A Rare Visit from the Parents and the Resulting Foodie Weekend

 At McCrady's Saturday for Dad's bday celebration

So, the parents came in town this past weekend for my dad's big 6-0, and we all enjoyed a tightly scheduled food-and-drink oriented weekend in honor of the occasion.  The last time they managed to escape to Chucktown from our quiet little hometown of Morganton, NC  was for their 30th anniversary, over a year and a half ago, so we (rightfully) made a big occasion out of it.

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The first night they were in town, I buckled to my mother's gentle but persistent urgings to cook for them, and went with a fun, regionally-inspired theme.

To start, I made fried green tomatoes with a ginger-peach relish.  For the relish, I simmered some skinless, chopped peaches with ginger, sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, red onion, and jalapenos.  I let that bubble for about an hour, until it reduced a good bit, then let it chill in the refrigerator.

For the green tomatoes, I sliced them up and breaded them with flour, egg wash, and a mixture of panko and breadcrumbs.

 Heated some oil in a skillet and pan-seared them until they were nice and brown.

 Topped them off with the peach relish and some sliced green onions.  They turned out remarkably well! I was really pleased with the flavor of the peach relish against the slightly tart green tomatoes.

For the shrimp & grits, I started by making a shrimp stock with the fish fume I made a couple weeks ago.  By using the fume instead of tap water in the stock, I was really able to build a nice flavor base.  I've been freezing shrimp and crab shells, so I tossed them in, along with some onions, tomatoes, celery, parsley, and a couple bay leaves.  I let that simmer for a bit, then strained it a few times.

The stock turned out nice and rich, with a mildly sweet flavor from the shrimp.  Next, I gathered the ingredients for the saute.  I used the stock, leeks, garlic, concassed tomatoes, andouille sausage, and local shrimp.

While I was getting my chopping done, I put the grits on to start cooking.  I like to start with 1 part grits, 2 parts water, and 1 part chicken stock. Once it gets boiling, I add more chicken stock and cream alternately, much like a risotto.  This can cook for a long time, like an hour, at a low simmer.  Just let them get all lovely and creamy.

After the grits were on, I browned the andouille sausage.

For the saute, start by cooking the leeks and garlic in a little oil until they are soft and translucent.

Then, add the shrimp stock, the tomatoes, and a splash of white wine to taste.  Let simmer until slightly reduced.

When the sauce is reduced to your liking, add the shrimp, sausage, and a touch of cream.

Cook the shrimp until it is no longer translucent.  Serve the whole mixture over a bowl of grits, and top with scallions.

 

I was really happy with the way this dish turned out!  Nice and rich and full of flavor.  After dinner, we headed out to see a Brazilian jazz show at the Cistern, and really enjoyed it.

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Saturday, we hit up the farmer's market, the beach, and finished it all off with a decadent meal at McCrady's. We had an amazing time and were all collectively blown away by Chef Brock's tasting menu.

Before the parents left town, we hit up High Cotton.  The boys in the kitchen really outdid themselves, and we were stuffed before we even ordered.

Overall, all three of us had an amazing weekend.  The only thing that could have made it any better was if my sister, Margaret, could have made it down. She stays pretty busy, though. Next week, I'll be traveling up to Chapel Hill to visit her and to take my first level sommelier test.  Kinda nervous about that. I'll keep you posted.

Breaking Down my First Fish :)

I've been craving fish for a week or two now, so yesterday I finally I decided to make it happen. I do live in the beautiful coastal city of Charleston, SC, after all, where there's certainly an abundance of fresh, local seafood readily available at all times. So, I headed to Crosby's Seafood, my favorite little fish purveyor, to see what they had.

I named him Nemo.

 This is what I ended up with! A whole, 2 lb., locally caught red snapper.  Kind of ambitious of me, but I decided that it was high time I attempt to break down a fish myself.  I get it theoretically, but practically I've never done it.

First, I had to get those scales off.  So, I put the fishy in a plastic bag in the sink to try to make as little mess as possible.  I grasped his tail with my left hand, and with the right hand I ran a spoon down his body against the grain of the scales, and they came off pretty easily. I did this on both sides of the fish, up to just below the gills. When I was done, I rinsed him off to make sure no scales were left. 

Next, I cut off the spiny fin on his back, just because I knew I would probably hurt myself if I left it on. Because I am ridiculously clumsy.

Next, I started outlining the fillet.  I found the fish's backbone with my fingertips, and ran my knife all down one side of it, staying as close to the bone as possible.

Then, I cut through from the top to the bottom, making a little flap at the tail.

The next step is to run your knife along the belly.  You want to try to keep the bones under your knife, with the nice meaty fillet on top.

 

To finish the outline of the fillet, I ran my knife along the head, behind the gills and the little swimmy fin (yeah I have no clue what that's called).  Now there should be a nice outline of the fillet, with just the meat in the middle keeping it attached to the body of the fish.

So, this picture sucks, but I tried to sharpen it up as best as I could.  I didn't want to leave it out because its kind of an important step.  In this step, you actually finish separating the fillet from the body.  Just run your knife along the body of the fish, trying to keep most of the bones on the bottom of the knife.  It's a little tricky, but eventually, the fillet will come free.

So, do the exact same thing for the other side of the fish to get your second fillet.  I cut a little V out of the center of each fillet because there was a line of big, stubborn bones that weren't worth it to try to pull out.

This is the little piece with all the bones in it.

 Here are my two fillets.  I scored the skin before searing to keep the fish from curling up as the skin shrinks.  But wait!  What to do with the carcass? You wouldn't throw it away, would you?

I threw it in a pot with some onion, green onion stems, celery, garlic, peppercorns, star anise, fennel seed, and a couple bay leaves.

I covered all that with water, brought it to a boil, and then turned it down to a simmer.

 

I let that go for about 20 minutes, strained it a few times, and voila!

I ended up with a lovely fish fume which I then froze to have around for a later use.  I've actually got something in mind for it, so stick around and see what happens.

Okayyy so back to the snapper fillets.

Salt and pepper the fillets.  Heat some oil in a pan, and lay the fillets skin-side down first.  Cook until the skin gets nice and crispy, then right before you flip them, add some butter and garlic to the pan.  Flip, and baste in the butter for a couple minutes more.

And that's it! I had my snapper with a simple chilled cucumber / heirloom tomato / red onion salad, some pan roasted red potatoes, a squeeze of lemon, and a simple basil pesto.  The fish was sooo good.  I'm still dreaming about that crispy skin this morning.  And seriously, it probably took me just as long to post about breaking down the fish as it took me to actually do it.

Lentil & Brown Rice Soup

Am I allowed to say that I served it with Bisquick biscuits?

With all this delicious chicken stock on hand, I thought it only made sense to make a soup out of it. So, I went through all my recipes and picked one of my mom's that she labeled "EASY AND DELICIOUS AND GOOD FOR YOU".  I figured, this couldn't be bad. The only catch was selling it to Brandon, who tends to be wary of exotic sounding legumes and grains, and who also favors the carnivorous side of dining. But, I thought, tough for him, he'll have to try something new.  Plus, the soup only uses pantry staples, so I didn't have to buy a single thing to make it. Thus, the recipe:

Lentil & Brown Rice Soup

3 1/2 cups chicken stock 
3/4 cup picked over, rinsed lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
1 16 oz can chopped tomatoes with juice
1 1/2 carrots, diced
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 stalk chopped celery
1 1/2 cloves chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1 small bay leaf
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

In a heavy pot, combine broth, 1.5 cups water, and all remaining ingredients except parsley and vinegar.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer, covered stirring occasionally, 45-55 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender.  Stir in parsley, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.  Thin, if desired, with additional hot chicken broth or water.

Mmm, soup 

And that's it.  Easy, easy, easy. Brandon loved it, and kept saying how meaty tasting it was.  I told him the only meat was chicken stock, and that *gasp* it was actually healthy. Thanks, Mom :)

Chicken Stock

Ta da!

So, I've been freezing chicken bones for a few months now with the thought of taking on my first batch of chicken stock.  I've seen my mom make stock probably 50 times in my life, so I wasn't too intimidated.  I called her to make sure I knew exactly how she did it, and double-checked with a recipe from The Joy of Cooking before I got started. 

Here are the ingredients I used:

Several chicken carcasses (I used about 5 or 6)
   *From what I've read, you should try not to mix raw and cooked bones.*
2 carrots, cut into large pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into large pieces
2 small turnips, cut into large pieces
1 large white onion with skin, coarsley chopped
10 black peppercorns
small handful fresh thyme 
several bay leaves


Place chicken bones in large stock pot (it's okay if they're still frozen).  Fill with just enough cold water to cover the bones. Slowly bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients.

Immediately after adding the veggies and spices

Simmer for several hours, periodically skimming fat and scum off the top. I let mine cook for 3 hours - until it tasted nice and flavorful. 

  Three hours later...

Carefully remove stock from heat and strain.  I removed the big pieces first, to make this process easier.  I don't have a chinoise, so I placed a pasta strainer on top of a fine mesh sieve and it worked just fine. 

Brandon, the lovely assistant, strains the hot stock

 Let the stock cool down a bit with the lid off the container, then cover and let chill completely in the refrigerator.  Skim off any fat that accumulates on top.  

The final product, cooling down

Once cooled, either use within a week, or freeze in individual containers, like I did.