The Perfect Bite

One Branzino, Two Branzini, Three Branzini, Yum!

This post may be a little long today as we have much to tell you!

Branzino (a European sea bass) is one of Darlene’s most favorite fish.  We first had it in Italy back in ’88.  After that we were on a quest to find it in the States.  We searched high and low and finally found it at a Greek fish restaurant in the Fell’s Point section of Baltimore at a little place called The Black Olive.  It’s small, warm, inviting and the owners are just adorable!  Actually, they come from a long line of Greek restaurateurs.  One cousin is the brains behind the famed Estiatorio Milos  in NY, Montréal & Athens.  (If you go, be sure to get the Milos special appetizer, the tomato salad, and any fish you desire – you won’t be disappointed!).

 

Fast forward to our purchase of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc At Home. 

 

 

For those of you who don’t know who Thomas Keller is – he is considered to be the true Top American Chef.  His restaurant The French Laundry in Napa Valley is widely thought to be the #1 restaurant in the country.  The kitchen sounds in the movie Ratatouille are authentic sounds made in the kitchen of The French Laundry.  We have eaten there once and, yes, it was an incredibly decadent meal in addition to being the most expensive meal we have ever had – but worth every cent!

 

 

Ad Hoc is Keller’s family-style restaurant, also in Napa Valley.  The corresponding cookbook features meals prepared at the restaurant and meals Keller prepares at home and boasts a section on How to Become a Better Cook.  It’s a great read, the pictures make you want to grab the food right off the book and eat, and the recipes are straightforward, though some can be time-consuming.  After our first perusal of the book, we immediately decided we’d be making the salt-crusted striped bass. This method of cooking fish is common in Italy and produces a really moist fish that’s perfectly seasoned (and it doesn’t stink up the house!).

 

So we headed over to Whole Foods where they only had small Branzini that day.  We bought 3 one-pounders, had the fishmonger clean them up for us and headed home to become Keller’s Mini-me’s. 

 

 

Aren’t they beautiful?  Don’t they look succulent and tasty?  Don’t you wish you could have some right now?  The fish was every bit as delicious as in any restaurant and the recipe was straightforward and simple even if we did have to adjust it a bit since we had 3 one-pound fish rather than 1 four-pound fish.

 

 

In any event, we hope you garner enough courage to try this recipe.  We served it alongside his broccolini salad with burrata cheese.  Add a crisp white wine like Santa Maria La Palma’s Aragosta Vermentino di Sardegna - light-bodied white, aromas of lemon and lime, goes perfectly with seafood; or Chahalem’s Inox Chardonnay (stainless steel tank fermented) – rich & full of light fruits, with a crisp, zesty finish.  We enjoy this wine all year long. Cheers!

 

 

 

Salt-Crusted Striped Bass

Adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

 3 one-pound branzini – gutted, scaled, fins cut off

4 cups kosher salt

8 large egg whites

½ bunch flat-least parsley

fronds from 1 fennel bulb

1 lemon, sliced thin

1 small orange, sliced thin

evoo

 

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Stir together the salt & egg whites in a large bowl.  Make a layer of the salt mixture just over ¼ inch thick on a baking sheet.

 

Stuff the fish cavity with parsley, fennel fronds, and fruit slices.  Lay the fish on top of the salt mixture on the baking sheet.  Take the remaining salt mixture and cover the top of the fish entirely, making sure the fish are completely covered in salt.  Use a paper towel to pat the crust to remove excess moisture.

 

Roast fish for 30-40 minutes (turn the pan 180° halfway through cooking).  Insert instant read thermometer into thickest part of middle fish – when it reads 125°F remove the fish from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.

 

To serve:  Using either 2 large spoons or a fish fork and large spoon crack the crust breaking it into large pieces and remove from the top and sides of the fish.  Remove the skin by gently rolling it off the meat.  The top fillet is now exposed and can be lifted right off the bone.  Next, lift the tail of the fish pulling toward the head to remove the skeleton. Lift the bottom fillet off the baking sheet.  A pastry brush can be used to gently brush away any salt that remains.  Drizzle with some evoo and enjoy.

 

Broccolini Salad with Burrata cheese

Adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

 2 lb. broccolini, thick part of stalks removed

2 large Portobello mushroom caps, sliced thin

1 small red onion, sliced into thin rings

1 cup black Cerignola olives (or other cured olives) sliced

½ cup vinaigrette (your own choice, Keller used Sherry vinegar)

salt & pepper to taste

2 large rounds of burrata cheese (like fresh mozzarella, but loose & creamy inside)

evoo

sea salt (we used Sicilian)

 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Prepare an ice bath (large bowl of water and ice).

 

Blanch the broccolini in the bling water until crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes.  Transfer to the ice bath to stop the cooking.  Drain on paper towels.

 

Gently toss the broccolini with 2/3 of the vinaigrette then place on a platter all lined up.  Gently toss the mushrooms with the remaining vinaigrette and sprinkle over the broccolini.  Sprinkle the onion and olives on top.

 

Place the burrata in a shallow bowl.  Cut away the top nub of the burrata and using a pair scissors cut an X into the top until you reach the creamy center.  Open the top slightly and drizzle evoo inside.  Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and serve alongside the broccolini.

 

McLaren Vale South Australia “Where the vines meet the Sea”

By Sharon Kneebone

 

In 1999 we returned to South Australia to visit my husband’s family and ring in the new Millennium.   For those fans of big, bold Australian red wines you most likely know that South Australia is home to the Barossa Valley and the McLaren Vale.  My in-laws live about 20 minutes from the beautiful Barossa and about 40 minutes north of the McLaren Vale.   We had been to the Barossa a couple of times and wanted to visit a different wine region.  We left the kids with Nana and Papa and headed south for a couple days away. 

  Sharon & Scott Kneebone

 

We stayed at the Inn at the McLarens, just down the street from the McLaren Vale Visitor Center. The Inn was the quintessential Aussie motel complete with inexpensive spacious rooms and a tin roof.  It was a great staging area to visit the vale’s cellar doors.  We spent the day sampling wines of the vale with a stop at Chapel Hill Cellar Door, a lovely sampling room set in a converted Australian chapel.

 

The Inn at the McLarens

 

One of our favorite wineries is Tintara, part of the Hardys family.  We purchased the Hardys world class Whiskers Blake Port there and have shared it judiciously with our close friends.  One of our favorite Shiraz wines is Tintara.  It is a full-bodied bold Aussie wine that is characteristic of the McLaren Vale region.  By far, our favorite wine maker from the McLaren Vale is Molly Dooker.  It is now widely available in the States and we’ve introduced it to all of our friends.

 

After a full day of touring the vale we had a wonderful dinner at the Barn Bistro.  One of the specials that evening was Kangaroo Steak cooked to perfection.  The Barn is a historic building housing a fine Australian Restaurant in the McLaren Vale. Far and away, my favorite site was cresting a hill with sloping vines to my left, a kangaroo bounding between the rows, and the sight of the ocean in the distance.

 

My favorite view – the ocean is off to the right.

 

The trek to the McLaren Vale is well worth the time, expense and effort.  Some of the world’s greatest Shiraz wines come from the area with an abundance of fresh Australian food.

 

"It is an ideal spot, and the ideal liquid inspiration, to try to figure out a way to live near this tiny piece of paradise between the voluptuous hills of wine
and the aquamarine sea."                                --The Wine Roads of Australia by Susan Gough Henly

Sharon and Scott Kneebone live in Baltimore, Maryland with their 2 children.  Besides Shiraz, they like lacrosse, musical theatre, and entertaining friends.

Braising in the grass is a gas…

In his book Think Like a Chef, Tom Colicchio says, “Braised food is comfort food in the truest sense of the word.”  We couldn’t agree more. In our home braising is the backbone for many a fall and winter Sunday family meal.

 

Start with a secondary (think inexpensive) cut of meat like ribs, a shank or a shoulder and use 2 different cooking methods which are actually very simple.  First the meat is browned (remember chef Anne Burrell’s adage: brown food tastes good!) in some fat, then you add liquid and cook long and slow.  Your senses are teased the entire time because the house is filled with the most amazing aroma and you feel like one of Pavlov’s dogs as you start to salivate and think, “oh no…another 2 hours until we eat?”  The result is succulent, tender meat with a complexity of flavor. 

 

We just tried this month’s braised short ribs recipe from Bon Appétit.  This dish had us at the very first bite.  The flavors were so rich, in part due to the myriad of vegetables included in the braising process that were then put through the food mill as part of the sauce – delicious and nutritious.  Our teenage son liked the short ribs so much he had them for breakfast the next day!

 

 

Braised short rib recipe from this month's Bon Appétit

 

Other favorite braising dishes in our home:

 

that great Italian classic veal osso buco 

 

spaghetti with Italian ragu of beef, pork & veal

 

that French classic coq au vin

 

the quintessential Yankee pot roast

 

and our ultimate favorite – garlic pot roast

 

 

Garlic Pot Roast

 

All of these meals feed our bellies, our senses and our soul on those chilly days that make you yearn for comfort.  And the best part is you finally get to use that gorgeous dutch oven you always envy at Williams-Sonoma!