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

Puerto Rican Truffles- Mobile!

Puerto Rican land crabs...on this island they are the official Caribbean mobile living truffles.

We rented a house on the beach in Rincon this past week. To get to it you drove down this long driveway that was bordered by jungle and grassy marsh. And each day we noticed a bunch of cars pulling up to the edge of our house and these very rustic looking Puerto Rican locals would get out and head into the woods. They were secretive about what they were doing, quiet, and we're carrying machetes.

Finally, my wife just walked up to one and said- "What are you guys doing back there?" Honestly, I was torn between fear for her and amazement that she had the guts to just walk up them (you know, considering the machete thing and all...).

The man was actually a medical assistant at a hospital, totally well educated, spoke English perfectly and all of that even though he was covered in biting red ants, flies, and other bugs. He said he and his cousins had been working these fields for quite some time- patiently checking their traps each day for land crabs. They're fast, nasty, and they bite badly- as was displayed by his bleeding thumb.

A bushel of 20 or so was $40 wholesale. And so, the next day he came back with one. He was very excited for us to try them. You have to boil them a couple of times to get out the dirt and piss he said (yes...piss), but then he promised they would be amazing.

How were they? Think eel crossed with porcinis. It's a very earthy palate. Not sure I liked them, but I know I didn't not like them. The sofrito verde I served them with pretty much melded the funky earthiness out of them. Brought it back to more of a "crab" palate.

Regardless, in Puerto Rico- this is it! The creme de la creme- the best. The Caribbean truffles: Puerto Rican land crabs.

It's time for Smells Like Teen Spirit again...

Am I alone in saying that food/wine are in a rut? It almost feels like that period in the late '80s for music- at the end of Guns & Roses' time- when music was just all around boring. And then came Smells like Teen Spirit...

I dined at an excellent restaurant the other night- Mosaic in St James, Long Island. It reminded me a little of Cesare in Barolo as both Cesare and the chefs at Mosaic don't do a la carte menus. Both sets of chef(s) start their days at the market and then build their restaurant's menu from scratch every single day.

I have to say that if I were a restauranteur I would be shaking my head. How does the business model work? How do you control costs consistently? What about the regulars who come weekly to dine on their favorite standard dishes? Etc...

But as a diner, this rocks. I can cook. Well, I think I can cook all right, but let's just say I can get around the kitchen and make something edible without much stress. And left with enough time and resources I can probably tackle Keller recipes all right. So, going out to dine is more theatre for me. I want two things: I want to be fed (I hate 1 ounce portions) and I want my oral eyes to be opened. I want to be wow'd.

And one more thing- I don't want to choose. When I go to a restaurant I'm in someone else's kitchen, not my own...I want to eat what they think is good.

And so, all of this ranting and raving for a single statement....Restauranteurs, my perfect restaurant: You show up. There is one price. And then the chef just starts sending small plates- lots of them. If wine list- awesome- older vintages please, priced well. If not, a beautiful by-the-carafe rouge and blanc. Simple. Fresh, and pure. Both chilled.

That's it. Give me Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh....but please not Hallmark.

Maybe it's time for Smells Like Teen Spirit again?

Trust Yourself

I was emailing back and forth with someone today about wine. This person revealed that they thought their palate was un-sophisticated and maybe even un-worthy of tasting through great wines.

Hogwash!

Let me just say this to the world. Sadly, there are those in the wine world that are exclusionary and treat wine like it's an insider's fraternity- where only the special bottles are opened for those who will appreciate them. I disagree one hundred percent.

All I need to see is a general interest. If you enjoy wine..if you enjoy food...I could honestly care less about how much you know. I believe wine and food are about the relationship- about the sharing of a moment over a great dish, a great glass. Where you come from does not matter. What matters is that we are both in the moment and participating in the shared enjoyment of the dish/glass.

So, please...if you ever are reading my blog, food blogs, wine blogs, or food/wine stuff in general...never, ever feel as though you are not worthy of appreciating the food and wine that I(we) write about.

The relationship always comes first...after all, some of the best wines I've ever had have been inexpensive and unsophisticated...but always in the right company and at the right time...and they have blown my mind.

The "IT" Albarino

How was Spain?

Well, here I am sitting on the back of a boat ("I'm on boat...on a boat...Never thought I'd be on a boat..."- see Adam Samberg) half way to Nirvana slurping oysters with lemon juice and drinking what- in my opinion- is the next "IT" Rias Baixas Albarino.

I first noticed Lagar de Costa over last year's Thanksgiving dinner. I liked the label- isn't that how we all find many new "it" wines? Anyways, I remember remarking to myself that I loved the combination of power, grace, elegance, and minerality. It was a wine that took the best of all that Albarino had to offer and also made it semi-affordable.

So, after meeting the Costa fam, and slurping osyters with them and friends on the back of a boat...well, I'm now head over heels.

Folks, Lagar de Costa. Pound for pound....Well, ya'll know I can't use "the best"...but, if I could......

For me, it's the "IT" Albarino.

FLOUNDER

I live in Springs, New York. My client base extends all the way to Queens so on any given day I might have a 2.5 hr commute home. Today wasn't so bad...1.5 hours home. The wifey called about an hour out and said she'd bought flounder and she was starving and she wanted to be fed ASAP upon my arrival. My recipe...

FLOUNDER w/ capers

(This should take 15-20 minutes tops)

Take a long saute pan and put it over the burner on high. Take out flounder fillets and salt/pepper both sides. Leave. Take out shallow wide bowl and fill with small amount of milk. Take out small plate and fill with flour. Check to see if saute pan is hot hot. It should be hot hot by now. Add veggie oil and butter. Melt. Douse flounder fillet in milk, then thoroughly dredge in flour- both sides. Shake off excess. Put in saute pan and cook. Cook until cooked meat seems 2/3 up side of fish. Flip. Cook for 3 minutes or so more on other side. Take fillet out of pan and rest on plate. If more fillets cook them same way (adding more oil if needs be). Once done, pour off oil. Wipe out pan with paper towel. Add half stick butter, 2 tablespoons of capers with juice and the juice of 1 lemon. Reduce until butter is browned. Add finely chopped parseley if you want.

Plate flounder fillet. Sauce with caper butter.

Wife (or husband, or loved one) will thank you later.

WINE: Paul Paquet Saint Veran La Grande Bruyere 2007...amazing yeast/lemon/honey notes