Au Poivre

Au Poivre is probably my favorite condiment.  I personally believe that sauces can take away from whatever protein it is served with, but I will put this on anything.  Steak, chicken, asparagus, and tonight it was lamb chops.

The number one direction for this recipe is reduce, reduce, reduce.  Here's what you need:

1 1/2 cups of white wine
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup of brandy
lots and lots of crushed peppercorns (to taste)

This seems like a lot, especially for two people, but it will actually wind up being a great amount to dip in!

First add the wine and cream to a nonstick pan

 

Next add in the brandy and peppercorns

 

Now the fun part...waiting!  Bring the sauce to a boil and make sure it doesnt boil over.  Just let it reduce

and reduce, and reduce and reduce.  Occasionally scrape the edges of the pan.  Continue this for about 20 minutes, unless sauce thickens drastically

Once it has reduced, plate and enjoy!  Typically served with steak, but I love it with anything!  Just be sure to start making this before you start making anything else you are making to go with it!!

 

Coconut Crusted Chilean Sea Bass

The credit for this recipe goes to Rick because he has perfected it over the past year or so.  We have since prepared the coconut crust over a few different types of fish and all with the coconut jasmine rice as described.  I particularly like the texture of Chilean sea bass, so I prefer to use this recipe with it.  There are a lot of different steps and all the parts come together for an amazing dish.

Ingredients:

4 8 ounce cuts of Chilean sea bass

1/2 lb of snap peas

1 cup of coconut flakes, split into 2 parts

1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs

13.5 oz of unsweetened coconut milk (typical size of 1 can)

8 oz of clam juice (for allergies, substitute with chicken stock)

3 stalks of scallion 

1/5 red onion

2 cloves of minced or chopped garlic

4 teaspoons of minced ginger

3 dashes of Thai fish sauce (picture below)

1 teaspoon of honey

1 lime

red pepper flake, salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup of flour

jasmine rice

First, preheat the broiler.  Then take 1/2 C of the coconut flakes (usually found in the baking section of the grocery store) and put them in a dry nonstick skillet on medium heat.  You'll want to watch them and stir as needed to lightly toast the flakes but not burn them.  This will eventually go in our rice mixture, but once toasted, you can transfer them to a plate and keep aside.  

Prep for some future steps, slice the red onion into thin slivers and chop the scallion finely.  Squeeze the lime fully.  Keep each on the side.

Take this time to also finely chop some cilantro.  This is for garnish, so while not completely necessary, it does add a nice flavor.

Now take the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut flakes and add 1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs.  Also prep the snap peas by cleaning and trimming.

  

Next we will prepare our sauce.  In a large saute pan, combine the coconut milk, clam juice, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, honey, lime, and red pepper flake.  Heat to a boil, stirring occasionally over medium heat and then add the red onions.  Reduce for an additional 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, switch to low heat and add scallions.

 

Jasmine rice is an important part of this dish, but its the one part that I don't like to spend a lot of time or attention on.  I use the boiling variety but you can use whatever kind you'd like.  Start preparing this to spec at this point.  Also start boiling some water to cook the snap peas in.

Time for the sea bass!  Chilean sea bass is best with a nice sear on it, even with a coconut crust.  To get this, you need to dredge it.  Take the flour and mix with some salt and pepper on a plate.  Then dip each side of the fillets into the mixture to coat it lightly.  Set each aside as you heat a little oil in a pan.  You need the oil to get very hot before you place in the fish.  Cooking time will vary base on thickness.  Chilean sea bass is cooked when white inside and not opaque.

  

Note that this meal is requiring every burner of my stove (and every inch of counter space!!) 

Once your sea bass is fully cooked, arrange the pieces in the pan in a way that will be easy to apply the coconut crust.  This pan will go directly in the broiler.

Add a sliver of butter to the top of each fillet.  Then take 1/4 of the mixture for each and place on top, fully coating the tops.  

  

By now, the water should be boiling for the snap peas, the rice should be cooked and the sauce should be reduced...a lot of things are taking shape!  Make sure this is the case before putting the pan with the sea bass into the broiler because you'll only keep it in there for 2 minutes or less, enough for the coconut on top to toast a little, but not burn.  This is also around the same amount of time the snap peas need to cook, so toss them in and then use the broiler.  Watch the coconut flakes constantly!!

 

So now is the fun part--plating!  Rick is the best at this, so here's how he does it:

First, add the rice to the center of the plate.  Add the chopped cilantro.

Next, pour the coconut sauce mixture over the rice.  Be sure to spoon in some of the red onion as well!

Place the sea bass in the center of the plate, garnish with snap peas around the plate and sprinkle that toasted coconut from the first step over the entire dish.

And that's it!  There are a lot of moving parts to this recipe, but it is worth it in the end!!  Just be prepared to constantly monitor progress of things as they cook because many can overcook and aren't salvageable.  Hope you enjoy!

Stuffed Mini Artichokes

This post comes as a result of an impulse buy.  While doing my grocery shopping for the week, I came across a package of mini artichokes.  I immediately remembered my grandmother making stuffed artichokes as a special holiday treat.  I also fondly remember my mother insisting on ordering them whenever we went to a restaurant with the offering. 

Nostalgia got the best of me and I left the store with a package of 20 mini artichokes.  At least now I know I can invite guests over with confidence that they'll be a hit!  For a manageable recipe, I decided to prepare 8 mini artichokes.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
8 mini or small artichokes
1 1/2 cups of italian seasoned breadcrumbs
4 Tbsps of grated pecorino romano
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 cup of olive oil
additional olive oil (keep separate to drizzle)

Normally my first step will be to preheat the oven or heat source, but since the prep for this one is a little more extensive and tedious, my first step is to put on some music or TV or something to keep you occupied!!!!

Now preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prep a baking dish with sides at least 1 inch high by adding enough water to coat the bottom of the dish.  Then, wash the artichokes and dry them.

Next, cut the stems of the artichokes so they will stand up on their own.

Now spread open the leaves of the artichoke so there is room for the filling.  Also take the time to trim off the points of each individual leaf.  You'll thank me later for this!!

Now we will mix the breading.  Combine all of the dry ingredients (leave out the oil!)  Then slowly add in the oil and continue to stir.  Do so until the breading is clumping easily. 

Take the artichoke and dip it upside down into the breading.  Then, using your fingers, spread the breading in between each leaf and scoop in more until all leaves have some.  This is why we cut off the points of the leaves earlier!!

Beautiful!  Do this for each of the artichokes.

Then place all of them in the dish with water 

Now this step is optional.  If you have extra breading, sprinkle on top  of each artichoke.  

Finish off your prep by drizzling the artichokes with olive oil.  

Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour.  The leaves will turn dark green to black in color, which is a good indicator of doneness.  Also keep an eye on the color of your breadcrumbs.

Now all that's left to do is enjoy!  And hopefully you have someone to enjoy them with, especially if you bought too many like I did :)