Think Like a Chef Part - Salt Roasted Salmon

“What are you cooking Sunday?”  “Salt-roasted salmon.”  “…Alright…I’ll eat as much as I can…”

Needless to say, my wife is not a salmon fan.

Truth be told, she’s not a fish fan.  I’ve tried to make salmon a couple of different ways for her, but I always ended up eating half of it.  Granted, salmon has a stronger taste, but she has enjoyed all of the recipes from Tom Colicchio’s Think Like A Chef so far, including the pan roasted fish, so I figured, go for it!  Now, the question is, how to get her to eat it and maybe even enjoy it?

I mentioned before that I have someone who is following this series who is making really cool suggestions about side dishes and accompaniments.  That got me thinking about what I could serve with the salmon that would be new and interesting for me to cook, but be familiar enough for Cathy to enjoy.  I started looking through some other salmon recipes and I found an Emeril recipe where he makes a cauliflower puree.  Sounds good!  Hey…am I starting to think like a chef??

Okay, a word about fat.  One of my goals was to make these recipes low fat.  However, not all fats are created equal!  According to Fatsecret.com, a 4-ounce piece of salmon is 166 calories, 60 from fat.  But, according to Livestrong.com, the fat in salmon is omega-3 fatty acids, which can help protect against heart disease and other conditions.  It also has a ton of other nutrients and you can read that article here.

Now, the only added fat to the salmon was 1 tablespoon of extra- virgin olive oil and a bit more for drizzling.  Figure on ¼ being absorbed into each piece of fish.  No problem there.  As for the cauliflower puree…

The recipe for the cauliflower puree is ½ pound cauliflower, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and ½ cup of heavy cream…HEAVY CREAM?????

According to Fatsecret.com, ½ cup of heavy cream = 411 calories, of which 397 is fat, and we are not talking healthy fats!  So, if I wanted to make this, I needed to find a substitute. 

Unfortunately, I can’t locate the exact website I found, but one source said you could use fat free evaporated milk as a substitute for heavy cream.  This would provide a similar type of creaminess.  I used Carnation fat free evaporated milk.  One serving is 25 calories, so ½ cup would be 200 calories, zero from fat.  Half the calories and zero fat?  Sounds good to me!

Now, on to the actual cooking!

First, after trying unsuccessfully to cut off my thumb using a pairing knife to cut up the cauliflower, I rinsed the cauliflower in cold water, and put it in a pot of salted water.  Then I brought the water up to a boil, and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

As it simmered, I began to heat up the extra virgin olive oil in my cast iron skillet over medium high heat, and also pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees.  Now, this brings up an interesting point, which Colicchio mentions right away.  Throughout the roasting chapter, he says he prefers to roast at a lower temperature, because it helps bring out the flavors of whatever he is roasting.  However, because the salt will insulate the fish, you have to roast it at a higher temperature.

Now, after the oil was heated, I put the salmon on skin side down and was supposed to cook it for two to three minutes.  Well, I WOULD have done that had my salmon had skin on it.  My salmon did not.  In any case, I figured if I let it go the full three minutes, it would still form some type of crust on the fish. 

After the three minutes, I took the pan off of the heat and covered the fish in kosher salt.  It took approximately 1½ cups of kosher salt to get the job done.  Once the salmon was covered, it went into the oven.  The recipe called for 6 minutes to cook the salmon to medium rare.  Colicchio says that the top of the salmon should look slightly rare.  I knew if it looked rare at all, Cathy would not eat it, so I chose to go one extra minute.

While the fish was in the oven, the cauliflower finished cooking.  I had to remove it from the heat, and drain.  Then into a blender went the cauliflower, the extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and the evaporated milk.  I blended it until smooth, and tasted it.  It seemed it needed more seasoning, so I added a bit more salt and a lot of pepper.  Tasting it again, it was really quite good, although, unlike potatoes, it is not something I would eat by itself.

Now the fish was done cooking, so I took the fish out of the oven, and transferred it to my cutting board.  I started to take off the salt dome.  

I then brushed the salt off of the fish.  Now, time to plate.

First, I put the cauliflower puree on the plate.  

Next I put the salmon on top of the puree.  

Then, I drizzled a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over the salmon.  

Finally, it was time to taste.

The fish was cooked to a perfect medium.  It did indeed get a crust on the bottom of the salmon.  Although cooked to medium, the salmon was still quite firm but not tough, and not fishy tasting at all.  It did have a salty taste, no question about it, but it wasn‘t over powering.  The cauliflower puree was quite creamy.  I guess I would describe the taste as kind of a mild, nutty flavor. 

The real test?  Cathy ate the entire piece!  I wouldn’t say she loved it, but it was the first time I ever saw her eat an entire piece of salmon.

Finally, the calories:  We had a six ounce piece of salmon, which is about 249 calories, 90 from fat, but remember, the vast majority is good fat.  Between the olive oil absorbed in cooking, the drizzle on the fish and the cauliflower puree of which half was left over, I figure roughly ¾ of a tablespoon, all fat, but again, good fat, as it is monounsaturated.  Because half of the puree was left over, the calories from the fat free evaporated milk was 50 calories, zero from fat, and the cauliflower was ½ pound, approximately 4 cups raw (total guess) so per serving that is another 25 calories, only 1 from fat.  That makes the totals:

Calories = 414, Fat = 181 (remember, mostly all good fats).

So I think this dish was a complete success.  The only thing I would do different is make a side dish like asparagus next time to add a little bit of color to the plate…am I thinking like a chef again??

A Birthday Card To My Wife

We’ve all seen them and we’ve all gotten them.

You know.  It’s your wife’s birthday.  You need to buy a card.  You go to the card store and there they are:  all the cards saying how stupid we are, how we don’t pick up after ourselves, how we can barely tie our shoe laces and thank the Lord that we have a wonderful spouse.

But this year, I was determined not to buy one of those cards.  And I was not going to get a mushy card either.

Nope.  Instead, I wanted to write a card for my wife's birthday.  And guess what?  Saturday is my wife’s birthday.  So here is my card to her:

Cathy,

Do you remember our first date?  We went to that really dive Mexican place on Comm Ave, that would make all the dives on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives seem romantic.  But we had decent food, the drinks were good, the conversation was great, and it was a wonderful evening even though my car got towed.  And since then, it has been one adventure after another.  And I have loved every second of it.

I love the way you make me laugh every single day.  They say your life lasts longer the more you laugh, so I fully expect to live until I’m 110.

I love spending time with you even if we are not saying anything, like when we just hang out and read.  Just knowing you are there brings me all the comfort I need.

I love the way you take care of me.  From making sure my clothes don’t clash, to making sure I have my keys before I walk Suzie in the morning.

I love how much you care about your friends.  You go above and beyond what most people would do for their friends, yet you ask for nothing in return.

I love the way you fill my gaps.  Remember that line that Rocky says to Paulie about Adrian?  “I have gaps, she has gaps, together we fill gaps.”  You fill my gaps.

I love that so many of my interests are your interests.  Food, Music, David Letterman, Howard Stern, Baseball…shall I go on?

So Honey, always remember, even when I’m stupid, or don’t pick up after myself, or can barely tie my shoe laces, that I thank the Lord every day that you came into my life...

...Even if you do think the Kinks are better than the Beatles…

Love,

Mike

Think Like A Chef - Pan Roasted Sirloin

In order to Think Like A Chef, it seems to me an important thing to think about is ingredients.  In the past, I have been okay with using ingredients from grocery stores.  I mean, let’s face it:  It is much easier to go to your local grocery store down the street, rather than go hunting for fresher ingredients.  And even if you do find a farmers market, how do you really know where their food came from?  That being said, when the next recipe in Tom Colicchio’s book was for a pan roasted sirloin steak, something told me that better ingredients would make this taste better.

There is a small butcher shop in Winthrop that I have avoided going to because, the only time I had visited, it seemed to me that they were more interested in selling cold cuts than good meat.  But I figured, “What the heck, let me see what they have, if they don’t have what I want, I can go to Whole Foods.”  As it turns out, they had a beautiful 14 ounce sirloin steak.  I will have to take a closer look at them in the future!

Now, I know that part of my “quest” was to cook as low fat as possible.  The fact of the matter is this was basically unrealistic given the cut of meat.  Normally, I cook on Sunday.  I decided to do this on a Saturday, which is our “free day.”  Cathy and I eat super healthy Sunday through Friday, and then we indulge on Saturday. 

The ingredients were, again, very simple.  A 14 ounce sirloin steak cut that was an 1 ½ to 2 inches thick, cut in ½ so there would be two square medallions, some rosemary, peanut oil, salt, pepper, and butter.  I used the butter/olive oil spread. 

Now, in the past, whenever I have cooked a steak, I have seared the sides on high heat and finished it in the oven.  This called for pan roasting the entire steak on a burner, over medium heat.  I chose to use my cast iron skillet.  So, after bringing the steaks to room temperature, patting them dry, seasoning them, and letting the pan with the oil in it get hot, I cooked each side of the steaks over medium heat or slightly lower, so the oil would sizzle, not sputter.

After three minutes on each side, the directions called for me to brown the fat on the steaks.  I have to say, I’m not sure why I had to do this.  I tried to find something in the internet on it, but couldn’t find anything.  Was it to render some of the fat?  Was it simply for appearance?  I really don’t know so if anyone does know, I’d love for you to tell me.  In any case, we don’t eat the fat anyway.

Next the steak goes back on the side first cooked for another two minutes, adding the butter/olive oil spread, and continues to cook for a total cooking time of 13 to 15 minutes, basting occasionally.

Now the recipe called for two tablespoons of the butter.  I used 1 ½ tablespoons, and I think next time, I would even cut that down to 1 or maybe less.  While it did add flavor, I like my steak to taste like…well…steak.

In any case, I wanted the steaks to come out medium rare.  I use the “chin, nose, forehead” technique for testing doneness and at the 13 minute mark, it seemed as if I had slightly overcooked it to medium, so I got them out of the pan and let them rest for 10 minutes.

In addition, I got a comment on my last post about side dishes, and the writer suggested roasting some root vegetables.  So I got baby carrots, a potato, parsnips and a turnip, cut them up and roasted them with extra virgin olive oil and salt.  Ultimately, I should have cooked them on a higher heat than 350, and to be honest, I didn’t like the turnips or the parsnips, but on the other hand, I had never tried them before, so I am glad I tried them.

After waiting 10 minutes, I plated the steaks and the vegetables, and sprinkled a tiny bit of coarse sea salt over the steaks.  They were cooked a perfect medium.

This appears to be the end of the basic roasting technique.  Chicken, fish, and meat.  Now comes some slightly higher level roasting, including leg of lamb and salt-roasted salmon.  Should be exciting.

We will be busy over the next couple of weekends, so I may not get to that for couple of weeks, but I will try. 

The North End Series Part 2 - Terramia

Our next visit to the North End took us to Terramia.  If you look at the Yelp ratings, they are pretty good for the most part, although this small restaurant doesn’t show up on many gluten free sites.

We were seated promptly and our waiter came over to take our drink order.  Cathy said it before I did.  “Excuse me, you don’t sound like you’re from Italy.”  In an English accent, he said, “No, no I’m not.  Now, How about some bangers and mash?  A nice Guinness will go with that, don’t you think mates?”

Ok, he actually didn’t say that.  He was really from England.  That part was true.  Not that it makes a difference, and we all had a good laugh, but that was the first time we ever visited the North End and were waited on by someone who wasn’t Italian.

On to the food.

The first course Cathy and I shared was the Capesante.  The three scallops were perfectly seared and just opaque in the middle.  A little sweet and just firm, this was a very nice starter. 

For my second course, I asked if the Chef could make two half portions of different items.  I got the gluten free Bolognese, and a special - pasta with shrimp and lobster.  That dish was good.  Nothing to write home about.  The shrimp and lobster were perfectly cooked as was the pasta, but I think it could have used something to brighten the dish…maybe some type of acid. 

As for the Bolognese, I thought it was quite good.  Thick and creamy, it was made with veal, pork and beef, along with San Marzano tomatoes.  The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente.  For me, it hit the spot.

The wine pours were quite generous, and we both were too full to have dessert.  The service was very good.

Overall, I liked Terramia, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting the North End.