Belons

They'll haunt me forever. Yellow-greenish. Earthy. Muddy. Musky. They drink of river bank. Nickel sears the back corner of your mouth for hours. More earth and estuary revolving over and over your tongue. Mushrooms. Intense dark mud.

By all accounts this was the weirdest ocean creatures I've ever eaten. I'm actually not sure I enjoyed eating it.

But, I'm still tasting it and I can stop thinking about the tasting experience.

In his work A Geography of Oysters Rowan Jacobsen writes, "Belons are off-putting and overwhelming, like an anchovy dipped in zinc. Most people can't take them. But if you can take them, you may find that very soon you can't stop taking them. You will be on your way to joining the cadre of Belon addicts."

Not quite sure I'm a Belon addict yet. But, I'm definitely way interested in a really really funky way...

PS- requires wine!

Saffron Risotto with Rock Shrimp and Peas

Saffron Risotto with Rock Shrimp and Peas

First, go out to your garden and gather some herbs. I got some fresh chives, fresh parsley, and fresh basil. Wash them. Dry them. Chop finely. Set aside.

Get a large pan on your stove and heat it up. While heating, take a can of chicken stock and pour it into a sauce pan and heat on low. Dice an entire onion. Peel a garlic clove. Get out some frozen peas- set aside. Make sure you have some saffron. And dice up some bacon. Take out rock shrimp and salt and pepper them. Get 1 cup of Arborio Rice. Have butter handy. Finely grade about a cup of Parmesan cheese.

Add bacon to the large pot and cook to browned/crisp. Remove bacon to plate lined with paper towel. With bacon grease still in pan, add rock shrimp. Cook to almost finished- 2 minutes. Remove shrimp to plate. Add a tablespoon of butter and melt. Add onion and peeled garlic clove. Sweat down onion. Add rice and saffron. Stir to coat rice and spread in saffron.

Pan should be quite hot by now. Add a decent amount of stock- to almost cover all ingredients. Stir to deglaze pan and stir in all ingredients. Cook down liquid, then add a little bit more. There's a feed/starve thing happening here with the rice as it grows. Continue to feed/starve rice (if you run out of stock, use water) and once the rice tastes plump but still crunchy at center, stop adding water. Turn heat to low.

Wait until the water starts to get eaten up. Add another dollop of butter. Then start adding cheese- add some, stir it in, add some some more, stir it in- until finished. Watch thickness as cheese is thickener here. Check for seasoning. Salt if needed. Add your peas. Stir in and let cook for a couple of minutes. Add your herb fines. Stir in.

Serve. Sprinkle with bacon crisps.

Wine: Dierberg Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley 2006...or 2007