An interlude in Venice with seafood risotto

Makes you want to have some, now.

Clams au naturel

Nothing like an enthusiast to show you how to get the most out of something they love. Here's Paul Randazzo. Share his love. And, fuggettabuttit!

Linguini w/clams in tomato sauce

With this inspiration, we're going Italian this week.

What are we making this week, Steph? Clams with pasta is a classic for good reason. It's a fast and easy way to get the flavour of the sea together with the bright, fresh flavour of tomato. To enrich the finish, you could drizzle the dish with some extra virgin olive oil. Freshly ground black pepper also works nicely here.

To clean clams, let them soak a few hours in very cold water and then scrub them with a brush to loosen the sand that collects in the ridges. Rinse them in several changes of water, and you're good to go.

Linguini w/Clams in Tomato Sauce
serves 4

3 dozen clams, well scrubbed
2 x 20 oz canned whole tomatoes, crushed by hand
1 medium onion finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
1/4 white wine
1 tsp cracked chilis [of more if you like more heat]
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
s&p to taste

• In a large heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the onions and garlic until the onion is translucent.
• Add white wine to deglaze.
• Add the tomatoes [and their juice] and the chilis.
• Simmer until the sauce has reduced to the desired thickness
• [The clams will release liquor, which will loosen the sauce a bit.]
• While the pasta has been cooking a few minutes, return the clams to the simmering sauce and stir.
• The clams will open in less than five minutes.
• Remove them as they open, and keep them warm.
• Discard any clams that don't open in 10 minutes.
• When the pasta is cooked and drained, add the clams back to the sauce and stir.
• Add the pasta, mix well, check seasoning, and add parsley and more olive oil if desired.

Glenn, what are we drinking with this? For clams and tomatoes, I'd consider these two. First, a Spanish rosé from the LCBO. Chivite Gran Feudo, from the Navarra province, is a great value. Second, an Italian white called Falanghina by Feudi di San Gregorio from Campania region, available privately. The grapes are grown on Mount Vesuvius soil, with lots of mineral to match the clams. This is also the part of the country known for the best tomatoes for sauce -- San Marzano -- which nods to the two best features of this dish.

An alphabet of fish

The work of Steve Mack via ffffound.

Killer Fish Tacos

I recently read about SoBo, a restaurant in Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Their Killer Fish Tacos were first sold from a purple 1971 Chevy truck, parked behind a surf shop, and outfitted with a kitchen and picnic-table seating.

Within months of opening, enRoute magazine put SoBo, short for Sophisticated Bohemian, on its top 10 new restaurants in Canada. Saveur magazine said SoBo was probably the most exciting lunch stand in North America. The restaurant is now off-wheels and settled into a modern space with slate floors, a wall of ocean-view windows and an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven.

I've got a lot of customers who love making fish tacos with tilapia, with rave reviews from the kids.

Here's a modified recipe from SoBo's chef Lisa Ahier, plus a few words from when she handed over her recipe to the Tofino Times:

The salsa should reflect the season; in the summer I use peaches and blueberries, in autumn pears and apples, in winter pineapples. I love to pair these tacos with a lovely bed of greens with just a little olive oil and lime juice. Serving them with traditional Mexican beans and rice is wonderful as well - or simply in the hand alone is refreshing.

Killer Fish Tacos

16 taco shells
2 lb tilapia, medium diced
1/2 cup chipotle chiles canned in adobo, pureed
1 cup red onion small diced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp kosher salt

Dice the red onion and puree or finely chop the chipotles.

• Pat fish dry and season with kosher salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over moderate-high heat. Add the onions and saute them for 1 minute; add the fish and fry for about 3 minutes until just cooked. Add the chipotle chiles, stir for 1 more minute and remove from heat.
• Fill taco shells halfway with fish mixture, then top with fruit salsa.
• Serve immediately.
  

Lisa's Fruit Salsa

1 cup kiwi fruit, small diced
1 cup pineapple, small diced
1 cup mango, small diced
1 cup papaya, small diced
2 avocados, small diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 limes

• Prepare the fruit salsa by dicing the ingredients small enough to fit into a prepared taco shell — smaller than a fruit salad, but not so small that the fruit turns to mush. Combine the fruit, avocado and cilantro. Refrigerate until ready to use. The holding time is about 24 hours as the fruit starts to break down. Also note that if you intend to prepare the salsa in advance, don't add the avocado until immediately before serving, as avocado turns brown quickly.

Glenn, what are we drinking with this?

Sangria. Red and/or white. This is a basic recipe that would meet with the approval of strict sangria traditionalists and intentionally leaves ample room for improvisation and additions, so think of it as a springboard for your own creation.

For Red:
26 oz wine, try a French rhone
1 Tbsp sugar
juice of 1 large orange
juice of 1 large lemon
1 large orange sliced thinly crosswise
1 large lemon, sliced thinly crosswise
2 medium peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
[plums, berries or pitted cherries would also be good]
1 cup club soda

• Combine, mix well, refrigerate overnight.
• Just before serving, add soda.

For White: try a Portuguese vinho verde or a light un-oaked chardonnay

Spike: 1 - 2 ounces of brandy, or more if you'd like it stronger.

Big fish, small fish

Great video game. You start out small, and if you manage to avoid getting eaten by the big fish, you get big yourself. Good luck! [Addiction notice: you might get hooked.]

Rolling up to cool down

Crazy heat like we've had this week calls for salad rolls with a twist. The recipe requires next to no cooking, lots of fresh flavours and casual eating with our hands.

I recommended snapper fillets, which is the commercial name for rockfish, a beautiful, light. white fish from the west coast that flakes perfectly for a dish like this.

A school of rockfish
LiveScience.com

Rockfish Salad Rolls
w/Arugula, Avocado & Tarragon Vinaigrette
Serves 4, 3 rolls each

1 1/2 - 2 lb rockfish
1 package 12" rice paper wrappers
1 red pepper, finely julienned
1/4 medium white onion, finely julienned
2 ripe avocados
baby arugula
fresh tarragon

Vinaigrette
2 cups olive oil
1/2 white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp chopped tarragon
2 tsp dijon mustard
salt & pepper

To make the vinaigrette:

• Put dijon into a large jar with a tight-fitting lid.
• Dilute with vinegar.
• Add olive oil and shake well.
• Add tarragon, and season with salt and pepper.

To cook the fish:

• Lay fish on a baking sheet.
• Lightly rub with some olive oil.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle with some chopped tarragon.
• Roast in a preheated 400F oven for about 7 minutes.
• When cooled, flake into bite-sized pieces.
  

To prepare to assemble:

• Cut avocado into thin wedges.
• Pour barely boiled hot water into a bowl big enough to immerse the rice paper sheet.
• Line up ingredients assembly-line style.

[With thanks to Fried Wontons For You]

To assemble:

• Slide the rice paper into the hot water until it gets soft.
• Lay it on a cutting board or clean counter surface.
• Lay down some arugula loosely, like a base or bed.
• Evenly place fish, avocado, peppers and onion on top.
• Dress with a tablespoon of well-mixed vinaigrette.
• Wrap. See step-by-step pics below.
  
• Lay them out flat. They'll stick to each other if you pile them up.
  
• Cover with a light, damp tea towel until ready to serve.
• Will hold in the fridge for an hour or two, covered in plastic.

To serve:

• Present a platter, and set out small dipping bowls with the remaining well-mixed vinaigrette.

Dessert

• Ice cream: once we get cool, we want to stay cool
  

What are we drinking with this, Glenn?
I'd go with prosecco. The Serenissima has hints of sweet almonds, fresh florals and apple to balance the tang of the vinaigrette.

Geoducks on the farm

This fascinating creature, pronounced gooey-duck, is the world's largest burrowing clam. Excellent video of how they're farmed and harvested.

Don't Judge a Clam by Its Cover: Geoduck from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

via FoodCurated.com, with thanks to JamesBeard.org for digging it up.

Just because ...

via Paul Tebbott

Whole Trout Cooked in Salt

Looking over some fish in the shop’s display case yesterday, Stephanie mentioned a great video of Donna Dooher, chef-owner of Mildred's Temple Kitchen, demonstrating how to cook whole fish in a salt crust. It sounds a bit intimidating, but apparently Donna makes it look easy. Trout would be great done this way.

Here are the proportions, temperature and cooking times:

For 4 people, one or two whole trout totalling about 2 ½ lbs

2 lb. sea salt (Donna says coarse)

3 egg whites

a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

1 lemon sliced in rounds

400F [in a preheated oven] for about 25 minutes.

And no, says Steph. It’s not an old Irish or Druid technique. That’s just Donna kidding around. The technique is a very common European technique that more and more new world restaurants are making popular.

Glenn, what do you recommend for whole fish baked in salt?

This dish is a great opportunity for a red wine, first because it’s trout, which is a minerally fish, its habitat being rocky river beds, and second, because it’s baked in salt. Although sauvignon blanc is a great wine for its mineral qualities, a young pinot noir would be great, too. Young pinots are a lot like Beaujolais, light, fresh and grapey. They’re less tannic and have more berry qualities. But it’s their mineral quality that makes them a great match for trout. Serve it slightly chilled.

Just because ...

Pescado is Spanish for fish, the work of Martin Klasch.