Wordless Weekender: Oysters in New Orleans

New Orleans Part One

We are livin' the good life in New Orleans and thought we should share some photos of our culinary adventures so far.

Day One:

Lunch at Mandina's

Seafood Gumbo

Crab Fingers in White Wine Sauce

Fried Oyster Po'Boy

Afternoon Snack at Williams Plum St. Snoballs

Pineapple with Coconut Cream and Dreamsicle

Appetizers at Dockside

Chargrilled Oysters

Dinner at Huckleberry's

Shrimp Etouffee

Trilogy (fish, oysters, shrimp) Po'Boy

White Beans with Grilled Shrimp

Day Two:

Lunch at Pascal's Manale

Loaf of French Bread

Shrimp and Andouille Ravioli

The Original Barbeque Shrimp

Sazerac

Dinner at Impastato's (Chef Joe's Dinner Special, sadly no photos!)



Day Three:

Brunch made from leftovers

Pasta Frittata, Veal Hash, White Beans-and-Rice Arancini, Filet Mignon, Mimosas



That's all for now! We are heading to the French Quarter for a couple of days, and we will update soon!

Oyster Tuesday

Have we ever told you how much we love our neighbors?

Today, "Whit" stopped by with a styrofoam cooler half filled with fresh oysters that his oyster-farmer-buddy just harvested on Cape Cod this morning. He could hardly wait to come over and share.

We feasted for about a half-hour straight. We love our neighbors. Thanks, Whit!

Beef and Stout Pot Pie

Ah, fall. The kaleidoscope of colors on the sugar maples. The sound of fallen leaves crunching as you walk on the sidewalk. The faint smell of firewood coming from your neighbor's chimney. The crisp feel of the air outside. The fuzziness of the sweater you're wearing for the first time. And, oh, the food! Hearty, comforting food that needs to cook for hours and makes your house smell so delicious. Yes, we love fall. And our first great fall dish this year was Beef and Stout Pot Pie.

In this dish, a basic beef stew meets Harpoon's smooth, rich, small-batch Island Creek Oyster Stout for a flavorful and satisfying meal. Island Creek is an oyster farming and distribution company out of Massachusetts. Typically, stouts make a great pairing when eating oysters. In this case, Harpoon's brewers put the oysters right into the beer during the brewing process, although the impact to the taste of the beer is minimal. The stout has hints of roasted barley along with a slight mineral brininess from the oysters, both of which add great flavor to the chuck steak we braised in it.

We reserved the water in which we had boiled the carrots and potatoes to enhance the vegetable flavor in the pot pie. And, instead of regular old onion and garlic, we used fresh cippolini onions and hard-neck garlic from the farmers' market. Refrigerated puff pastry dough topped the deliciousness inside the bowl, offering contrasting texture with its flaky crunch as well as a hint of surprise when you break through to the chunky, meaty stew.

 

Beef and Stout Pot Pie

Ingredients (for 4 individual pot pies):

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

4 carrots, peeled and diced

2 lbs. boneless beef chuck steaks, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 yellow cippolini onions, roughly chopped

2 hard-neck garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup water, reserved from boiling carrots and potatoes

1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup beef broth

1 cup Harpoon Island Creek Oyster Stout

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 sheets frozen puff pastry dough

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon water

Boil potatoes and carrots together until tender. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the water, and place in refrigerator to cool. Preheat oven to 350. Place chunks of beef along with flour, salt and pepper in a large zip-type bag; toss to coat. Heat oil in a large ovenproof pot over high heat, then working in batches, brown meat on all sides, about 4 minutes per batch; set aside. Add onion, garlic and 1/4 cup reserved vegetable water to th epot and cook, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pot, and stirring often until onion is softened. Add tomato paste and cook for one minute. Return beef to pot along with broth, stout, Worcestershire, and thyme. Bring to a low boil, then cover and transfer to oven. Braise for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and stir in the cooled carrots and potatoes. Allow stew to cool uncovered for 1/2 hour before topping with puff pastry (otherwise the pastry will melt). In the meantime, thaw the puff pastry dough and raise oven temperature to 425. When ready to assemble pot pies, cut circles in the dough 1/2-inch wider in diameter than the bowls you plan to use. Fill these individual oven-proof bowls with the stew then top with the pastry dough, pressing dough onto the rim of the bowl to help it adhere. Beat together the egg and tablespoon of water and brush the top of the pastry dough with this egg wash. Place pot pies on a baking sheet and bake until pastry is puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.  

Fish Fest from the Farmers' Market

Chris writes: As I am sure you read in our post a couple of days ago, Sunday was Seafood Day at the Coventry Regional Farmers Market. Although Amy posted some great pictures of ceviche and oysters, what she didn’t mention was that she doesn’t really like the stuff. Lobsters, YES. Crabs, YES. Clams on the grill, Oh Yeah! But fish? Not really. Between learning how to cook Grouper in Mexico or having Zuppa de Pesce  in Italy she has warmed up to it over the past couple of years but overall she still doesn’t appreciate it like I do. I love fish. Salmon, Snapper, Fluke, Mahi Mahi, Sable, Skate, Anchovy, Eel, Octopus (technically not a fish) -- I love 'em all. This is why I was so excited about the theme at the Market this weekend. I bought stuff (from the folks at The Fish Market) that I knew I wouldn’t have to share with anyone else but you.

Striped Bass steamed in Limoncello and Hyssop

Fillet of bass (~6 oz)

Pink Himalayan salt

Olive oil

Hyssop (3 leaves)

Tarragon (1 sprig)

Limoncello

Salt and pepper one fillet of striped bass. (I prefer pink salt with this dish because it seems drier on my tongue – but that’s just me.) Splash some olive oil onto a piece of tin foil large enough to become a tent. The oil smear should be just larger than the fillet. Place the fillet on the oil and add some strips of hyssop and a sprig of tarragon. Splash with an equal measure of Limoncello. Seal and place on medium-high for about 4 minutes each side. The essence of the fish and Limoncello mixed with the gentle anise flavor of the hyssop blends beautifully with the pink salt and tarragon.

Lemon Peppered Tuna Steak

Tuna steak (~4 oz)

Lemon Pepper (from Boxed Goodes)

Ponzu sauce

Cover both sides of tuna steak with seasoning. Grill on high until seared on both sides (about 2 minutes each side). Let rest for 1 minute. Slice. Drizzle with Ponzu Sauce.

Oysters on the half shell

Plucked fresh from the waters off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut. I choose not to cover their deliciousness with cocktail sauces or what not. I don’t get to the ocean that often and compare eating an oyster to having the ocean come to me. Why would I want to screw with that?

Grapefruit Salad

One medium pink grapefruit

Herbes de Provence

Skin and chop one grapefruit. Toss with 1/8 teaspoon of Herbes de Provence. The acid of the grapefruit combined with the aromatics of the rosemary and lavender merging with the sharpness of the thyme really surprised me. It made for an excellent complement to this meal. I will definitely keep this one in my repertoire.

             

Almost Wordless Weekender: Scenes from the Coventry Regional Farmers' Market, CT

Scenes from today's Coventry Regional Farmers' Market.

Chef Scott Miller of Max Oyster Bar prepares his

Connecticut Landed Fluke Ceviche.

 Connecticut Landed Fluke Ceviche.

Dahlias.

Lettuce is definitely in season here in CT.

The Fish Market sells Mystic oysters for $1 each.

A variety of radishes.

Sugar Snap Peas.

 It's June, so of course, fresh local strawberries.