Josh’s Culinary Endeavors

I’m in the process of making Easter dinner. Elise and I will be alone so I figured what would be better for just the both us than a frozen 1o.5 lb. turkey that’s been around since Thanksgiving?

The turkey’s been thawing in the fridge for the past few days. I’ll take it out tomorrow morning so it will get close to room temperature by the time it’s ready to cook. Rob Olvera gave me that pointer. Supposedly your turkey won’t dry out as easily because the inside of the bird doesn’t take as long to cook.

I’ve never roasted a turkey (that I can remember) so this experience should be interesting. I’m going to rub the bird in a garlic cilantro butter and stuff it with citrus and sage.

On the side I’ve already made a Mediterranean heirloom salad - heirloom tomotoes (which I sampled and realized that I still can’t stand the taste of tomatoes in large quantities), purple onion, garlic, yellow bell pepper, fresh mozzerella, steamed asparagus, steamed artichoke, fresh basil and mint, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Tomorrow I’ll make either ancho bock smashers or grilled potatoes with an ancho and chipotle bock dressing. I’ll figure that one out depending on 1) weather 2) mood 3) time willing to spend in kitchen.

I went to Central Market today. I could live there if it wasn’t for all of the people. I left the house just as it started to rain. My thinking was: I’ll go to CM and pick up a few things for the salad, a few herbs and a couple other odds & ends. I’ll spend $30. $70 later I’m walking out of the store with two large paper bags. I prefer paper bags when I shop at Central Market because 1) they’re larger 2) it’s the trendy thing to do and 3) since I am a tree hugging, bra burning, patchouli stinking hippy I like to think that my grocery shopping refuse will rapidly biodegrade along with my aluminum cans, batteries and plastic bags that I get when I shop at other grocery stores.

I walk to the truck in the pouring rain. I’m one of those guys who won’t drive around the parking lot in search of a good spot. I’ll park in the furthest spot from the store. I always find myself out of my truck and in the store before parking spot shoppers have found “the spot”. Lazy.

So I walk to the truck. I’m drenched as are my bags. I drive home, park the truck, get out, get my bags, head for the door… almost there… Crash, Boom, Splash. The bag in my right hand ripped open and the only thing that decided to make a run for it was my 48 oz. bottle of nice extra virgin olive oil. It shattered and olive oil spilled out all over the garage floor. I had to clean it up. That sucked. Big time. Damn trendy hippy bags.

Here’s a recipe that turned out alright. I thought it was going to be a waste of time since it’s based on a Weight Watchers recipe.

1 tsp. olive oil
1.5 lbs. peeled shrimp
2 carrots, julienned
2 tbls. minced ginger root
4-5 cloves minced garlic
1/2 onion, 1/4″ strips
1 green pepper, julienned
1/2 medium poblano, julienned
2 c. snow peas
1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
2 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. peanut oil
4-5 Thai chiles
salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add shrimp and cook for 3-5 minutes until pink. Transfer to plate.

Add carrots to skillet and cook until tender crisp. Cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.

Add garlic, ginger, green pepper, onion, poblano and chiles.

Add chicken broth, soy sauce, peanut oil and sesame oil. Heat thoroughly.

Stir in shrimp and serve over brown rice.

Secret to cooking an otherwise bland Weight Watchers meal: pungent spices and heat!

Applewood smoked Sockeye salmon with roasted garlic and Anaheim bearnaise topped with lump crab meat and caviar. On the side sauteed turnips, zucchini and red peppers and smashed potato and poblano galettes with matchstick potatoes.

I hate to toot my own horn but that was a damn good meal.

Garlic & Anaheim bearnaise
1 bulb garlic roasted
1 anaheim pepper
1/2 C. white wine vinegar
1 shallot
4 egg yolks
clarified butter
1 C. boiling water

Boil finely chopped garlic, shallot and anaheim in vinegar until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

With a wire wisk, add egg yolks one at a time, stirring constantly. Temp with hot water very slowly. Whisk in clarified butter.

Smashed Potato & Poblano Galette
1 lb. potato of you choice
1/2 lb. sweet potato
1 large poblano pepper
1 shallot
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/4 C. clarified butter

Shred potatoes and drain on paper towels. Coursely chop poblano and shallot. Add all ingredients in mixing bowl. Toss.

Heat oil to smoking point in large skillet. Add potato mixture and spread mix to form a large pancake. Cook to golden brown on both sides. Remove from skillet and warm at 400 degrees in oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, smash pancake with hands and add 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Salt to taste.