Baked Fish à la Dave

I invented this recipe on a vacation in France. We had just arrived at a house we rented.  It was a Sunday. Hardly any stores were open, so I had to make do with a very limited set of ingredients. As it turns out, I had the right ones…

Despite the detail in the recipe, this is really easy to make.

The proportions are vague at best; it’s more of a technique than a recipe.  The good news is that it’s almost impossible to go wrong. If the sauce tastes good and you have enough, the final dish will be great – guaranteed!

Ingredients

• Fish – for this, a thick and flaky white fish works best. Cod is great. Halibut is too steaky and flounder too thin and fragile. Buy pieces that are as thick as possible.
• Olive oil – maybe ½ cup
• Shallots, chopped – 2 or 3 depending on size (red onions can also work)
• Tomatoes, chopped – 1 medium tomato, or a good handful of cherry tomatoes
• White wine – maybe ½ cup
• Salt – about 1 tsp
• Ground black pepper – maybe ½ tsp
• Brown sugar – 1 tsp (optional: the amount depends on the tomatoes, the wine, and your taste)
• Fresh basil, chopped – maybe 4-8 leaves (you can skip it or use parsley, too)

Directions

• Prepare the sauce/marinade:
  • Sauté the shallots in plenty of olive oil until they start to get transparent.
  • Add the tomatoes and cook them for a few minutes, too.
  • Add the white wine and any remaining olive oil.
  • Add the salt, pepper and brown sugar to taste. It’s a brine, and thus should be a bit over-spiced – pretty salty and a bit sweet.
  • Let it cool for 5 minutes or so, then stir in some of the chopped basil, reserving the rest as garnish after the fish is cooked.

• Marinate/brine the fish:
  • Put some salt and pepper on the fish, and put it in the smallest baking dish that can hold it plus the sauce. Douse it with the sauce. The fish should be really swimming in it.
  • Brine it in the sauce, basting occasionally, for at least 15 minutes and as much as 45.

• Bake the fish at 420 degrees (215 C) for 22 minutes. (If it’s thin, you can cook it less.  The good news is that it’s tough to overcook fish when it’s immersed in sauce.

• Sprinkle the remaining chopped basil on top and serve with bread for soaking up the sauce.

Baked Fish with Lemon Grass (à la Dave)

I invented this variant of Fish a la Dave on a whim, inspired by some lemon grass I had handy.  The preparation is identical, but the sauce has some additional ingredients (sesame oil, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar) and the garnish is cilantro.

Ingredients

• Fish – same thing: a thick, flakey fish like cod is great.
• Canola oil – maybe ¼ cup
• Olive oil – maybe ¼ cup
• Sesame oil – maybe 1 tsp
• Shallots, chopped – 2 or 3 depending on size (onions can also work)
• Garlic, finely chopped – 1 clove
• Fresh ginger, finely chopped – maybe 2 Tbs
• Lemon grass – 1 sprig, cut to fit in the pan and pounded to release its liquid *
• White wine – maybe ½ cup
• Rice vinegar – maybe 1 Tbs (I like the seasoned stuff)
• Touch of soy – maybe ½ or 1 tsp
• Salt – about 1 tsp
• Ground black pepper – maybe ½ tsp
• Brown sugar – 2 tsp (the amount depends on the tomatoes, the wine, and your taste)
• Fresh cilantro, chopped – a good bit. This recipe benefits tremendously from the cilantro, so don’t skip it, even if you think you don’t like it.

Directions

• Prepare the sauce/marinade:
  • Sauté the shallots in the three oils until they start to get transparent.
  • Add the garlic and ginger, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes.
  • Add the lemon grass, cutting it to fit in the pan and pounding to release its liquid (see note)
  • Add the tomatoes and cook them for a few minutes, too.
  • Add the white wine and the rice vinegar.
  • Add the salt, pepper and brown sugar to taste. It’s a brine, and thus should be a bit over-spiced – pretty salty and a bit sweet. You may want to add more sesame oil, too.
  • Let it cool for 5 minutes or so.

• Marinate/brine the fish:
  • Put some salt and pepper on the fish, and put it in the smallest baking dish that can hold it plus the sauce. Douse it with the sauce. The fish should be really swimming in it.
  • Brine it in the sauce, basting occasionally, for at least 15 minutes and as much as 45.

• Bake the fish at 420 degrees (215 C) for 22 minutes. (If it’s thin, you can cook it less.  The good news is that it’s tough to overcook fish when its immersed in sauce.

• Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with some kind of bread for soaking up the sauce.

NOTE on using lemon grass: Lemon grass imparts taste only if pounded with something solid (the heel of a big knife is perfect) to release the liquid it contains.  Really pound on it; you’ll be glad you did.

I created this recipe in an attempt to reproduce soup I had at a Tibetan restaurant.  The result is different but delicious.  It’s substantial but not heavy, soothing, and healthy.

Ingredients:

• 1½ onion
• 10 thin slices of fresh peeled ginger
• Dash of sherry
• Vegetable or chicken bullion
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 or 2 large carrots
• 1 smallish potato
• 1 stick of celery
• 2 stalks of lemon grass
• Cilantro
• 1 cup lentils
• 2-3 scallions
• Vermouth, salt, pepper, thyme

Preparation:

Make the soup base:

• Saute in canola oil until browned a bit:
  • A large onion, chopped
  • 5 or 6 thin slices of fresh peeled ginger
• Deglaze with sherry
• Add
  • ½ cup vermouth
  • One cube of vegetable or chicken bullion
  • ½ tsp garam masala or other Indian spices
• Cook until the bullion and spices are dissolved
• Add:
  • 6 cups water
  • 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
  • One or two large carrots, chopped in large pieces
  • One small potato, peeled, chopped in large pieces
  • One stick of celery, chopped in large pieces
  • Something like 8 cilantro stems, roughly chopped
  • 1 or 2 scallions, roughly chopped
  • 2 lemon grass stalks (pound them before they go in to release the oil)
  • Some fresh ground black pepper
• Simmer 45-60 minutes
• Puree in a blender
• Add salt, pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar to taste

Prepare the lentils while the base cooks:

• Wash 1 cup of dried lentils, let them soak while you do the sautéing and deglazing, below
• Saute in canola oil:
  • ½ an onion, chopped
  • 5 or 6 slices of ginger
  • A chopped scallion
• Deglaze a few times (say 3 o4 4) with water, then finally with sherry
• Add the lentils (but not the water they’ve soaked in) and enough water to more than cover them
• Simmer until cooked, 30-60 minutes depending on the lentils.  When finished, the lentils should have absorbed most of the liquid.
• Add salt to taste

Mix the lentils into the soup.

Serve with chopped scallion and cilantro to sprinkle on top, and just a bit of fresh lime juice.

Dave’s Vegetable Soup

I invented this soup in a desperate attempt to get vegetables into my children.  It was a huge success.

Ingredients:

• 1 large yellow or red onion
• Fresh ginger
• A leek
• Indian spices (see below)
• Sherry (optional)
• Vermouth (can use any white wine)
• Orange juice
• Vegetable or chicken bullion or broth
• 3-6 carrots
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 or 2 yams, sweet potatoes or potatoes
• Maybe ½ a cauliflower
• Salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Saute in canola oil and butter:

• A big onion, chopped
• 6 to 8 thin slices of fresh peeled ginger
• A chopped leek is nice, but not necessary
• Indian spices to taste like: curry, turmeric, cumin, garam masala, cinnamon, allspice, cloves (if you were to use ½ tsp of all of these, or a bit less, it would probably work great)

When well sautéed, deglaze with sherry

Add

• ½ cup vermouth
• ½ cup orange juice
• A lot of water (like 4 cups)
• 1 or 2 cubes of vegetable or chicken bullion (or substitute broth for a few cups of water)

Add vegetables, roughly chopped (1-2 inch pieces):

• 3-6 really big carrots
• A butternut squash
• 1 or 2 yams or sweet potatoes (you can use potatoes, too)
• Maybe a half a cauliflower if you really like it

Add water as needed to keep the vegetables covered

Simmer 45-60 minutes

Puree in a blender.  You’ll have to do it in batches.  Make sure it’s really smooth or else it won’t be as creamy and you may strike out with kids.

If the soup is too thick, add water during or after pureeing to get to the right consistency.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Stir in 1 or 2 tsp balsamic vinegar to add depth

Chicken with Cumin Seeds
This simple crowd-pleaser comes from chef Julia Shanks, who on two occasions cooked with me in my kitchen and taught me all kinds of great tricks.

Ingredients

• Boneless chicken breast (say 2 pieces)
• A shallot or two (or a half a red onion), chopped
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds (IMPORTANT: use whole seeds, NOT ground cumin!)
• 1 teaspoon (roughly) of fresh ground black pepper
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of kosher salt
• Olive oil

Preparation

• On a cutting board, place the cumin seeds, salt and pepper into a compact pile and soak with olive oil. With a (tough) knife, mince the mixture as much as you reasonably can. You won’t get to the stage where it’s a paste; but in couple of minutes, you can get kinda close.
• Place the cumin glop in a frying pan and cook if for a minute or two over medium heat.
• Add the shallots and some olive oil. Cook  for a few minutes until the shallots are mostly but not fully cooked.
• Turn off the heat, add a whole lot more more olive oil (maybe ¼ cup), and let the mixture cool for a few minutes
• Marinate the chicken in the cumin/shallot/oil mixture for at least 30 minutes.  1 or 2 hours is even better.
• After marinating the chicken, fry the chicken 5 or 6 minutes per side, adding the marinade at the point when you flip the chicken. Your goal is to have the shallots well browned, with some even crispy, at the point when the chicken is ready.
• Remove the chicken and let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Then slice it and pour the now-cooked marinade with its browned shallots over the chicken slices.

This recipe was inspired by some fantastic smoked chicken I had in Provence and informed by the grilling exploits of friends in Texas. The result is a very moist, slightly smoky chicken… absolutely delicious.

Ingredients

• A whole chicken, ideally spatchcocked
• A marinade – I used my own salad dressing with some additional water, kosher salt, and brown sugar. A little bourbon, onion and orange would add to it, too.
• A rub: I used turbinado sugar, kosher salt, black pepper, herbes de Provence, onion powder, dried lemon peel, and a little minced fresh rosemary

Preparation

• Marinate the chicken overnight (in a ziplock bag in the fridge)
• Drain the chicken and pat dry, then sprinkle the rub on it.
• Smoke it at low temperature for 1-2 hours: It’s impossible to know how long to smoke it; it depends on how smokey your smoker is, temperature, the size of the bird, etc. Basically, do it as long as you feel like and then learn from your experience. In my smoker 1.5 hours was about right for very gentle smokiness. I used charcoal and some of cherry wood. (I’ll make a foil packet with holes punched in it that contains a small handful of wood chips, some of which are soaked so it burns more slowly.  I put it right on the hot coals and replace it when it burns out.)
• Rub the chicken with butter then finish it in the oven at 400F: How long it takes will depend on the temperature of the chicken when you take it out of your smoker and its size. Mine took about 30 minutes to get to the right temperature.  Don’t cook with the goal of getting everything to at least 165 degrees.  150 or 155 is a better target and is perfectly safe.
• Let it rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

This is the kind of fresh pasta dish that I love most – simple, with fresh flavors and just a few ingredients.  It’s quick to make and the cleanup is easy.  I dreamed it up one day based at a farmer’s market based on what looked good.

Ingredients (for 8 people)

• Pasta (1 lb)
• Leeks (3, chopped)
• Corn (kernels from 3 ears)
• Tomatoes (2 or 3 big tomatoes, cubed)
• Kale (maybe 10 or 12 big leaves, cut into appropriate-sized bits) (Tuscan kale is nice)
• Feta, the fresher the better (a good-sized chunk — maybe 1/3 lb. – crumbled)

Preparation

• Put the pasta water on to boil.
• Prep the ingredients:
  • Roughly chop the leeks, tomatoes and kale.
  • Cut the kernels off the cobs.
• As the pasta cooks, sauté in olive oil:
  • The leeks and corn
  • Then add the tomatoes
  • If you want, you can toss in a little bit (¼ cup+) of white wine
  • Finally, add the kale.  Add some salt, then put on a lid so it’ll steam a bit)
• Remove from heat and add/toss with:
  • The feta
  • The pasta
  • Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste