Blackened Rock Cod with Crispy Skin

I did buy that beautiful orange rock cod yesterday at Staff of Life, because I knew I wanted to cook it with the skin on and crispy, and it is not often they don't just filet and skin all the cod before I get there. Staff of Life has the freshest fish counter in Santa Cruz by the way. When I was there yesterday I also made friends with the new Cheese monger! He is awesome, friendly and knows his stuff. He just moved down from Napa where he ran a cheese shop there. Originally from the Basque region of France, I know I am going to enjoy being friends with him! I love the staff at Staff of Life.

Here is the menu for tonight: Blackened Rock Cod, Cumin scented black beans, fresh corn cakes, and sauteed zucchini.

I used this recipe for the corn cakes. The beans came right out of a can and I seasoned them with ground cumin. I sliced the zukes into moons and sauteed in a little olive oil in a very hot pan to get brownage on them and sprinkled with sea salt. For the fish I cut slits in the skin and seasoned with salt. The flesh side I seasoned with blackened seasoning mixture and salt. In a very hot cast iron skillet with a little olive oil I placed the fish flesh side down for about 3 minutes then flipped it and finished cooking it on the skin side till the flesh was barely cooked through and the skin crispy.

Blackened seasoning: 3 Tablespoons Paprika, 1 teaspoon each of the following: black pepper, cayenne pepper, white pepper, salt, garlic powder, dried oregano and dried thyme. This is a general guideline, taste and adjust heat and salt to your preference. Or buy Paul Prudhomme's!

Wild Sea Scallops!! Let them eat leftovers!

I went to the fish counter today at Staff of Life and everything looked so fresh and so good I wanted to take it all home and have a seafood party. The Tombo (Albacore) Tuna was bright pink and glistening, the sable fish filets (aka black cod or butter fish - very high in Omegas) looked perfect. This is what I originally came in for. Then I spotted the Rock Cod still on the bone, gutted and scaled. The skin a beautiful orange - I knew i wanted to pan fry it till the skin was nice and crispy. But then I noticed the huge Wild Day Boat Sea Scallops. Whoa, that was it, that's what we're having for dinner.

I also picked up a bunch of green onion and an eggplant to round out my menu. I am really lucky to have several farms on my road where I can pick up fresh vegetables daily. Yesterday (from Everett Family Farm) I picked up some zucchini, sweet red pepper and 2 kinds of tomato; purple cherokee and early girl. I also had some basil with roots sitting in a vase on my counter from the weekend.

This is what I planned:

Grilled, eggplant, zucchini and sweet red pepper with basil. A tomato salsa with green onions, sea salt and raw grated garlic. Steamed Rice. Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops finished with butter.


Slice veggies and season with sea salt and pepper. Coat generously with olive oil and sprinkle with julienne basil. You can grill these, fry in a pan or roast in the oven. I grilled them so I wouldn't have to dirty a pan. Roasting is a favorite way too. I like the way the roasting brings out the flavor of vegetables. Just place in an even layer on a sheet pan and roast in a 400 degree oven. Turning once. Total cooking time about 20 minutes.

For the salsa I chopped 2 tomatoes and 2 green onions. I used a microplane grater to grate a large garlic clove into the tomatoes and sprinkled with sea salt.

Now for the sweet succulent scallops. First be sure to check with your fish seller that your scallops are wild dayboat scallops. If the scallops came out of can, it means they were caught at sea, shucked and placed in a brine or saline solution to keep them fresh. You will not achieve the proper brownage or have the true sweetness of a fresh sea scallop. Dayboat scallops are caught by divers and delivered fresh in a sack.

To prepare the scallops remove the little flap of meat you may find on the side of each scallop and discard. Rinse the scallops lightly and pat dry with a towel. I stack mine between 2 paper towels. To cook, place a large skillet over very high heat. When hot add olive oil to just cover bottom of pan. Pan should be close to smoking. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Gently add each scallop and let brown. Don't move your pan around and don't move your scallops, just let them brown, about 2 minutes. When you have a nice brown crust gently turn over each scallop. If it is sticking slide a metal spatula under to loosen. Let 2nd side brown. After 2nd side is browned throw in a knob of butter (about 2 teaspoons) and swirl around pan. Remove pan from heat and serve.



I never made scallops for my children before. I usually give them salmon or some other white fish and they are happy. Crab and lobster thrills them. I was a little surprised when they wouldn't eat them. Livy told me tonight she is a vegetarian, Henry said he is a fastfoodatarian. We told Henry he would starve to death. Livy changed to a meatatarian after I heated up yesterday's leftover chicken.

That's ok, more for me and Ron. They were to die for.

Excaliber Baby Chickens, no forks allowed

On our way home from Zion National Park and a fun visit with an old friend, James and a new friend Debbi, we stopped in Vegas, baby! We stayed at the Excaliber and went to the Tournament of Kings dinner show to watch the knights jousting. Henry really liked the dinner of Dragon's Blood Soup, Games Hens, fried steak cut potatoes, broccoli and dried out dinner roll. He mostly enjoyed the privilege of eating with his hands. Henry is a picky eater, so when he likes something (that is healthy and the rest of us will eat it) I will make a point to cook it. Game hens seem like a complicated meal to eat on a

weeknight, but this dinner was simple.

I don't think I've written about salt here yet. I use course grey sea salt. I guess it's from France. I buy it in bulk at the Natural Food Store. My sister, the real salt freak, buys it by the barrel. I joke, but she does buy like 30 pounds of it every year and then hands it out to us through the year. She saves a lot of money buying it in bulk. Something like $1 or 2/pound to my $6.

I use a big mortar and pestle to grind up my salt into smaller crystals, about a tablespoon at a time or as I need it. I really like using the grey sea salt. It makes the food taste really good and it has lots of minerals in it. I read articles on salt where they stated there is no difference in taste between the pink salt from this tiny island near japan, the grey salt from France,etc... and the diamond crystal from mines in Pennsylvania, that all salt has the same composition.

But the way the salt crystals melt on the food, or in your mouth, I guess that is what makes a difference.

Anyway, if you see it in your store pick it up and give it a try. Try it on fresh lettuce greens with good olive oil and a sprinkle of vinegar and cracked black pepper. Let me know if you notice a difference.

Excaliber Game Hens

For the baby chickens I ground about a tablespoon salt with the leaves of about 8 springs fresh thyme and a bunch of cracked pepper wiht my mortar and pestle. I rubbed this mixture all of the birds and put a little inside the cavity. Place the birds on a roasting pan (covered with foil for easy clean-up) and put a pat of butter on each bird. Place in a 375 degree* oven for about an hour. Baste the birds when you think about it and half way through the cooking time flip the birds to brown the backs. flip back after 15 minutes and finish breast side up.

After you get the birds in the oven cut 2 or 3 large idaho potatoes lengthwise into 8ths. Toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven with chicks. I also wrapped a bulb of garlic sprinkled with olive oil and a little salt in foil and baked in the oven too.

Steam a head of broccoli. Skip the dried out rolls.

Serve with or without silverware.

Henry said the only thing missing was the rolls!!

* I use the convection roast mode on my oven. If your oven cooks slow, increase heat to 390 degrees or so.

I never remember to take a picture of the food when it is finished. I am always too hungry and ready to eat. Here's a picture a few minutes after it went in the oven.

Tortilla Soup

Yu-um.

Cover an assortment of dried chilis with boiling water to soften. Remove seeds and stems then puree softened pods. (I used pasilla, california, new mexico). (You can use dry chili powder in place of this homemade paste if you want to.) Saute an onion and a couple of chopped garlic cloves in olive oil. Add 4 chopped boneless chicken thighs. Stir in some of the chili puree to taste and a 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano. Add about a quart of chicken stock. Throw in some chopped tomatoes, a can of black beans and some frozen corn. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes. Season with salt. While soup is simmering cut about 6 corn tortillas into strips and fry in oil till crispy.

Finish soup with a half bunch of chopped cilantro.

Serve soup with fried tortilla strips, chopped avocado, lime wedges, sliced jalapenos and sour cream.

Cooking St. Patrick's Day Feast for 90 Friends

We had our 4th annual St. Patrick's Day Party yesterday. Friends and family started arriving around 4:30. There were about 40 kids who took over our property with a friendly game of war that was fantastic to watch. The boys (and a few brave girls) ranging in age from about 4 to 13 had sticks and branches and divided themselves into 2 sides. They traversed hills, zip lines, fences and trees. I love this, because today you hardly get to see a big group of kids just do what is natural and fun. We all did this as youngsters. We were more free to roam our neighborhoods and use our imagination to have fun with what is available outside our front doors. For me this was the best part of the party.

The food was pretty good too. Here's the menu:

The best corned beef from Staff of Life my favorite natural food store butcher anywhere, but this one happens to be in Santa Cruz and is operated by Ken Miller with the help of some fantastic butchers, especially Joseph.

I put the 50#'s of corned beef on to simmer about 11:30am. At about 3:30 It was nice and tender. I took it out of the pots and added 15 # of new potatoes and 10# carrots and simmered till tender. Then I added 9 heads of cabbage cut in 1/8ths. I sliced the corned beef while this cooked.

You must serve corned beef with coleman's spicy mustard (the dry stuff in the yellow can that you mix with water.)

I also roasted 2 sides of salmon (farmed - due to the shortage of salmon and restrictions on the industry, hopefully next year we will have a salmon fishery).

We had 6 loaves of homemade Irish Soda Bread (recipe included)

For dessert we had brownies, green jello jigglers, (thanks Joyce) homemade boston cream pie, and delicious cookies from the buttery (thanks Jodee).

My son Henry never came around when we serving cake, so I made him the Chocolate Cake in a Mug at around 9:30. (He is spoiled, but his Mama loves him).

The beer and wine were flowing and I heard that Robert Hyde brought a bottle of awesome Irish Whiskey. We were also gifted a lovely bottle of Hendrick's Gin. Yum.

I think everyone left content and with a full belly by 10. The lovelies Sherri Hyde and Deirdre Smith didn't make it to the party this year so things kind of petered out early.

Here is the recipe for Irish Soda Bread

Sift Together:

4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 3 teaspoon baking powder

Add:

1 cup raisins, 1 Tablspoons Caraway seeds

Mix Together:

1 cup sour cream, 1 cup milk

Blean liquid into dry ingredients and knead about 10 times.

Pat into a buttered cake pan and cut an X or Cross on top

Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or till toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Happy St. Patrick's to Everyone!

I Love Recipes from Wednesdays' NYT

Tonight for dinner I am making this recipe from the "Good Appetite" column in today's New York Times.
Garlic and Thyme Roasted Chicken With Crispy Drippings Croutons is in the oven now and smells fantastic. I am roasting the chicken early so I can get my kids to dance and karate and get home, eat and back out again. Tonight is the scholastic Book Fair at our School and Micky Magic (our local tied died hippie magician) will be there. Henry is certain he will get picked to help with a trick, he said he always does.

This chicken sounds awesome to me. I secretly like to scrape up the salty, fatty drippings from the pan and savor them when no one is looking, so like the author of the article this is right up my alley.

Catching Up Sat, Sun, Mon

Friday was knitting night, so I am not responsible for feeding my kids. I only cook my dish to share which was pasta puttanesca. I started with olive Oil and 2 cloves chopped garlic, a few pinches crushed red pepper and anchovy paste or crushed anchovies in a saute pan and heated till fragrant. I then added a cup and a half of leftover quick tomato sauce, and brought to a simmer for about 10 minutes. I finished the sauce with a large handful of chopped kalamata olives and a tablespoon of chopped capers. Toss with Penne and fresh chopped mint.

The kids did great, Dad picked up ribs and fixings from Gayles Bakery, our local gourmet take out in the famous Capitola by the Sea.

Saturday, we were going to go out to eat but everyone was tire, so while I was out picking up kids I picked up some fresh ground beef and francese rolls and we had yummy cheeseburgers with avocado, tomato and lettuce.

Sunday, I had a little over a pound of beef leftover from Saturday and made quick Beef Bolognese. I sauteed diced carrots, onions, celery and garlic till soft add the ground beef and browned ot. Then I added 2 14 oz cans of San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes and 1/3 cup heavy cream. Simmered about 30 minutes and served with fettucine.

Monday we had roasted salmon pearl cous cous and sauteed spinach. I usually cook regular cous cous but Monday night I tried the Israeli Pearl Cous Cous. I sauteed the pearls in butter and olive oil with a chopped shallot and a tablespoon of tomato paste. When it was nice and browned I added the water and simmered on low 10 minutes. MY family liked it except for Mr. Noodles and butter dude.