall hehe) ^_^

Scott gave us each some risotto from his co. to bring home. VERY VERY excited to crack it open! Anyhoo...back to dinner. Some of these are out of sequence back to the table with just the plates set up! :) To the table! But first some vino!...

Yes i'm a little crooked with this but I thought it kinda quirky and fun. When i rotated .75 degrees counterclockwise it just kinda looked generic. At least that's the story I'm sticking to anyway :) That and angela looks like a ghost! (do you know how impossible it is for me to keep still sans gorillapod with a b-shot?!)

This is the bottle of olive oil that Scott and Angela had freshly pressed the week prior, using olives from Scott's boss's orchard and pressed in the neighboring town. Apparently...everybody around there does it. WEEEE!! Look how thick it looks and almost opaque! That's how it's *supposed* to be. Nom nom nom...

We also had some fresh mozzarella (just from the supermarket--yeh SUPERMARKET, not the market market...but OMG infinitely better than anything @ the markets here, except maybe Murray's cheeses! or Odika? whatever it is...

AAAAaaaaannnnd done. :) I usuually don't post pictures with people in them on the blog...but Scott and Angela were pretty effin' awesome hosts and fun to hang around in Balestrate and Palermo so...here they are!! Thanks so much guys!! We sure licked the plates clean ;)

YAY SICILIA!!....oh hell one last look at that fantastic fish :D...

Brussel Sprouts & Bacon!....

Claudz got me some brussel sprouts the last time we were @ Karen's making beignets & apple tarte tartins so I decided to test drive them out for Thanksgiving, along with chicken in bacon fat and lotsa rosemary...

and by "we were making beignets and tarte tartins" i mean I showed up uberlate after my NY Urban game and got a sammich nearby and ate while Shanaz made the tarte tartin and the other girls made beignets (and deep fried snickers!) while I noshed and bitched about being sweaty and tired :P more pics of that some other time.

In this version, I had about...3 cups of brussel sprouts halved, sauteed with shallots, pine nuts, and about 1.5 lemons. Didn't have pancetta so I used center cut bacon (b/c it was like..10pm on a Sunday when I decided to do this little culinary experiment and Gristedes isn't exactly...gourmet central :P). Prosciutto would've been nice but it's so thin and when I've crisped them up before it's just TEEEEEEEENY!!

So...I was reading a lot about how to prepare them sprouts--and I opted for a compromise of boiling for 3 min and then sauteeing the rest. I'm going to have to say...I'm going to just nix the boiling and do fullon sauteeing or roasting next time.

I really lament the loss of color w/ boiling and the texture is like any boiled cabbage would be. I think w/ all the layers it's so much better roasted or whatever to maintain the crispness of each layer. It's like if u had a soggy crepe mille cake. EES NO GEWWWD. Crispy! Also...note the diff b/w flash and natural light...

That's brussel sprouts I had in Italy--really really fresh sproutsies! ^_^ boiled, with a little olive oil. granted it didn't taste all that exciting b/c it was fully boiled, but the quality of the produce--YUMMMM. and the sprouts were much bigger than here. I also hafta say...the bacon really darkens and chars the chicken and sprouts well, but since the sprouts were already soft and boiled it didn't add much dimension to the coloring. FULL CHAR NEXT TIME! :)

That's mah full meal. let's hope turkey day sprouts will be much more interestingly plated. Also trying to switch up my cakes this year. still befuddled. HRmmmMMmmmmm....>.O...

I'm also hoping I can buy the brussel sprouts on the stalk at the Union Square farmer's market when my mom's in town (tomorrah!) and we'll be makin' my first Turkey day dinner in NYC!

Bastardized Pasta Salad recipe...

Everyone's been asking me about my recipes for stuff like the Bastardized Pasta Salad (again I can never seem to fully separate my palate & affinity for Mediteranean meets Southeast Asia). SO...since I don't really measure and kind of gamble with portions & ingredients, here's what I used:

Bizzastardized Pasta Recipe!

• GIANT corkscrew pasta (fusilloni)
• heaps of basil, one entire bulb of garlic (~10 bulbs? hahaaah)
• sliced half a red onion
• seasoned Athenos feta cheese (garlic & herb says ze packaging)
• non pareile capers (which I guess means having no equal--but just means it's from the South of France)
  
• halved cherry tomatoes (1 basket)
  
• half a lemon (maybe a little more)
• ....and here's the good stuffs--> FISH SAUCE!!! ^_^ OH YEAAAAAH.
  

Fizzzziiiish. Sizzzzaaauce. THAT's RIGHT--you don't even KNOW ese! ;) ...btw, I really prefer using Phu Quoc fish sauce over the other brands--the crab one is good, i can't remember others. MEH. I'll ask Mama Ly.

Direzione!

Start out sauteeing the giant-ness of minced garlic bulb in a relatively thick layer of oil (just like making the garlic & oil pasta except put on low heat after the garlic gets a little color, throw in the tomatoes, squirt in the lemon juice & fish sauce (i pretty much eyeball it all since I use lemon juice, fish sauce, and garlic a lot so I just...have an intrinsic gauge for what it'll be like I can't describe =/). I also like the tomatoes a little raw still in most the crap I cook but I like to bleed it a little (per se) cuz I guess the glycopene in the tomato makes the sauce congeal a little, and thicken the "sauce" and coat better.
Mix it all around a little, and if you want, throw in the cooked pasta (straight from the pot with a little of the water from boiling too it's still yummy) and mix around. OR, u can saute the red onions before throwing in the pasta but I like it with a little kick and purity in its own flavor in being a little uncooked and whatnot.
If you need to, add in a little more olive oil to coat the pasta, salt & season as u will (i only used pepper, the fish sauce adds a diff kind of salty flavor), and more fish sauce! but not too much b/c you'll get the savory & bite from the capers and cheese too so keep it on the bland side. I also don't add the sliced/shredded basil until the end but I add a little in the beginning to let it wilt and add some flavor. Mix in the other half of the shredded basil, mix mix mix!

Plate, break the feta over the pasta, scatter some capers over, stick some sprigs of fresh basil in it and call it a day.