These days when you stand in front of a fish counter and ponder all the issues surrounding sustainable fishing and the health of our oceans, you might become dizzy while trying to decide what to have for dinner. Thankfully, the book For Cod and Country: Simple, Delicious, Sustainable Cooking by National Geographic Fellow and Washington, D.C. chef Barton Seaver makes it much easier not only to choose which fish to bring home but also to turn it into a great meal. So, yes, there are a lot of problems with the current state of the depletion of some fish species, and not all fisheries are operating as sustainably as they should be just yet, but the book is quick to point out that the best way to encourage well-managed fishing and the restoration of marine ecosystems is by choosing well and supporting those in the business who are doing things right.

For instance, one of the ways to simplify choosing seafood is to look for the Marine Stewardship Council label. The MSC is an organization that certifies sustainable wild capture fisheries, so when their label appears on fish at market, it signifies it's from a trusted fishery. For more information about the different methods of catching fish and explanations of which ones are more sustainable than others, the book offers a quick guide. By knowing more about all the different fishing methods from pole-caught to dredging, shoppers will know what questions to ask at the fish counter.

When you know how the seafood is caught and if it's from a certified fishery, you still need to choose a type. Seaver points out that interestingly, we've only recently developed such big appetites for big fish. Regarding larger species, Seaver writes: "eating tuna is like cutting down a redwood tree to build a campfire… Tuna and other apex predators such as sharks and swordfish are, in effect, the trees of the ocean." Therefore, no recipes for bluefin or yellowfin tuna are included in the book. But, you will find enthusiastic suggestions for all the sustainable options like Roasted Trout with Lime-Dill Butter and Roasted Potatoes, well-managed, farmed seafood like Oyster Risotto with Butternut Squash, Crème Fraiche, and Fresh Herbs, all kinds of wild salmon like Smoked Salmon Panzanella with Feta, Dill, and Grapes, and arctic char, catfish, crab, and more.

Over the years, working as a chef, Seaver has moved toward simpler food, with fewer ingredients, focusing on what's best at the current time of year. With that freshness in mind, the book is organized by season. The hope is that by considering the seasonality of seafood, we will also think more about where it comes from and its life cycle. Likewise, we can pair seasonal seafood with vegetables available at the same time. For the different seasons, there are side dishes and appetizers like Pan-fried Potatoes with Orange-Sherry Aioli, Grilled Okra with Charred Onion Dip, Warm Cherry Tomato and Dill Salad, and Roasted Spaghetti Squash, Caper Yogurt, and Smoky Balsamic Reduction.

Most shellfish like clams, mussels, and oysters are farmed sustainably and are always available. They also happen to be good for the environments in which they grow. And, since my basil plants are still thriving, my first choice of a dish to try from this book was Steamed Clams and Basil Pesto. For his version of Basil Pesto, Seaver uses walnuts rather than pine nuts, and for pairing it with seafood, he prefers to omit the cheese. He also opts for mostly neutral-flavored oil like canola with just a little extra-virgin olive oil in the pesto. With the hot, opened clams on a serving platter, they were then covered with the aromatic basil pesto sauce. Served with bread for savoring every bit of the sauce, this fresh-flavored dish was a hit.

Read more on Lisa's adventures with For Cod and Country on her blog Lisa is Cooking . 

Steamed Clams and Basil Pesto

Recipe from For Cod and Country by Barton Seaver (Sterling Epicure, 2011)

• 3 dozen littleneck clams, rinsed thoroughly (discard any that won’t close)
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup Basil Pesto
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 crusty baguette, sliced and toasted

Place the clams and wine in a covered pot over high heat. As the broth begins to boil, gently stir the clams to ensure that they cook evenly.

Once all the shells are open (discard any that haven’t opened after 5 minutes), remove the clams from the pot and place them in serving bowls, leaving as much of the broth in the pot as possible. Carefully pour the broth into a bowl, leaving any sand that has collected in the bottom of the pot. Add the pesto and butter to the clam broth and stir to combine. Pour over the clams and serve with toasted bread.

Serves 4 as an appetizer or light entrée

PermaLink

Every once in a while a cookbook comes along that is so visually appealing I can't help but swoon. Miette, by pastry chef Meg Ray, is just such a book. The die-cut pages, engaging food styling, and sumptuous photographs by Frankie Frankeny all capture the personality of San Francisco's most charming pastry shop. Seriously, it couldn't get any cuter. And then there are the 100 recipes and variations.

Good taste abounds at Miette. Both the flavor kind and the kind that deals with style. They specialize in the delicious stuff dreams are made of; and the manner in which they display their goods is equally dreamy. Voluptuous without being vulgar; feminine without being girly.

Layer cakes baked in 6-inch pans may seem best suited to a child's tea party, but Miette favorites like the legendary Tomboy Cake (featured on the cover), the beribboned Princess Cake, and the sweet-tart Lemon Debutante Cake pack enough punch to rival any super-sized dessert.

Nor should you be deceived by the generic-sounding recipe names. Little gems like English Toffee, Caramel Corn, and Miette Marshmallows have unique twists in ingredients or technique that rank them head-and-shoulders above their common namesakes.

Likewise, Miette's Brownies are baked individually—in deference to lovers of crispy edges. Bite-size Chocolate Chip Cookies buck the current ginormous trend, with a pleasantly crumbly texture from ground oats and walnuts. Do Gingerbread Cupcakes sound ho-hum? Miette's were named one of America's Top 10 Sweets by Alton Brown.

There is a small chapter on "Afternoon Cakes," so named because back in the day—before Miette had a retail space with refrigeration—these durable delights could survive a long day at the Berkeley Farmers' Market without a hitch. More sophisticated recipes like Parisian Macarons, freezer-friendly Crème Fraîche Scones, and tiny fruit tarts show off Ray's European know-how.

As a cookbook author I know it is nearly impossible to get a book into print without an error or two. No matter how diligent the proofreading process, there are so many people involved in production that a trace of failure is virtually inevitable. Unfortunately this book ended up with more than a couple of mistakes; though many of them are probably inconsequential to most home cooks. Others? Not so much.

If you don't want to wait until the next printing, you can easily download a comprehensive list of corrections from the publisher. 

Chocolate Sablés

Recipe from Miette by Meg Ray (Chronicle Books, 2011)

Makes thirty-six 1-inch square cookies

• 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (1 ounce) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (4 1/2 ounces) sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 ounces 70 percent cacao chocolate, grated

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda into a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until lightened, about 4 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and grated chocolate and mix just to combine.

If the dough is soft, wrap it tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (The dough will keep, wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer). Otherwise, roll out the dough about 1/2 inch thick on a lightly floured work surface into a 6-by-7-inch rectangle. Using a ruler, square the edges as much as possible. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-by-1-inch squares. Place them about 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies until they are firm, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in airtight containers for up to 2 weeks.

PermaLink

amazon.com

And truly the creations and recipes Gesine presents are amazing. Just browsing through the photos and recipe titles, you'll be enticed to get into the kitchen and learn to work with sugar.  But, and I can't stress this enough, you really will want to do more with Sugar Baby.  Bullock-Prado falls into my category of must-read cookbook authors; those authors for whom you want to read every luscious word, including the introduction, sidebars and, yes, every single recipe head note (perhaps even multiple times).  Do so and you will find humor, humility and honesty. You'll laugh, you'll understand why she does what she does, and you'll learn.  Sugar Baby is fun not only because of the great things you'll learn to make with sugar, but because Gesine is a fun person who has put her heart into Sugar Baby.

Nanny's Torte

Recipe from Sugar Baby by Gesine Bullock-Prado ("Stewart, Tabori & Chang", 2011)

But Nanny, she had no complaints about her new granddaughter-aside from one. It's widely reported that Nanny was overheard leaving my mother's hospital room muttering, "Why the hell did they name her that?" If I could see my Nanny again today, I'd say, "Why indeed?" And then I imagine she'd make some fudge and I'd make some cake and we'd slap them together and wash it all down with bottle of Coke and come up with a nickname for me that we could both live with, because she never could pronounce my name.

Makes 1 (10-inch/25-cm) torte

• sugar 2 1/2 cups | 500 g
• unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 cups |455 g
• large eggs 6
• cocoa powder 2 cups | 170 g
• salt 1 teaspoon | 6 g
• bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1 pound | 455 g
• Nanny's Peanut Butter Fudge (see below) 1 batch
• Sachertorte Glaze (see below) | 1 batch
• roasted peanuts 1 cup | 150 g
• peanuts, finely ground in a food processor 1 cup |200 g

1. Preheat the oven to 325?F (165?C). Spray three 10-inch (25-cm) round cake pans with nonstick spray and line them with parchment. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with the whisk attachment, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat between each addition.

3. Slowly add the cocoa powder and salt. Mix briefly, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix again until the cocoa is completely integrated into the batter.

4. Simultaneously, melt the chocolate in a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, stirring often.

5. With the mixer running on low speed, scrape the melted chocolate into the batter. When all the  chocolate is added, raise the speed to high and beat briefly. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and stir in any lingering cocoa.

6. Divide the batter evenly between two of the prepared cake pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the cakes pull away from the sides of the pans and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on racks.

7. Immediately pour the fudge into the third cake pan and allow to set.

8. Turn the fudge out onto a layer of the cake and top with the second cake layer. Press gently to adhere the fudge to the cake.

9. Place the layered cake on a cooling rack that's set over a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pour the glaze smoothly and evenly over the cake. Do not use a spatula or other implement to spread the glaze over the cake. Instead, pour the glaze strategically to cover any naked spots. Manipulating the glaze with any utensils will ruin the sheen.

10. Using a set of tweezers dedicated to pastry work, arrange the roasted peanuts on top of the cake in flower patterns while the glaze is still warm enough for them to adhere.

11. Gently press the ground peanuts onto the sides of the cake.

Sachertorte Glaze

Sachertorte is a magnificent layer cake that's so damn good it has spawned a war between two pastry greats in Vienna since the 1800s: the Hotel Sacher and the confectionery haven Demel, who both claimed the dessert as their invention. Legal wrangling ensued as to who owned the rights to sell the "original" Sacher. Expert witnesses testified under oath that a second layer of apricot marmalade was never applied to the original two-layer chocolate sponge cake. And imagine the horror when it was revealed in court that margarine had been substituted for butter in one of the litigant's cake recipes. Scandal!

Notice that all the wrangling was about the innards of the cake? If it were I, I'd have sued for the rights to the fabulous chocolate glaze and let those whiners keep their marmaladeencrusted interior, because it's the chocolate glaze on a Sacher that is consistently sublime. It is shiny. It is decadent. It is fudgy. That's right. The icing for a fancy-schmancy Austrian dessert, originally created for a prince, has the same culinary origins as down-home American fudge. No wonder it's so tasty. Use it as a glaze on any cake you think could use a pretty sheen and a powerful chocolate punch. Just don't get in a lawsuit over it.

Makes enough to cover 1 (10-inch/25-centimeter) torte

• sugar 2 cups |400 g
• water 1 cup | 240 ml
• salt 1/4 teaspoon |1 g
• bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 8 ounces | 240 g
• unsalted butter | 1 cup | 225 g
• salt ½  teaspoon | 3 g

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and salt. Over medium heat, stir until the sugar has completely melted. Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted.

2. Clip on a candy thermometer, stop stirring, and raise the heat to medium-high. Heat to 234F (112C). Immediately remove from the heat and allow to cool, undisturbed, for about 5 minutes, to allow the glaze to thicken.

3. Pour the glaze over your layer cakes, dunk the tops of your cupcakes, or douse your petit fours. Just don't scrape the bottom of the pan, to avoid any burnt bits from separating and marring the pristine sheen of your chocolate covered
delicacy.

Nanny's Peanut Butter Fudge

My grandmother Nanny raised seven kids on her own during the Depression. Seven. On her own. During the Depression. The fact that she was able to do anything in the kitchen seems a miracle, yet she found time to perfect candies and create lasting memories of raucous sugar-pulling parties during a time when nothing should have been sweet. The recipes are simple-there wasn't money for fancy filler ingredients-but they are simply delicious. This is her peanut butter fudge. I like to get fancy on it and pour the fudge over a layer of dense chocolate fudge cake, top the peanut butter with another cake layer, cover all of that with a Sacher glaze, and then stud the sides with chopped roasted peanuts. I'll tell you how to do that on page 199. You'll probably find it hard not to eat this fudge all by its lonesome though. Just imagine having to share it among seven siblings!

Makes approximately 45 squares

• sugar 2 cups | 400 g
• evaporated milk | 5 ounces | 150 ml
• smooth peanut butter | generous 1/4 cup | generous 60 ml

1. In a saucepan over low heat, cook the sugar and milk until the sugar has melted.

2. Raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring constantly.

3. Reduce the temperature to medium-high, keeping the mixture at a continuous rolling boil until the temperature reaches 235F (113C). Remove from the heat. Add the peanut butter and allow it to melt into the milk mixture, undisturbed, for 5 minutes.

4. Working quickly, stir the peanut butter into the mixture vigorously to distribute it throughout the fudge. Immediately pour the candy into a buttered 8-by-8-inch (20-by-20-cm) dish and allow to cool completely either in the freezer or at room temperature. Slice into 1-inch (2.5-cm) squares. The recipe can easily be doubled. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to a week.

PermaLink

Jelly Shots. They're not just for frat parties anymore.

I'm talking about those boozy little bites that have become increasingly popular with adults of all ages. If you grew up in the UK, you may know them as vodka jelly or gelatin shots. Here in the U.S., they're usually called Jell-O shots or shooters. Now blogger Michelle Palm has redefined the genre in her first book, Jelly Shot Test Kitchen: Jell-ing Classic Cocktails—One Drink at a Time.

Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I have vague memories of attending college parties where someone had substituted cheap vodka for the water in Jell-O. This undertaking was usually handled by some science major who determined the exact ratio of vodka that would provide the most kick without affecting the gelling capability. All in the name of research, you understand.

When the mixture was chilled and cut into squares, these adult "jigglers" were a surefire hit with underage palates. Hardly a culinary breakthrough, but always good for conversation. Even if they didn't get me tipsy (and they never did), I rationalized they must be good for strengthening my fingernails. No one guessed these lowly relations actually descended from classic French wine jellies.

Fast-forward several decades. I attended a wedding where a young friend of the bride supplied trays of shots at the reception. No longer rubbery squares in basic fruit flavors, these Jell-O shots had exotic names with a sophisticated taste to match. I was surprised to learn there are numerous web sites—most notably that of Michelle Palm —solely devoted to transforming popular cocktails into this edible medium.

Rather than relying on the limited flavors available in sweet commercial products, this colorful book offers a fantasy array of robust cocktail-bites bound with unflavored gelatin. With recipes like Tequila Sunrise, Pomegranate Martini, Cucumber-Lime Saketini, a two-layer White Russian, and a minty Grasshopper topped with shaved white chocolate, just about every premium cocktail trend is represented. There is even a smattering of chic non-alcoholic jelly shots like Lavender Lemonade, Passion Fruit Sparkler, and the iconic Shirley Temple.

Best of all, not every recipe ends up in a wiggly little square or a tiny paper cup. Instead, Ms. Palm's creativity shines through in her varied presentations, giving each jelly shot its own delectable look.

Each recipe is also preceded by an indication of its difficulty (though most are incredibly easy); as well as specific measurements of the pan needed for optimum success. For those who want to venture into gourmet territory, there is a source list for flexible silicone molds and other optional but tempting props used throughout the book.

Palm's enthusiasm is contagious, and I am now armed and ready to rustle up my own versions of jelly shots. I can't think of a more delicious way to recapture my youth.

Recipe from Jelly Shot Test Kitchen: Jell-ing Classic Cocktails-One Drink at a Time by Michelle Palm (Running Press, 2011)

Recommended Pan: 1-pound loaf pan (8 inches x 4 inches)

"Ganache" Layer

• 1/2 cup chocolate milk
• 1 envelope Knox gelatin
• 1/2 cup Godiva dark chocolate liqueur

Martini Layer

• 1/2 cup milk (whole or 2%)
• 2 envelopes Knox gelatin
• 1/2 cup Godiva dark chocolate liqueur
• 1/2 cup vanilla-flavored vodka
• 1/4 cup Baileys Irish cream liqueur
• Chocolate shavings for garnish

"GANACHE" LAYER

Pour the chocolate milk into a small saucepan and sprinkle with the gelatin. Allow the gelatin to soak for a minute or two. Heat mixture over low heat until gelatin is fully dissolved, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Stir in chocolate liqueur. Pour mixture into loaf pan and chill until fully set, one to two hours.

Prepare Martini Layer.

MARTINI LAYER

Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and sprinkle with the gelatin. Allow the gelatin to soak for a minute or two. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is fully dissolved about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Stir in the chocolate liqueur, vodka, and the Baileys.

Remove the chilled ganache layer from the refrigerator. Pour the martini mixture gently over the top. Return the pan to the refrigerator and chill until fully set, one to two hours.

To serve, cut into desired shapes. Garnish with chocolate shavings, if desired. Makes 18 to 24 jelly shots.

PermaLink