Vanessa Barrington

Mendocino Abalone Plus Recipes: Abalone Ceviche with Kumquats and Abalone Chowder with Bacon

I’m not a diver but I’m a cook so I feel fortunate to have been invited on a camping trip with a bunch of abalone divers. I’m always happy to let my imagination run wild in the camp kitchen. And even happier to be able to eat copious amounts of one of the last wild foods available to us.

After my chilly weekend at Van Damme State Park in Mendocino, I have a new appreciation for abalone and the divers who harvest it. Because you know what? It’s not that easy to catch abalone. You may think, “How hard can it be? It’s not like they run away or anything, right?” And though abalone can’t technically move fast enough to flee from divers, they do have other deterrents at the disposal. As does the Calfornia Department of Fish & Game. 

 

First of all, while there are seven of species of abalone in California, the only ones the divers are allowed to take are Red Abalone no smaller than seven inches in diameter. To preserve the population, licensed divers are allowed three abalone per day with a maximum of 24 per season. The season runs from April through November with a closure in July.

 

Regulations also prohibit the use of oxygen tanks, so would-be abalone divers have to be highly skilled.  Imagine diving down to a depth of 20-30 feet in freezing water, while holding your breath. Once you’re down there, you have to find the abalone, make sure they are the proper size and species and then move swiftly to pry them off the rock with a special tool. Tip them off to your presence and they seize onto the rock, making it impossible to remove them. One strike and you’re out. The seas can be rough, and visibility can be low, adding to the difficulty.

For these reasons it’s also dangerous. Emergency responders in Mendocino County rescue about 15 abalone divers each year. Nearly every year, somebody dies while diving for abalone. Last year’s death count was three.

 

Lets say you’re diving and you make it back to the surface with your abalone and head to the campsite to relax. First you have to pry the abalone out of their shells (this sounds nicer than saying you have to kill the live mollusks), and then you must trim out their goopy reproductive and digestive organs, as well as the black edges and the tough bits of the “foot.” Finally you have to pound the hell out of them or they’ll be too tough to eat. Then you can relax while someone else cooks them (if you’re lucky). In reality, most divers do cook. Usually they grill it, poach it, or slice, pound, bread, and pan-fry it. All are perfectly respectable ways to enjoy the sweet, oceany flesh.

On the third meal, something a little different was in order. I’ve made ceviche with abalone at home previously, but I wanted to do something a little different, so I brought along some kumquats to go with the usual ceviche flavors. The chowder was entirely unplanned. It was an incredibly cold weekend and, on one of our frigid hikes, Haven and I were fantasizing about chowder. We had potatoes in the cooler. We thought if only we had cream and bacon, we could make a fabulous abalone chowder. Luckily one of the other campers had both cream and bacon so our dream came true. 

Here are the recipes—proportions are estimated. We cook by feel in the campsite.

Abalone Ceviche with Kumquats

2 abalone, sliced thinly into strips

6-8 kumquats, sliced as thinly as possible

2-3 serrano chiles, finely diced (seeds removed or left in depending on how much heat you want)

1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped

1/2 of a red onion, cut half, then thirds lengthwise and then thin, half-moon slices

Juice of 5-6 limes

Salt to taste

Toss all of the above in a bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

 

Campsite Abalone Chowder

This was truly a camp collaboration incorporating the ideas of many. One of the beautiful things about this chowder was that we were able to use the tough abalone trimmings to make a super flavorful stock. If there had been celery, I definitely would have put some in both the chowder and the stock. I used leftover cooked bacon from breakfast for the chowder, but if you don’t have cooked bacon you could sauté it in its own fat, add the onion and skip the butter if you want (or pour off some of the bacon fat and still use butter for flavor)

Stock:

2 pounds abalone trimmings

1/2 of an onion, roughly chopped

1 slab bacon

Chowder:

1/2 stick butter

1/2 of an onion, diced

2 to 3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 abalone, diced

4 to 5 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

Cream to taste (about a cup)

Salt and pepper to taste

Put the abalone trimmings, onion, and bacon in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer slowly for 1 to 2 hours, strain. (can be made one day ahead and refrigerated).

In a soup pot, melt the butter, add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer until tender. (I added water to stretch it here because the broth was super flavorful) Add the abalone, bacon and cream and simmer until the abalone is tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

On Smuggling, Renaissance Men & Chile Baked Beans with Nopales and Queso Fresco

I found these beans back in January while wandering around the big market in Cuernavaca Mexico. Like almost all markets in Latin America, there’s so much to look at it was a little hard to take it all in. At one vendor’s stall I looked down and there, among the usual plastic woven bags filled to the brim with posole, beans, and chiles were these gorgeous, fat, purple beans. I had never seen them before.

I stopped and stared, waiting for the vendor to finish helping another customer. Interestingly, a solo male shopper somehow picked up on my excitement and in very slow, elementary Spanish patiently told me what they were called—Ayocote Beans. He then spelled the name for me slowly so I could write it in my notebook, and told me that these types of beans are commonly eaten with molé in the state of Morelos. I’ve cooked with Steve Sando’s Ayacotes, before but I’ve never seen the purple version.

Throughout this exchange, the vendor just watched us, smiling. I thanked the man profusely and marveled on what had just happened. In Mexico, the women in the household usually do the marketing and the cooking. Sometimes you’ll see entire families shopping together, but it is rare to see a man shopping for food alone, especially one so clearly passionate that he was willing to share his knowledge with an ignorant gringa. (Incidentally, some of the people I met in Cuernavaca call this place north of the border “Gringolandia”, but not unkindly) He was either a chef or a renaissance man.

I tucked these babies in my backpack, buried deeply in layers of dirty clothing and made it through customs. I only felt a little guilty for lying about not transporting “seeds or plants.” My plan if caught was to say, “Get Out! Beans are seeds? I had no idea!”

I hung onto these for a couple months until it was time to make a celebratory bean dish. I wanted to do them justice, but didn’t want to make molé. Plus I needed something vegetarian so I went on over to Heidi Swanson’s bean-friendly vegetarian blog, 101 Cookbooks, and found this recipe which I improvised from to create my own. Basically I kept the queso and pesto, ditched the breadcrumbs, added nopales, and switched out the tomato sauce for a straight chile sauce. You don’t have to smuggle exotic beans from Mexico. I think either recipe would be great with pretty much any bean—from pintos to cannellinis, to borlottis.

Chile Baked Beans with Nopales and Queso Fresco:

3 dried red New Mexico or Ancho Chiles

3 garlic cloves

1 pinch of Mexican oregano

1 pound of beans, cooked until tender with enough of their broth to be moist but not too soupy

2 nopales

Queso Fresco

Pesto:

1 bunch cilantro

2 garlic cloves

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

Salt to taste

Olive oil

Destem and remove the seeds from the chiles. Toast the chiles in a hot dry cast iron pan or comal until fragrant but not smoking, about 20 seconds per side.

Remove them to a small bowl and pour boiling water over. Soak for 20 minutes.

  

Put the chiles, the 3 garlic cloves, the oregano, and a few pinches of salt in a food processor or blender, reserving the chile soaking water. Process until smooth, adding chile soaking water a little at a time until the puree is the consistency like that of thin batter.

Using the edge of a sharp knife, scrape the spines off the nopales. Slice them into thin strips and then dice them. Boil for 10 minutes in salted water until tender. Drain.

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and, in a large casserole dish, stir together the beans, the chile puree and the nopales. Sprinkle with queso fresco and then bake until brown and bubbly.

Meanwhile, make the pesto. Place the cilantro leaves and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely chopped. Add the lemon juice and salt and then slowly add the olive oil in a thin stream until the mixture is smooth and emulsified. Drizzle over each individual serving of beans.

A Sort of Persian, Mostly Vegetarian Passover

I finally wrangled an invitation to a Seder. For years I’ve only heard about the ceremony and the food, and finally this year I got to experience both. I also had the opportunity to help cook this one, so I was really excited.

 

Our hostess, Haven Bourque, decided on a Persian menu. There were several reasons for this: One was a recent musical outing, that inspired us to want to eat Persian food, one was an article in the New York Times, and one was a vegetarian on the guest list, and our own veggie leanings.

 

Here’s the menu:

 

First Course:

 

Seder plate—in the Persian tradition green onions are on the table for the guests to beat one another with. Yep, that’s right. It symbolizes the sting of the whips of the Egyptian slaveholders. Rather fun and they do sting!

 

The charoset was wonderful. Lots of delicious dried fruits, cardamom, and pistachios.

 

Second Course:

Beet soup—very simple vegetarian version made with beets and leeks and balanced with champagne vinegar and then garnished with lebne and cilantro.

 

Third Course:

Smoked salmon

Asparagus roasted in a blazing hot oven with olive oil and salt

Deviled Eggs

 

Mainish Course:

 

Two types of grape leaves—one with lamb and rice and one with rice and dried fruit from the recipe in the New York Times above

 

Roasted/braised baby artichokes: Quartered and roasted with salt, olive oil, thyme sprigs, and sliced lemons until brown and then oven-braised in white wine.

 

Dessert:

Flourless chocolate cake and macaroons from La Farine and illegal for Passover baklava from Zand’s. Best baklava I’ve ever had. I finally understand why people eat baklava.

 

The ceremony was great. It was a secular humanist Passover and we sung songs of social justice while drinking plenty of wine.

 

Hope I get invited back next year!

 

Curried Cauliflower Soup with Annabelle’s Mustard Seed Oil and Yogurt

Whether roasted, braised, sautéed, gratinéed, or simmered gently into a soup, cauliflower is one of my favorite winter vegetables. I crave it for comfort…its soothing sweetness and versatility. It is a vegetable that takes very well to Indian spices, so when I’m craving that flavor profile, I usually braise it with whole spices that I’ve toasted and ground and serve it as a side dish.

One recent cold night I wanted soup. And I wanted Indian spices. Plus I had some of Annabelle Lenderick’s hand-harvested mustard seeds that she’d given me last summer. I wanted to do something special with them and I didn’t need any more homemade mustard in the house. I decided to try infusing them into oil.

The flavor result wasn’t earth shattering, but instead rather subtle. Toasted in oil as described below, the seeds will turn brown and pop energetically. Strain the oil and drizzle it over the soup. You’ll notice a nutty, warm flavor spreading over your tongue as you sample the soup.

Serves 4

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (depending on its level of heat and your preference)
3 tablespoons olive oil or ghee
1/2 of a large yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds cauliflower (1 medium to large head)
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
Salt and freshly ground fresh pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil for high heat cooking
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
Fresh lemon juice (optional)
Plain yogurt for serving
Cilantro leaves for serving

In a small, dry skillet, over medium heat, toast the cumin and coriander seeds, shaking the pan often, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until beginning to brown and become fragrant. Remove from pan and cool. In a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, grind the seeds finely. Stir in the turmeric and cayenne and set aside.

In a large soup pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil or ghee. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add the spice mixture and cook, stirring for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant. Add the cauliflower and the broth along with a few pinches of salt and some pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and then lower heat, cover partially and simmer until the cauliflower is soft, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the mustard seed oil. In a small skillet, over medium –low heat, warm the vegetable oil with the mustard seeds for 4 to 5 minutes. They will brown and begin to pop. Don’t let them burn. Cool and let sit to infuse the oil and then strain before using.

Cool the cooked soup and then puree until smooth. Return to the pot and heat slowly. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. If you find the soup needs a little acid, add a squeeze or two of lemon juice to taste.

Serve with a drizzle each of yogurt and mustard oil along with a few leaves of fresh cilantro.

A Healthy, Restorative Meal with Sablefish and Dal

I rarely cook a protein, starch, veg meal anymore. And I rarely eat fish either. Our oceans are just so endangered, that it’s a once-in-awhile treat these days. And it’s gotta be on Seafood Watch’s green list, or I’m not even eating it as a treat.

If you’ve never cooked sablefish, you’ll find that it’s a reasonable substitute for the overfished rockfish and snapper usually used in dishes like fish tacos, and other preparations where you want a mild, white fillet of fish. It has a moist texture that lends itself well to a variety of preparations. I always find myself wishing it were a little flakier and a little less gelatinous, but it works pretty well. You may also see it as Black Cod at the fish counter.

This was a really easy dinner to make with little prep time and few ingredients. Its only down side is the number of pots and pans I used. One for the fish, one for the rice, one for the greens and yet another for the dal. If you cook the dal on a different day, that will make it a little less dish intensive.

For the dal, I use red split lentils and just cook them in water with a little turmeric and salt until tender (takes about 20 minutes) Then I sauté chilies (either fresh green or dried red) with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garlic, shallots, and whatever else I’m feeling like adding, over high heat in oil or ghee and then quickly add the sizzling hot mixture to the dal, stir in and cover to permeate the dal with flavor. Ratio of lentils to water is about 4 to 1. The rest you’ll have to eyeball.


For the fish, I followed a recipe in Niloufer King’s fabulous James Beard Award winning My Bombay Kitchen for masala seafood. You don’t even need a recipe. It’s basically cayenne, turmeric and salt rubbed into scored fish fillets that are then fried quickly in a very small amount of oil. It’s wonderful and wonderfully easy. The rest of the meal is just sautéed mustard greens and Massa Brown Rice with some sprigs of fresh cilantro.

And Hey! I’m going to Mexico for two weeks so you might not hear from me. I might try to blog from there, but not sure. At any rate, expect some good posts about Mexican food when I return. I’m staying with a family and I hear the Senora is a very good cook and I’ve been assured that I’ll be welcome in her kitchen. Qué Bueno! Feliz Navidad Y Año Nuevo!

Fall Chicories Salad and Free Soup Class this Friday in Emeryville

This is one of those salads I could eat every day for months. All local from the farmers' market. Annabelle's puntarelle and escarole, Blossom Bluff persimmons, Art Davis' pecans (spiced with a little brown sugar, cayenne and other spices), and Somebody's pomegranates but I don't remember whose. It's bitter and sweet and crunchy and spicy and refreshing and it's just a great salad. I usually make a lighter vinaigrette with shallots (no garlic) and lemon juice or Champagne vinegar.

In other news:

Nishanga and I will be teaching a FREE soup class this Friday at The Cog.

Ways with Soup
 
Join CoG members and cooking teachers Vanessa Barrington and Nishanga Bliss in an exploration of the many ways of making economical, nourishing, delicious soups.  Veggie stocks and bone broths, the wonders of miso, cream soups and bean soups, soups and fermentation, recipes, and much much more!  Bring a mug and spoon for tasting.  FREE! If you're not a member come and learn from Susan Fleming how The Cog can save you money.
 7pm at The Cog 67th and Hollis in Emeryville.

Wild Salmon-Potato Cakes

I'm turning into my mother. She used to "do things" with canned salmon. Namely a tasty but disturbingly cat-food textured dip served with Ritz crackers. I never have "done things" with canned salmon other than eating it on salads like tuna. In one of my ongoing battles with odd bits of leftovers and an overfull pantry, I came up with an elegant way to use leftover potatoes and canned wild salmon. Yep, I "did something" with canned salmon.

The impetus consisted of three steamed russet potatoes that never quite made it into Susan’s birthday potato salad with the Yukons, because it hadn’t seemed quite right to mix them.

Those potatoes had been taunting me from the vegetable drawer for a couple of days. Just daring me to use them. I kept thinking of eggs, and breakfast, and hash, but it just never happened. Suddenly it was Monday night and I was faced with a drawer full of fresh vegetables and a mean protein craving, with nary a speck of flesh defrosted.

Resourcefulness kicked in.

Makes 4 small patties

3 medium steamed russet potatoes, peeled
1-7.5 ounce can of wild salmon, skin and bones removed (I snack on them or feed them to the dog) and flaked
About 2 tablespoons freshly chopped herbs such as parsley, tarragon, chives, whatever you have
A dollop of mayonnaise
Harissa paste or a sprinkling of good paprika or Aleppo pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a medium bowl, mash the potatoes with a potato masher until they are broken down, but with some texture remaining.

Add the salmon, herbs, a small spoonful of mayonnaise, the harissa or other pepper, and salt and pepper. Mix and check for seasoning. Also check to see if the mixture holds together when you try to form it into a patty. If not, add a little more mayonnaise until it does.

Form the mixture into 4 patties, dividing it evenly. Heat the oil in a cast iron pan over medium high heat until it is shimmering but not smoking. Carefully lower the patties into the pan. Cook on the first side until crisp and brown (2 to 3 minutes) Turn and cook the other side for an additional 2 to 3 minutes until brown. Serve immediately accompanied by seasonal vegetables. In this case it was steamed then sautéed broccoli with red pepper flakes and garlic, along with roasted golden beet and arugula salad.

An unexpectedly great Monday night dinner, and easy too!

Happy Glorious Delicious Fall!

Here's how I recovered from the Hunger Challenge. I went to the Berkeley Saturday Farmers' market. Wowie Zowie, so much to buy and cook and eat. I was so happy being there after a three week hiatus caused by various and sundry commitments. Pictured above is my haul. And below, my lunch: roasted River Dog delicata, County Line Farm Wild Arugula, Quetzal Farm Dry Farmed Tomatoes, Morell's Bread, Sierra Nevada Cream Cheese (from the store), and the last of the cheap eggs from the Hunger Challenge. This lunch illustrates how easy it is to eat healthy, high quality, veg-centric, local meals without spending hours and hours in the kitchen.

I also think the amount of food I got for my money was quite amazing. I was more aware than usual of how much money I was spending too and actually, it wasn't that bad. I think about $65. That's a lot of good quality food for $65. Why no eggs? Well, I joined the Soul Food Farm CSA and the first delivery was last night. 2 dozen gorgeous eggs (some of them huge!) and 1 chicken with it's head still wrapped around its body in a restful pose, and feet too! Wanna join? The CSA is still open. I got to meet farmer Alexis too and she's lovely and vivacious and seems to be recovering nicely from the devestating fire last month. Looking to support the farm? There's an event on Sunday the 11th at Pizzaiolo. Admission is $14 and you can support Soul Food Farm by buying raffle tickets. You may even win a fabulous prize!

One more good piece of fall news! We have a book title that everyone is happy with:

DIY Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Food from Scratch.

Chronicle Books Fall 2010. Galleys arrive next month and the designer is terrific, so it's going to be beautiful!

Hunger Challenge Day Five

I wake up resigned. It’s Saturday and I feel a little depressed. I start thinking about all my friends the farmers’ market vendors. Will they wonder where I am? I sure miss them. The farmers’ market is my church, my favorite place in the world to be. I don’t know what to do with myself and keep wondering if there are persimmons in the market yet. I convince myself that they are making their debut today and I’m missing it. Then I feel like a baby.

When food is your one luxury, the only thing you spend money on and it’s also your entertainment, what do you have left?  What will I do with myself on Saturday with no shopping and cooking? I don’t feel like myself. I feel like I’m living in a world devoid of color and I start to fantasize about going shoe shopping. I snap myself out of that really quickly and make breakfast.

Breakfast: 1 egg; 1 piece of toast; 1 wedge of melon
I suddenly realize that the bread tastes really sweet. And it’s not even a really cheap brand, but it’s definitely got sugar in it. My taste buds are off or something. In Hunger Challenge land all foodstuffs contain sugar.

I spend the morning cleaning the house and then a friend comes over with some figs from her tree. I give her some cucumbers from my garden and some jam that I’ve made. I eat a couple of figs. It’s crazy to turn down free food. I’m trying to find the line between really challenging myself and being so contrived that it’s ridiculous. I’m feeling apprehensive again because it’s Saturday and there are family activities planned involving children and meals out. I’m really not sure how I will deal with it yet.

Lunch: A bowl of the emergency lentil/rice/bok choy soup and a tortilla with butter. Really good.  A lot better than those enchiladas. I also eat half of a pear with peanut butter.

In the afternoon we go bowling with family. Everybody gets popcorn. It’s easy for me to resist even though I’m hungry. Then, we go to a Mexican restaurant that I really like. Now I’m really hungry. I think about just giving in and then decide that that would definitely be crossing the line I mention above even if others pay for my dinner. I mean this is supposed to be a challenge. So I order water and sit there. And sit there. And sit there. I’m really hungry. After holding out for 30 minutes I eat some of the free chips with salsa. There’s that line again. I mean really. They are free. I’m sitting there. And I’m hungry. The bill comes and I start to automatically reach for my wallet. Then I realize I didn’t eat anything and I feel sort of crazily gleeful.

Dinner: I heat up two enchiladas and a scoop of beans. The beans taste good but I have to choke the enchiladas down. The cilantro doesn’t help. Do I really have to eat these one more time? I am relieved when dinner (and Saturday) is over.

Hunger Challenge Day Two

I wake up ready to go. Day one wasn’t so bad. I’m working at home in the morning and going into the office late. I take that time to make Vietnamese rice porridge. This is a brilliant dish involving a very small amount of white, long grain rice, a lot of chicken broth, a few coins of ginger, and two green onions. So few ingredients to make a magical dish that is intensely satisfying. It’s like alchemy with rice. I learned this dish from Andrea Nguyen’s Book, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen.
It’s one of my favorite cookbooks and I’m deeply appreciative that I have the time to make this at home before heading off to work.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with a little brown sugar and milk; 2 slices of melon

I’m noticing that I’m eating my breakfast with great concentration. Seems I’ve banished mindless eating in one day.

Lunch:
A bowl of the above porridge with a little cilantro and sliced green onion. I also threw in just a bit of the shredded chicken I’d cooked a few days before.

I was really hungry after work so I had a piece of bread with peanut butter and went off to yoga class. I felt a bit weak during the class and came home famished and ready to throw together a quick rice noodle pasta dish.

Dinner: I used half the bok choy that I bought for $1 and some rice noodles from my Food Bank pantry list. In addition, I sauteéd the other half of the onion from the soup broth, a bit of ginger, and a bit of garlic. I also used just a few shreds of chicken and some soy sauce from the pantry. I garnished the pasta with cilantro and green onion (I’m now thinking these two items are some of my smartest purchases).

I notice that I’m taking no pleasure in cooking. I just want to get it done and into my mouth. I usually take my time and listen to music and relax. I just want to eat. I find this interesting. I eat really fast and somewhat resentfully. I realize that I’m only about 80% full. Funny, this is a habit I’d been trying to master and finally I’m doing it. There's a bottle of wine in the house so I decide to have a glass. My cushion right? I'm also drinking one cup of coffee a day. I tell myself my cushion allows that too and it actually does, depending on what else I need the cushion for.

I’m hungry again before bed so I have a piece of toast with butter.