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The recipes that follow are from my recently published cookbook, “A Cook’s Table” Food and Wine Together (co-authored with Todd Wernstrom). The recipes are designed to lean against a specific grape varietal. And each Recipe will suggest a wine profile to compliment the dish… I have always labelled my style of cooking as wine friendly. And it was clearly that each chapter in the book should be headlined by a grape varietal. So, enjoy classical as well as new dishes, that have, and will stand the test of time. They allow the wines to show what is best and most compelling about them rather than overwhelm what is in your glass. For a deeper look, find, “A Cook’s Table” respectively at Amazon.com Barnes&Noble.com and at Two Chefs Restaurant. I urge you to find a proper glass, dig out your favorite pot or pan, start slicing and dicing and enjoy. Jan Jorgensen.
Poached Shrimp with My Cocktail Sauce
Serves 4 to 6 This is a classic that deserves a place on any table. The success of great shrimp is how they are cooked. The size of shrimp to use can be debated. Some restaurants believe the bigger, the better, which allows a higher price to be charged. I don’t believe they should be smaller than an ounce with two being the perfect size (unpeeled).
Cocktail sauce is much more than just ketchup and horseradish, although these are the predominant ingredients, much like a Bloody Mary is not just vodka and V8 juice. Spices are super important.
Ingredients:
• Serve 4 shrimp per person as an appetizer, 6 as an entrée
• 30 2-oz peel-on shrimp
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 onions peeled
• 2 stalks of celery
• bouquet garni
• 2 cups of white wine
• 1 gallon water
• 2 lemons cut in half
• salt
Start a court bouillon: Cut vegetables into mirepoix, add them to a large pot with the remaining spice ingredients. Bring the pot to a simmer and let cook for about 15 minutes. Increase the heat to a rapid boil and drop 10 shrimp into the pot with a slotted spoon.
Allow the liquid to return to a boil and cook shrimp for 2-3 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon onto a sheet tray, then repeat the process with remaining shrimp, 10 each time. This method of fast, small-batch cooking will result in firm, crisp shrimp, not rubbery overcooked shrimp. Let shrimp rest for 20 minutes, then place in the refrigerator. Once they are cold, peel them, leaving the tail attached, and with a small knife, make a small cut down the back of the shrimp, remove the organs, rinse and clean if needed. Arrange onto a serving platter or plate for individual serving.
Cocktail sauce:
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup tomato juice
• 1/4 cup freshly grated horseradish for prepared
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• juice from 1 lemon
• zest from 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 oz of Worcestershire sauce
• 3 dabs of your favorite hot sauce
• 1/2 oz soy sauce
• zest from 1 lime
• juice from 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
• 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
Toast all the dry spices, then grind them in a spice blender, and set aside. In a bowl, add remaining ingredients, mix and season with a quarter of the spice mixture. Adjust to taste with more seasoning and horseradish, if needed. Serve the shrimp and cocktail sauce with freshly cut lemon wedges.
Kitchen Wisdom: Cook the shrimp as directed, in batches, but don’t chill them in an ice bath as doing so will dilute the flavor obtained from the court bouillon. And, if possible, do not rinse them when cleaning because that, too, will dilute their flavor.
What to drink
Shrimp done properly have a lovely, sweet flavor and texture, and if served without this cocktail sauce, could be paired with any style of Champagne. Here though, the spiciness of the sauce calls for a rich style of Champagne. The perception of the wine’s “sweetness,” while not technically because of a great deal of residual sugar, will provide a nice cooling sensation on the palate. Tartare of Tuna, House Chips
Huancaina
Serves 4
Raw tuna has been served for ages, whether sliced, diced or chopped, depending upon where in the world it’s served. During my time at Speedo 690, at which the concept was East meets West—fusion before that term was widely used—we relied heavily on soy and other Asian flavors, like avocado and sesame. But because of my commitment to wine-friendly food, the Far East was not the place I looked for inspiration when doing tuna tartare. Asia’s ingredient pantry, so to speak, is more of a challenge when thinking about what wine works well with certain preparations. In fact, I think I served this dish for the first time at an Italian press lunch, because as you’ll see, the ingredients are very much Italian inspired. Serve with potato chips; crisp and raw always work well together.
Ingredients:
• 8 oz of raw tuna loin, ahi or blue fin, whichever is available; I prefer blue fin
• 3 Idaho or russet potatoes (I like Idahos because of their longer shape and less sugar)
• 1 oz of white truffle oil
• 1/4 cup basil, cut in a chiffonade
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• peanut oil for frying (enough for 3 inches in depth of your chosen vessel)
• salt and pepper
With a sharp knife and a very clean board, cut the tuna into a brunoise. In a metal bowl, mix the tuna with remaining ingredients, season, set aside and keep cold. Leaving the peel on, slice potatoes using a mandolin; not paper thin but chip thickness. Place potato slices in a pan or large bowl of cold water, rinsing them several times until the water is clear. The starch has to be washed out so the slices can fry crispy, and more importantly, remain crisp. In a large pot, heat the peanut oil to 275-300 degrees. Grab a handful of chips, and pat them very dry on a towel or paper towel for a minute. Then gently drop them into the fryer, wait a minute and then carefully move them around with a spoon. Cook until crispy and golden brown, then remove them with a slotted spoon or spider. Drain on a towel, then repeat the process until all the chips are done.
Huancaina is a popular component in the Peruvian kitchen, typically served with ceviche. I like the flavor, which is much like an aïoli, but unique, and it works beautifully with the tartare.
Huancaina sauce:
• 2 aji amarillo peppers, blanched 3 times in fresh water, skin and seeds removed
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 oz Dijon mustard
• juice from 1 lemon
• zest from 1 lemon
• 3 oz of creamy goat cheese
• 2 cups olive oil
• salt and pepper
In a blender, purée all ingredients except the olive oil for 30 seconds, then slowly feed in the oil until a mayonnaise-like mixture forms. Keep cold. Make a tartare serving in a 4-oz mold or ramekin, flip out onto a plate, arrange chips next to tartare, and finish with a dollop of huancaina on top. The huancaina recipe is generous so leftovers are likely, which can be used for sandwiches. It will keep for a few days in the fridge.
Kitchen Wisdom: When frying something to crispness like chips, dehydration is important.
When there are no longer bubbles coating the chips, there will be no more moisture. This is important because when a wet ingredient hits hot oil, the oil practically explodes. And don’t overload the fryer with large batches, it will lower the temperature so a boil will start instead of a fry.
What to drink:
Whereas certain fish or shellfish have a natural affinity for being paired with wine based almost entirely on matching the textures— think salmon, lobster and scallops, to mention a few—tuna seems to need wines with racy acidity as a foil. While there is ample richness in this dish, the tuna would best be showcased by a leaner style of Champagne, such as an NV with very little bottle age on it. Lobster Gazpacho Serves 4 Gazpacho, a soup made with raw vegetables, served cold, usually with a tomato base, originated in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. It has ancient roots. Some claim that it arrived in Spain from the Middle East as a soup made with soaked bread, olive oil and garlic. The Romans would tickle the palate with the addition of vinegar, but once part of Andalusian cuisine, especially Córdoba and Seville, it adopted various flavor additions, the most popular one being tomatoes. This region, rich with tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, onion and garlic, is responsible for today’s version. What I find fascinating is that traditionally gazpacho was made in a mortar with a pestle, a laborious method, but one that guarantees a better soup than one puréed in a blender. Served as a simple first course or as a light meal in the middle of the day, the soup readily takes on accompanying condiments. Some include boiled and chopped egg and ham, chopped almond and orange segments, even nontraditional vegetables, which could provide interesting textural contrasts. Variations are the result of place of origin, family tradition and ingredients available. Some might use watermelon in place of tomato, or keeping it “green” would entail the use of cucumbers.
Some time ago, while working at Stars in San Francisco, the following version was served at lunch alongside a Sauvignon Blanc. The addition of lobster adds a definite luxuriousness to a very basic, yet very satisfying soup.
Ingredients:
• 1 11/2-lb cooked Maine lobster
• 6 large vine-ripened tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 English cucumber, peeled and seeded
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 jalapeno pepper
• 1 Anaheim chili pepper
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 baguette for toasted bread croutons
Start by removing the lobster meat from its shell, then cut the meat into ¼-inch pieces, set aside. Cut pieces of baguette into 1/2-inch cubes, toss them in EVOO, season with salt and pepper, toast in the oven. Set aside. Peel, seed and purée the tomatoes through a food mill and set aside, then add the olive oil and basil and place in the fridge. Seed all the peppers, and cut into 1/8-inch dice. Cut cucumber into 1/8-inch dice. Combine them. Mix salt and pepper to taste with lemon juice. Whisk in the sesame oil, then add to the pepper and cucumber mixture, and set aside. Once soup, lobster and garnish are ready to serve, ladle an 8-oz serving into a flat soup bowl, divide the lobster between the serving bowls, and arrange the cucumber and pepper garnish around the lobster. Place toasted bread on top of soup. Drizzle EVOO over the soup, and serve immediately.
Kitchen Wisdom: The dish is not served in a traditional soup bowl, but merely arranged in a wide, flat-bottomed bowl, therefore make sure the bowl is refrigerator cold.
What to drink:
There is a lot of green going on in this soup and that includes the tomatoes, which if you got good ones, will show a peppery, verdant quality. This one calls for a grassy, super-fresh Sauvignon, so Sancerre would work. But perhaps an even better match would be an NZ version. This pungent, assertive wine can go toe to toe with what is essentially a liquid garden in a bowl.
If it all goes wrong. Make a reservation…
Two Chefs Restaurant
8287 South Dixie Highway, Miami
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