BBQ Planked Salmon with Roasted Corn Risotto and Fresh Herb Salad

Wow, Seattle has really thrown us a curve ball in terms of weather, hasn’t it? It seems like we’ve actually got a full-on summer now, albeit a little later than usual.

I am more than fine with that though, because of the bounteous options that result from summer overlapping autumn like this. There’s a crazy explosion happening right now, where the fresh flavors of summer are still happening right alongside the earthy delights of autumn. That’s where this recipe comes from.

Fresh summer salmon with delicious roasted corn meets a light autumn risotto and hearty lobster mushrooms.

Bennett’s served it last week, and will continue to do so through the week, only now they’re using wild Bristol Bay Sockeye salmon as part of DineOut for Bristol Bay to help them save their wild salmon runs in Alaska.

I hope you enjoy the recipe – let me know how it works out for you!

BBQ Planked Salmon with Roasted Corn Risotto and Fresh Herb Salad

Serves 5

5 cedar plank boards

2 cups cleaned and torn (1 to 2-inch pieces) Lobster mushrooms
10 tsp canola oil
2-1/2 tsp Old Bay

2 lbs salmon, trimmed, cut into 5 equal pieces
5 tsp canola oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Roasted Corn Risotto (recipe follows)

Fresh Herb Salad (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Set cedar planks in water to soak for at least 1 hour.

While the planks are soaking, prepare the mushrooms. Toss the mushrooms with oil and Old Bay. Bake on a baking sheet until they begin to brown and start to soften, about 8 minutes. Set aside.

Prepare your grill by scraping it, oiling it, and heating it to medium-high. Put the wet planks on the grill for a few minutes. Brush the salmon with the oil (about 1 tsp per piece) and add a sprinkle of salt and pepper to each side of each piece. Place the salmon on the planks and cover. Cook until the juices turn opaque and solid on the top of the fish and it is just cooked through, about 8 minutes.

To plate, scoop some Roasted Corn Risotto into a bowl, then lay the salmon on top. Top with the Fresh Herb Salad and place the mushrooms around the bowl.

ROASTED CORN RISOTTO

2 ears of corn, cleaned and kernels cut off the cob
2-1/2 tsp canola oil
pinch of Kosher salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper

7 to 8 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2-1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cups minced white onion
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
2-1/2 cups Arborio rice
1-1/3 cups dry white wine
1-1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
2/3 cup Beecher’s Brad’s Parmesan, large grated
2/3 cup cream
1-1/3 Tbsp freshly chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
2-1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-1/3 Tbsp grated lemon zest

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

First, prepare the corn by tossing it with the oil, salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast until done and slightly brown (about 20 minutes).  Set aside to cool.

Heat the stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan.  If using an unsalted broth, add 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt. Reduce the heat to very low. 

In a large heavy-bottomed skillet at least 10 inches wide, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and salt.  Cook slowly for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon until softened.

Add the Arborio rice to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, to coat the rice with the oil, about 3 minutes.  Pour in the white wine and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes or until it is mostly absorbed.  Ladle 2 to 2 1/2 cups of the stock over the rice and stir constantly.  (Adjust the heat to maintain a gently simmer.)  When all of the liquid has been absorbed, (your stirring spoon leaves a trail showing the bottom of the pot), ladle in another 1 ½ to 2 cups of stock, again stirring until the liquid has been absorbed.  After the third and final addition of stock, after the liquid has been absorbed, taste the rice for texture to determine whether it’s al dente and pleasantly creamy.  (If you prefer a softer risotto, add more stock until it has the desired consistency.)

After the last ladle of stock is added, remove from the heat and stir in the cheeses and cream.  Fold in the parsley, 1 1/4 cups of the roasted corn, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

FRESH HERB SALAD

1/2 cup shallots, thinly sliced
2 pinches of Kosher salt
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
3-1/3 cups canola-olive oil blend
pinch fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup rough chop mix of fresh dill, chive, parsley and basil (tear basil, don’t cut)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the shallots in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, cover with the vinegar and stir until well combined. Let the mushroom mixture sit for at least 15 minutes. Strain out the shallots and set aside, leaving the vinegar in the bowl. To the vinegar, add the lemon juice, canola-olive oil blend, remaining salt, pepper and sugar.

Before serving, in a small bowl, toss the reserved shallots and with the mixed herbs and vinegar dressing. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sharlyn Melon Gazpacho with Spicy Grilled Prawns

Let me tell you: it is SO FANTASTIC to be back in Seattle and in the Bennett’s kitchen cooking again. Don’t get me wrong. I had an absolute blast in New York the last couple of months, opening the new Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in Manhattan. Now, I've made it back to the Northwest for one of my favorite times of year.

The end of summer is when nature shows us how much more it has to offer than what is available from industrial agriculture. Heirloom varieties abound in August,

and although most people only think of heirloom tomatoes, I get really excited about unconventional types of melon! And not what I call the Bud-Miller-Coors of the melon world: cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon. Those are great and they certainly have their place. But when you look at other melons like hami or guia, you’re really starting to get into the good stuff! On that note, this week’s recipe is a summery gazpacho made from sharlyn melon instead of tomato. It’s got a crisp flavor with a little bit of heat that adds a complexity you don’t always get with gazpacho.

Sharlyn Melon Gazpacho with Grilled Spicy Prawns
Serves 6

Paprika Chile Oil
1 cup olive oil
1 jalapeño, peeled, seeded, chopped
3 Tbsp paprika
½ tsp red chile flakes
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Old Bay

Gazpacho
1 1/2 cup poblano or pascilla peppers
1 sharlyn melon, peeled, large chop
2 ears of corn, shucked, stripped
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp honey
1 tsp lime juice
2 Fresno peppers, seeded, small dice
1 1/2 cup  jicama, peeled, small dice
1/2 mint leaf

Prawns
2 1/2 pounds or 30 prawns, cleaned, peeled

For the paprika chile oil, combine all of the ingredients, except the salt and Old Bay, together in a sauce pan and bring the mixture to 170°F for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and let sit for an hour before straining it through a coffee filter. Discard the solids and reserve the sauce. (This is our original recipe for the Paprika Chile Oil, but for the purposes of this dish, stir in the salt and the Old Bay.)

Char the poblanos over flame until soft, then remove from the heat and sweat in a covered container for 30 minutes.

While the poblanos are sweating, pulse the melons in a food processor to break them up. Blend the melon until it is mostly smooth, but still has some melon chunks. Do not overblend. Set aside.

Skin the poblanos most of the way, leaving a little of the charred skin. Cut open the poblanos and seed them. Combine the poblanos with the melon in the food processor and blend together. Mix in half of the corn, the salt, honey and lime juice and blend again.

In a small bowl, toss together the remaining corn, Fresno peppers, jicama and mint.

Toss the prawns with approximately quarter cup of the augmented paprika chile oil (depending on the size of your prawns) so they are wet but not dripping. Grill over medium heat for about four minutes a side, enough to cook through and get a little char.

To serve, place the jicama mixture in the center of a large serving bowl and pour the gazpacho around it. Place the shrimp on top of the jicama mixture in the center of the bowl. Serve chilled.

You’ll end up with more of the paprika chile oil than you’ll need for this recipe, but it’s a great flavoring oil to have around! We use it at Bennett’s on our Mushroom Tart and with our Curry Mussels (when we serve them). If you come up with some other great uses for it, let us know in the comments!

Blackened Rockfish with Shrimp Salad

I set out for the Big Apple earlier this week, but don't think that means that you'll be without new recipes while I'm out of Seattle! (If you're interested in why I'm in New York, head over to twitter and follow @BeechersNY). While I'm in New York, I invited the chef de cuisine of Bennett's Pure Food Bistro, Ryan Shimabukuro, to be a guest writer on The Carne Diem. He's got some great ideas for dishes and I think you'll be excited to try the recipes he posts.

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Hello everyone!
A couple of weeks ago, Kurt made a prawn and rockfish pasta verde for the Bennett's special. I haven't quite gotten rockfish out of my head since then and came up with this simple combo that you can build into a dish using your own favorite sides. Although you can use a generic blackened seasoning that you could pick up at most gourmet grocery stores, I've included one of my own.  The recipe makes much more than you will need for four servings of rockfish, but it never hurts to have extra of this very versatile spice mix lying around for other impromptu dishes.

Makes 4 servings

Blackened Seasoning
1 cup paprika
1/3 cup onion powder
1/3 cup garlic powder
1 Tbsp coriander
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper

Shrimp Salad
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp Old Bay
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp olive oil, divided
8 medium shrimp, cleaned
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 green onions, diced
2 tsp capers
1/4 cup mayonnaise

4 filets of rockfish, cleaned and deboned


Mix the ingredients of the blackened seasoning together so the spices are evenly distributed. Reserve.

Prepare a marinade for the shrimp by mixing the lemon juice, Old Bay, garlic, salt, and pepper. Put the shrimp in the marinade for half an hour. Heat a half tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sautée pan over medium heat.  Remove the shrimp from the marinade and cook in the oil until done, about 6 minutes.  Remove from pan and let chill for 15 minutes. Chop the shrimp into 1/2" pieces and place them in a medium bowl. Add the bell pepper, celery, green onions, capers, and mayonnaise and mix together until the mayonnaise has very lightly covered all the other ingredients. Reserve.

Heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil in a large sautée pan over medium high heat. Dust the rockfish liberally with the blackened seasoning and place them in the pan. Flip after about 3 to 4 minutes and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. The fish should be cooked through with a slight crispness on the outside. Remove from heat and plate, topping with a tablespoon of the shrimp salad.


A couple of extra tips:
-Make sure not to leave the shrimp for too long in the marinade, since the lemon juice will eventually start cooking the shrimp ceviche-style.
-Once you've assembled the salad, it will actually gain more flavor over time as the components absorb more of the flavor. A half a day or so is ideal.
-I encourage square meals - at Bennett's we served this with some braised kale and red chard and some delicious fried heirloom tomatoes with basil aioli. What will you make for your sides?

Shrimp & Grits, Part 2: Extreme Andouille Edition

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, this week's special at Bennett's focused around the classic southern comfort food Shrimp & Grits. I wanted to build it into something a little bit more complex, but still really heartwarming.  We made a special shrimp stock just for this recipe, as well as a house-made andouille sausage. I won't go into how we made the sausage here, but you can certainly substitute your favorite local butcher's andouille or chorizo instead.  Uli's Famouse Sausage in Pike Place Market is a great option if you're in downtown Seattle; just make sure to get it in bulk form. Sometimes when andouille is in its casing it can be a little harder than you'll want for this recipe. The other alternative is to just slice open the casing of the sausage and use the interior meat.

Makes 4 servings

Paprika-Prawn Olio
16 shrimp (about 1 lb)
1 small leek, rough chopped
1 bunch celery, rough chopped
1 red bell pepper, rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
10 cups water, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup white flour
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp granulated garlic

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt




New Orleans Vegetable Mix
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno
1 1/3 Tbsp canola oil, divided
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

1 cup grits

4 oz Smoked Flagship, grated (about 1 cup)

8 oz andouille sausage


Directions:

For the paprika-prawn olio, start by cleaning the shrimp, reserving the shells but leaving the tails on. Combine the leeks, half of the celery, half the red pepper and the garlic with the shrimp shells in a large pot. Fill the pot with water just until it reaches the top of the shells (depending on the pot, probably about 6 cups). Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain the mixture, discarding the solids and reserving the broth.
Combine the butter and flour in a pot and mix over medium heat to make a thin roux. Add the shrimp broth and stir in the tomato paste, oregano, smoked paprika, red wine vinegar, Old Bay, black pepper and granulated garlic.  Add half of the cayenne pepper and half of the salt. Check the taste of the paprika-prawn olio and add the additional cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Reserve.

To make the New Orleans Vegetable Mix, combine the yellow and green bell peppers, red onion, jalapeno, and the remaining bell peppers and celery. Sautée the mixture in a medium-size pan over medium heat with 2 teaspoons of canola oil.  Sautée for 1 minute 30 seconds and add the parsley. Finish sautéeing for another 30 seconds. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.


Boil the remaining water (about 4 cups) in a saucepan with a teaspoon of salt, and slowly stir in the grits. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for four minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cheese and cook until the grits have reached your desired consistency and the cheese has melted(about 1 to 2 additional minutes). A little “texture” is preferable. Reserve.

Break sausage into small 1-inch rounds, place them on a wax papered sheet pan and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Reserve.


Sautée the shrimp in a sautee pan in remaining canola oil over medium heat, just enough to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the roasted andouille for 10 seconds and then remove from heat and toss in the pan.

To serve, plate the grits in the middle of the plate with the vegetable mixture along one side and the sausage along the other. Place four shrimp on the grits just over the sausage, leaving a nice space of white where the grits show between the vegetables and the shrimp. Pour the paprika-prawn olio around the edge of the food to make a consistent pool of sauce.

Note: There are a lot of things you can play around with in this recipe. Increase the heat with more jalapeno (or decrease it with less), how creamy you like your grits, how creamy you like the paprika-prawn olio, etc. If you want to boost the seafood flavor of the shrimp stock, try adding a little clam juice. Shrimp and grits is one of those dishes that have as many different versions as there are families. Tell me if you try this recipe, or what your favorite version of it is!

Prawn & Rockfish Pasta Verde

I know what you're thinking. When you read "Pasta Verde," you think, "Oh, jeez, not another chef talking about how great tomatillos are." And although I do like tomatillos, there are none in this recipe.

Like last week's asparagus soup, the verde sauce for this recipe was inspired by the bounty of vegetables in the produce crate delivered to our house. This time, cucumbers were abundant and the sun was (finally) peeking out, getting me in the mood for a crisply flavored, summertime type of dish. To see the weekly process of how I put together a dish over the course of the day, check out my facebook page. Every Wednesday is dedicated to a new special for Bennett's Pure Food Bistro or one the Pasta & Co.'s.

Now, I think cucumbers are shamefully underrated. Not only do people misattribute them to the vegetable family, they're often left only with the mild supporting roles of slices to dip in tzatziki or as a salad component. Even more so, when they are used, they're stripped of their most interesting and nutritional part - the skin. Usually peeled off, the skin of the cucumber holds the majority of the fiber, vitamin A and Vitamin C of this clean-flavored relative of the squash. If that weren't enough to encourage you to use a bit more of the skin, it also adds a tannic complexity to the flavor that is completely lost without it. 





If you'd like a great article
about cucumbers check out
gapersblock.com blog post.

Of course, the problem with leaving the skin on is that most cucumbers you find in the store (with the exception of English cucumbers) are coated in wax that is difficult to remove. I mean, sure, I like candles as much as the next guy, but they don't belong in my food. So to keep that tannic flavor element and all those good nutrients, I soak the cucumbers in almost hot water and then scrub the squash with a brush to remove all that unwanted wax.

Now that your cucumbers are wax-free and flavorfully liberated, let's head into this week's recipe.

Makes six entrees.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh vermicelli, capellini or 2/3 lb dried
2 cucumbers, soaked in hot water to remove wax,
               cut into 1-inch pieces
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ cup rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp Old Bay
1 Tbsp. plus ½ tsp. Kosher salt
1 ½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 very large yellow onion, chopped
1 ½ lb rockfish

1 ½ lb prawns
4 shallots, sliced and separated into rings
3-4 Tbsp. cornstarch for dusting shallots and rockfish
Salt & Pepper to taste for fish and shallots
Canola oil for sautéing and cooking shallots
1 bunch spinach leaves, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Get the pasta ready to cook but hold off until you are ready to assemble the dish. Cook the pasta until al dente.

Combine cucumber and jalapenos with 1/3 cup olive oil, rice vinegar, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Old Bay, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a food processor and purée until it is the texture of thick salsa. Set aside.

Toss the onion in the remaining olive oil with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon ground pepper. Spread the onions out on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until they are slightly soft and barely crisped at the corners, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

Toss the shallots with 1 tablespoon cornstarch, salt and pepper and fry in canola oil until crispy and golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined dish. Set aside.

Cut the rockfish into six four-ounce portions. Season with salt and pepper and dust lightly with cornstarch. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over high heat until shimmering (before it smokes), place the rockfish pieces in the pan and cook until golden brown. Turn the fish over and cook for one minute on the other side, remove from pan .

Season the prawns with the remaining 1 teaspoon of Old Bay. In the same pan used for the rockfish, cook the prawns on one side until the edges are pink, turn over and cook briefly until the very center is opaque. Remove from the pan.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.     

Using the same pan again, toss the pasta with the onions and cucumber sauce. Cook over high heat, add the spinach and toss to combine. Cook until the spinach has wilted.

To serve, portion the pasta mixture onto plates. Top with a portion of rockfish, a few prawns and a mound of fried shallots.

The result is a fresh tasting pasta that is light and healthy with that signature clean flavor of cucumber that pairs really well with blue sky and sunshine. Bennett's  (whose patio has been opened up a couple times already this season) will be serving this special through the weekend, until it runs out. So, stop by the restaurant to try it out (and fall in love with it) and then have the recipe at home for when you're craving it again!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week (or earlier on facebook or twitter)