Potato & Herb Crusted Striped Bass with Mustard Cream Sauce

Here in New York city, including Brooklyn, we are hunkering down for Hurricane Irene and hoping we don't get flooding from our backyard when the storm hits. I plan on baking some breads tomorrow - banana bread and blueberry bread. I'm worried about flooding and wind damage and all kinds of other unpleasant weather events and am bummed to have to be missing a friends wedding due to the weather out of town this saturday night.

At any rate, I want to share a simple fish dish that I have made the last two weeks, with two different types of fish, striped bass and Australian barramundi. This dish is very simple, it just requires breading the fish in dried potato rather than breadcrumbs, and coating it with a selection of herbs, before pan searing the fish and serving it over green beans.  I bought a box of dehydrated potato flakes and mixed it with fresh thyme, oregano and a bit of parsley. Then I dredged the fish in egg and coated with the potato and herb batter. I didn't measure the herbs precisely, but you really can't use too much for a recipe like this.  I put it about a tablespoon of each!

Thanks to my loving mom for the terrific idea for this recipe, which she said was loosely inspired by something she saw on the Food Network.

I served the fish with a mustard cream sauce. Mix 1/2 cup of heavy cream with three tablespoons of dijon mustard. Simmer and stir until thickened, while adding 1/2 a tsp of cornstarch to enable the thickening of the sauce

Potato & Herb Crusted Striped Bass with Mustard Cream Sauce

Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Herb-and-Olive Frittata

Mark Bittman is one of my food heroes. I love his low-pressure approach to cooking and his simple recipes. His old Minimalist videos are inspiring and often humorous. I’ve also been enjoying his more recent columns focusing on food policy and related health, environmental, and social issues. His blog, On Food, is located here: http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com.

In one of his more recent “Eat” pieces in The New York Times Magazine, Bittman gives special treatment to herbs! As a fellow herb-lover and an herb gardener, these recipes really whet my appetite. Here’s the recipe for one that I made this week. It includes no less than three cups (!) of herbs and it will leave a bright, refreshing taste in your mouth. If you don’t already have an herb garden, let this be inspiration for starting one next year...



Herb-and-Olive Frittata
by Mark Bittman
from The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 14, 2011, page 43.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/magazine/recipe-herb-and-olive-frittata.html?ref=magazine

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped black olives, preferably oil-cured
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or thyme
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and black pepper.

1. Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Add the olives and herbs and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and become dry, 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, milk, flour and some salt and pepper.

3. Turn heat to low and pour the egg mixture into the skillet, using a spoon if necessary to evenly distribute the herbs and olives. Cook, undisturbed, until the eggs are just set, 5 to 10 minutes. (You can set the top further by putting the pan in an oven at 350 for a few minutes or by running it under the broiler for a minute or two.)

Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Note: It took closer to 10-14 minutes for my eggs to set on the stovetop, then I did stick the pan in the oven for an additional 4 minutes at 350 degrees. They did not seem overcooked to me.

Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Herb-and-Olive Frittata

Sasha's Kitchen: Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Crust and Purple Potatoes

I came across this great lamb recipe recently for simple, flavorful lamb chops. I served this with some creamed mashed potatoes that I made using mini purple potatoes, which resulted in - you guessed it - purple mashed potatoes - because everything is better in purple! I used lamb shoulder chops to make this dish, because they are less expensive than rib chops - but you can use either, depending on what you can afford and have in your freezer. The result was quite delicious and an enjoyable friday night dinner.

Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Crust (based on this recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food)

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1 T minced garlic

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

2 T grated parmesan

1 T minced fresh rosemary

1 tsp minced thyme

1 tsp minced oregano

8 lamb chops

Combine the mustard and garlic in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the panko, herbs and cheese. Pat the lamb chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Then cover with the mustard-garlic mixture, and follow by coating in the panko breadcrumb mixture. Heat a couple tablespoons of canola oil in a nonstick saucepan and cook the lamb chops over medium high heat until browned on both sides and cooked as desired internally (I prefer medium well). Let rest for five minutes before serving. I served the chops with a bit of parmesan, balsamic and parsley. 

Sasha's Kitchen: Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Crust and Purple Potatoes

Sasha's Kitchen: How To Roast A Rack Of Lamb (New Years Eve Dinner)

The main course of our New Years Eve dinner last night was a herb crusted rack of lamb. I had actually never prepared a rack of lamb, even though lamb chops are one of my favorite foods, because they are also generally on the expensive side. However, that makes New Years (or any holiday) the perfect occasion for preparing such a dish. I purchased a 3 pound  rack of lamb for about $40 at M&S Prime Meats (a wonderful Italian Market and butcher) here in Park Slope.


I found an online recipe that was surprisingly simple from the now-deceased Gourmet Magazine online at Epicurious. The original recipe can be found here.  I made some changes that are below for the final recipe that I adapted.

Here is the recipe that I prepared – I used a lot more herbs than the original recipe called for, which was absolutely delicious.

Two 1 ½ pounds racks of lamb, trimmed to only one layer of fat (I used regular chops, not french chops)
1 ½ tsp salt
¾ tsp pepper
1 tsp canola oil

Herbs
3 cloves of garlic, diced
¼ cup parsley, diced
3 T chopped fresh thyme
3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 ½ T pepper
1 ½ T canola oil

To prepare the racks of lamb, heat a Dutch oven with oil for two minutes. Rub the meat with the salt and pepper, and sear on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Transfer to a roasting pan and coat with the herb mixture. Coat well and densely, pressing so that the herbs adhere to the meat on all sides.

We cooked the meat on convection roast setting for about 40 minutes at 350 until it was tender and slightly pink. After about 30 minutes, cover the meat with aluminum foil for the duration of the cooking process. However, this process will vary depending on the oven you use, and the size and shape of the rack of lamb. Cut each rack into chops and serve.  In my case, we had 6 chops (3 each) which was plenty.  These are single chops which are a bit harder to cut into chops and not as "pretty" looking as french double chops, which we will use next time.

Our pug, Dakota (who normally does not beg for food unless it is one of her favorites) went crazy for this – she really wanted a bite! After dinner she ran round the apartment looking under the table to see if there was just one morsel left. We did save a tiny bite for her New Years Eve treat.  Preparing a rack of lamb may be a bit pricey, but is actually quite simple and not a lengthy process like braising meat.  Happy New Years!

Sasha's Kitchen: How To Roast A Rack Of Lamb (New Years Eve Dinner)

Sasha's Kitchen: Napa Valley Salmon

About a year ago, my husband and I took a wonderful two week trip to California. We started in San Francisco, and travelled to Sausalito, Sonoma County, Napa Valley, Fresno and Yosemite National Park. This was as much a culinary adventure as it was an immersion in beautiful natural surroundings. We went to Napa and Sonoma during crush, the wine harvest, which was an amazing experience in and of itself. Although we did not make it to the world-famous French Laundry, we did eat at some of the best restaurants I've ever been to using wonderful local California produce. In addition, we visited 10 wineries, which were as remarkable for their wines as for their natural beauty and abundance of fresh organic vegetables and fruits.

Many of these wineries have websites that showcase both their wines and foods that pair nicely with the wines. In addition, many even have recipes that they suggest for with the wines. Three wineries that we visited which have great recipes on their websites are Cakebread Cellars (Napa), St. Francis Vineyards (Sonoma) and Round Pond Estate (Napa), which also produces delicious olive oils that I use in my cooking.

The recipe I made tonight can be found on the Cakebread Cellars website, and pairs nicely, in my opinion, with either a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. Cakebread's Reserve Chardonnay is heavenly and personally one of my favorite wines we tasted on that trip.

The recipe is very simple, fresh, and herbal and incorporates the fresh flavor of cucumbers:

The recipe is found on Cakebread Cellar's website (www.cakebread.com)

However, here's how I make it, with my own variations:

2 cucumbers - diced
1 tsp salt (the original recipe suggests 2, but I always prefer to cook with less salt)
2 T rice vinegar (their recipe suggests using 1 T but I prefer more)
1 tsp horseradish
1/2 cup creme fraiche
1 T dill, diced
1 T chives, diced
1 tsp tarragon
1 tsp thyme (my addition, instead of the parsley)
1 tomato diced

I mix this and then put on top of 2 pieces of cooked salmon

In addition, I like to add a bit of fresh lemon or lemon juice when serving. I absolutely love the creamy flavor of the creme fraiche with the freshness of the cucumbers, the herbal medley and the tartness of the lemon.

Enjoy with a glass of white wine.

Subjects from upcoming posts by me to look forward to: Apple and blueberry pies, rainbow cookies, dinner souffles, ice cream, and southwestern chicken.

Sasha's Kitchen: Napa Valley Salmon