Comments from Readers in response to blog entry of July 2013

 

Hi dad! Thank you for sending the email. I bet the sauce would be good served over baked fish. And for the scones you can substitute the butter with oil. I successfully made the scones with coconut oil instead and they were great.

Sent from the iPad of

Kathryn Waggoner

 

Hi ... so glad to have the recipes and keep in touch in such a fun way.  I made the puttanesca sauce...without anchovies and 1/2 C kalamata.  It is wonderful, but I will use the full cup of kalamata next time.  thank you...it's really tasty and hearty!  Certainly can be used in eggplant parmesan or lasagna...possibly in a pizza 

  

Kandi Austin
Yoga Instructor RYT200
240-422-4375
Breathe deeply, Love deeply

Hi Joe - I use it in its chunky glory!

On Jul 9, 2013 9:23 AM, "Joe Gentile"  wrote:

Thanks Genevieve.  Would you recommend blending it before using as a sauce over fish or chicken.  Part of its charm is its chunkiness?  I was thinking about getting some tuna steaks today.

 From: Genevieve Blanco
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2013 7:33 AM
To: Joe Gentile
Subject: Re: July 2013 blog 2

 Hi Joe - the sauce recipe is similar to a pasta dish I make with tuna (if you like hot tuna that is as some don't). I make the sauce with the olives but no anchovies and add a large can of tuna and serve it over thin/angel hair spaghetti - it's delish! I've also used this type of sauce over chicken and fish filets - very yummy. 

Love and hugs,

Genevieve

 

August 10, 2013 blog entry

 

SAVORY SEAFOOD STEW

 

Here is a fascinating recipe that I have adapted from a Williams Sonoma ad for its $400.00 Cusinart Multicooker.  WS calls it  summer seafood stew, but I am sure it would taste good in cold December as well as summer, hence my name change.

This was a challenging dish to prepare, and I managed to get through it with either dumb luck or the Grace of God or the intercession of St. Pasqual

 

The first thing to prepare  is the Aioli sauce and here is the WS recipe:

 

1 small clove garlic minced.

juice of  1 lemon

½ tsp safrron threads

1 egg yolk

¾ cup olive oil

Salt and fresh pepper to taste

 

Combine garlic, lemon juice, Saffron and egg yolk

Start pulsing the blender and add olive oil slowly

Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

 

My comment:  I have had a little experience in using saffron for Risotto, and I purchase it in tiny corked glass jars from Trader Joes, which  costs about $9.00.  I think the contents is about 0.2 ounces.  I usually use, the entire amount for a pot of risotto.  I tried to gather a half teaspoon of saffron threads, and found that impossible so I just used the whole thing.  I am not sure what the saffron added to the taste of this sauce, if anything, but when added to the finished stew the result was marvelous.  I would have prefered some precision in “season with salt and pepper to taste,” as I had no idea of what to expect, so I just threw in a little of each.  I did not appreciate the instruction of adding the olive oil slowly, as I had a whisk in hand at the time, but later did use a hand held blender.  A day after whisking, the remaining sauce is in the refrigerator, and there is solid material in the bottom of the cup, (probably egg yolk in a semi suspended state) which can be successfully stirred up easily.

 

Stew Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion diced, 1 large fennel bulb (aka Anise), trimmed, cored and thinly sliced, 4Tbs olive oil, (2tsp minced garlic combined with ½ tspn tomato paste-combined with mortar and pestle., 1 cup white wine, 4 cups vegetable stock, 2 bay leaves,  2 Tbs flat leaf parsley, 1 large sprig fresh thyme, about two large red potatoes, peeled and diced (large chunks)

1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes (plus my happy accident of adding a 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, roughly mashed – I was thinking of another recipe at the time.) 1 1/2 lb of cod fish and 1 lb of jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined.

My comment:  This was my first encounter with a fennel bulb which resembles a monster celery or an exotic tropical bonsai rather than an edible  vegetable.  To remove the core, I had to cut it into quarters, and struggled to separate the core from the more tender part, which was not difficult to thinly slice.  The recipe requires sautéing the fennel slices with the diced onion.  The fennel slices stays intact through the cooking and contributes to the great experience of eating this dish.  Although as stated above, the 28 oz can of whole tomatoes was an accident, it made the meal!

 

Start by sautéing the diced onion and fennel strips. When the fennel is tender, add the potatoes, garlic, white wine, vegetable stock, all of the tomatoes, bay leaves and thyme, and parsley.  Allow this to cook for about 45 minutes bringing it to a gentle boil or simmer Cut the cod into 2 inch chunks, add to pot and after a few minutes, throw in the shrimp.  Allow to cook until shrimp and cod appear to be solid. 

 

Serve in bowls and flavor with the aioli sauce.

 

I was planning to serve with Chianti, but after one glass, decided  to switch to Chardonnay.

 

An untried recipe I found this in a recent NY Times Food

Section, and just have not gotten around to making it, but it sounds

 Delicious.  I think I will use my new lava stone mojacatele, as I

 like chunky things.  However the recipe does say to use a blender

 or food processor to make it smooth.  What do you think?

 

Green sauce with avocado

 

2 garlic cloes coarsely shopped

1 ½ tspn salt

1 small white onion coarsely chopped

2 fresh serrano or jalapeno peppers. Stemmed

Seeded and coarsely chopped

½ lb tomatilos, husk removed and quartered

1 ripe avocado

10 cilantro sprigs 

Pound garlic and salt to a paste.  Add onion chiles nd tomatillos

And pound to slightly chunky paste.

 

Scoop out the avocado flesh. 

Finely chop and mash into onion-tomatillo mixture

 

Serve as a dip or a sauce