Pip's Plate

We’re still doing Gourmet Club, and the other weekend our theme was Louisiana Creole. It was an excellent theme. I had second course (out of five) and chose to make crab cakes. These were pretty delicious. Surprisingly, the curry sauce makes an excellent combination with the tarter sauce and crab cake.

Spicy Crab Cakes with Caper Tarter Sauce and Creole Curry Sauce
makes 8 crab cakes

Crab Cakes

Ingredients
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
3/4 cup panko crumbs
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup mayonnaise
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Pick over the crabmeat to remove any shell or cartilage, trying not to break up the chunks too much.
2. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the butter and olive oil. Moisten hands with a little water and shape the mixture into eight fat ball-like cakes. (They will flatten slightly during cooking.) Place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. In a large skillet, heat the butter and oil over medium-high heat. Carefully lay the crab cakes into the butter and oil and fry until crusty and browned, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Creole Curry Sauce

Ingredients
3T minced parsley
3T minced shallot
butter
3T flour
3T curry powder
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
1t sugar
1/4 cup sherry

Directions

1. Saute parsley and shallots in butter in double boiler. Add flour and curry powder. Add cream and millk. Stir until thick. Add sugar. Simmer a few minutes. Just before serving, blend in one-fourth cup of sherry.

Roasted Garlic Tartar Sauce

Ingredients
4T mayo
4 cloves garlic, roasted
2 green onions, sliced thin
2T capers
1T caper liquid
1T milk
1/8 t salt
black pepper

Directions

1. To roast the garlic, place the cloves unshelled in a small piece of aluminum foil with a dash of olive oil. Wrap it up and roast it in a 250 degree F oven for about 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and unwrap the garlic to remove the roasted pieces from their shells.
2. Place the mayonnaise in a small mixing bowl and add the roasted garlic. Mash the garlic into the mayonnaise until smooth.
3. Fold in the green onions, capers, caper liquid, milk, salt and pepper.
4. Chill.

To Serve

Place one crab cake on a plate, dollop about 1 T tarter sauce on top of the crab cake. Drizzle 1 1/2 T of curry sauce on the plate next to the crab cake. If you wish, you can garnish with thinly sliced green onions.

This recipe was inspired by this one and this one.

Here is an update to an older post I made at least 2 years ago regarding the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s most recent sustainable seafood guide.

On their website, you can find the most recent sustainable information on all kinds of fish and seafood. It’ll tell you about how the fish and seafood is farmed, if it’s overfished, if it’s a good fish choice, etc. They also have a section on sushi.

Or you can download their pocket guide to take with you to the grocery store and have it on reference at all times – works great for deciphering restaurant menus when you go out to eat.

Get the Monterey Bay Aquarium Fish and Seafood Pocket Guides based on region at their site

Get the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sushi Pocket Guide at their site

In the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine (Feb 2009), they have a really great article on 50 Easy Ways to Eat Green.

What I discovered is Text Fishphone – it’s utterly brilliant! It’s the easiest way to find out what fish at your local grocery store is good for you (mercury levels, farming methods) and good for the environment (sustainable, farming methods). And it’s so simple: text 30644 and enter FISH, followed by the name of the fish you want to buy. It’ll return a text telling you if it’s a good one or not.

I have heard soooo many things about Sea Salt at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, MN. This is a perfect place for many things: enjoying nature in a city, listening to live music, book club, playing bocce ball….all while eating a fantastic meal!

Sea Salt gets their fish from local seafood store Coastal Seafood (the best place in Minneapolis to purchase seafood and fish). Sea Salt’s menu features an array of tacos, ‘po boys, appetizers, fresh oysters, etc. And everything is fantastic.

I had the calamari tacos with cole slaw. These tacos were on corn tortillas with fresh, homemade salsa. The calamari was fried perfectly, too. I wish the sauce had been really garlicky, but otherwise I would order these again in a heartbeat. The coleslaw was also quite good.

The last time I was there, I tried the tilapia tacos – also YUMMY. But this time I had it with a side of grilled corn on the cob…my favorite. I threw some lime juice, salt and tabasco sauce on it and it was quite good.

The oysters are extremely fresh and delicious, and you can also order beer and wine there.

This is genius. Two brothers in Maine have established a business called “Catch a Piece of Maine” which allows people to become a partner and receive all the lobsters caught in a lobster trap in one year – all for the mere cost of $2,995.

These partners can also check out how their lobster trap is performing throughout the year by checking in online.

They even tout how it supports local fishermen:

Catch a Piece of Maine’s community supported fishery model directly supports lobsterman and the working waterfront of Maine. Your support allows lobstermen to receive a premium for their product at a time when external economic factors make it hard to make a living from the sea.

After the brilliant success of our first Gourmet Club meeting back in January, I immediately went home and started scavenging the internet for braised short rib recipes – because it doesn’t get much better than that. And man oh man….it doesn’t.

Nicole and I were serving the main course this time, which also meant we would be hosting it at my house. I first thought an Asian inspired short rib recipe would be exactly what I was looking for. Until I found this recipe: Brasato al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata). YUM.

Then I thought…wait a second, this is from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo cookbook…hmmm…why does that sound familiar? Then it dawned on me! I finished a book at the end of November titled “Heat” – which is now one of my favorite books – about Bill Buford working for Mario Batali and traveling through Italy. Well, this dish is mentioned in great detail. I looked it up, laughed at the descriptions (it’s violently vulgar), and said “sign me up! this is the dish!”

I read some more about the region this dish comes from – Emilia Romagna in northern Italy and discovered this from wikipedia:

The city of Bologna is famous for its superb cuisine. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it lies at the heart of Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated both in Italy and abroad for the range and quality of its culinary delights. From the Adriatic coast of Ravenna and Forlì to the inland plains and river vallleys of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, Emila Romagna is richly blessed with prime produce and ingenious cooks.

We preordered short ribs (not flank style but the cut with one bone per rib) and picked them up early that Saturday along with all the other ingredients, then went back to my place to get everything prepped. Have you ever grated fresh horseradish? It is STRONG. And it’s fleshy and weird – it kind of creeped me out a bit.

Either way, the dish was hands down the best dish I’ve ever made. It was simple enough to do again, although somewhat time intensive as it requires a long time in the oven. Although the recipe says to braise at 375 for 2 hours, the next time I would braise at 350 for 3 hours.

The table setting had an Italian theme with reds, greens, and yellows.

Here is the menu:

First Course

Antipasto platter of assorted meats, cheeses, olives, and breads

Paired with: Tommasi Poggio al Tufo Rompicollo, Maremma Tuscana, 2004

Second Course

Tagliatelle with Mussels, Clams and Pesto

Paired with: Tamellini Soave, 2005 (excellent wine)

Third Course

Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata

Paired with: Josetta Saffirio Barolo, 2002

*A special note about the wine: there is this fellow who suggests wine at the place I love to go (Hennepin Lake Liquors in Uptown – their selection and prices are unbeatable) who, in the past, has had a very low success rate at suggesting wines for me. My strategy for Sat? Avoid him AT ALL COSTS. Well…that unfortunately didn’t happen as another worker pointed me directly to him and there was no one else in the store. F*****ck. He ended up suggesting this wine and it was excellent. Thank god. It was $40/bottle and we bought 2. Josetta Saffirio learned how to make wine from her mom and dad, who are both professors of winemaking in Italy. This is her second or third vintage and only makes 3,000 cases a year.

Fourth Course

Various Cheeses: Taleggio served with honeycomb, Pecorino ginepro served with balsamic reduction and olive oil, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Blu del Moncenisio with fig pear spread, Valsesia Toma with fig pear spread, La Tur with honeycomb

Paired with: Ruvei Barbera d’Alba, 2005

Fifth Course

Panna Cotta with fresh strawberries and blackberries

Paired with: Felsina vin Santo Chianti Classico, 1999

recipes after the jump

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I recently downloaded the Shedd Aquarium’s 2007 Seafood Wallet Guide. I’m about to print it out and I suggest you do the same. You can carry it with you when you’re grocery shopping or out for dinner.

This is a great reminder to everyone that one person can make a difference. I choose to do this by voting with my money (seeing that voting at the ballot is somewhat of a waste of time).

The Seafood Wallet Guide groups fish into 3 categories: Best Choices, Good Alternatives, and Avoid – based on two criteria:

1. The fish is high in toxins, such as mercury

and/or

2. The fish is involved in some environmentally unsafe practice, such as overfishing or harming other ecosystems

> Download the Shedd Aquarium Seafood Wallet Guide (PDF – 48KB)

Ocean’s Alive is also an excellent resource

I’ve also included the list here for you: (*= limit consumption due to concerns about murcury or other contaminant)

BEST CHOICES

Barramundi (US farmed) – see Australis Aquaculture

Catfish (US farmed)

Clams (farmed)

Crab: Dungeness

Crab: Snow (Canada)

Crab: Stone

Halibut: Pacific

Lobster: Spiny (US)

Mussels (farmed)

Oysters (farmed)

Pollock (wild-caught from Alaska)

Salmon (wild-caught from Alaska)

Sardines

Scallops: Bay (farmed)

Shrimp (trap-caught)

Striped Bass (farmed or wild caught*)

Sturgeon (farmed)

Tilapia (US farmed)

Trout: Rainbow (farmed)

Tuna: Albacore (US & BC troll/pole-caught)

Tuna: Skipjack (troll/pole-caught)

GOOD ALTERNATIVES

Clams (wild-caught)

Cod: Pacific

Crab: Blue*, King (Alaska), Snow (US)

Crab: Imitation / Surimi

Flounder: Summer / Fluke

Lobster: American / Maine

Mahi Mahi / Dolphinfish / Dorado (US)

Oysters (wild-caught*)

Scallops: Bay

Scallops: Sea (Northeast and Canada)

Shrimp (US farmed or wild-caught)

Snapper: Gray / Lane / Mutton / Yellowtail (US)

Soles: Pacific

Squid

Swordfish (US*)

Tuna: Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (troll/pole-caught*)

Tuna: canned light

Tuna: canned white / Albacore*

AVOID

Caviar (imported wild-caught)

Chilean Seabass / Toothfish*

Cod: Atlantic

Crab: King (imported)

Flounder: Atlantic

Groupers*

Halibut: Atlantic

Mahi Mahi / Dolphinfish / Dorado (imported)

Monkfish

Orange Roughy*

Rockfish: Pacific*

Salmon (farmed*, including Atlantic)

Sharks*

Shrimp (imported farmed or trawl-caught)

Snapper: Red*

Soles: Atlantic

Sturgeon (imported farmed* or wild-caught*)

Swordfish (imported*)

Tuna: Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (longline-caught*)

Tuna: Bluefin*

I once visited a place in Seattle called I <heart> Sushi (where “<heart>” = the symbol of a heart). I secretly call Sushi Tango my own personal version of I <heart> Sushi ’cause it is so good!

Sushi is like a drug. Once you taste it, you gotta have more and more and more and more. But unlike drugs, you can’t OD on sushi. Thank God for that – at least one drug that is great in excess.

Sushi Tango is my personal favorite for sushi in Minneapolis. (However, I am consistently scolded for not having been to Origami-not-in-a-mall or Midori’s.)

I have to argue that they have the best Hamachi I’ve ever had. I tried and tried and tried to unconvince myself of that when I was in California last June, but the hamachi out there didn’t come close to Sushi Tango.

The wait staff is great (ask for Amy, Hope or Moon), and the sushi chef’s are a comical crew. I love watching them on a busy weekend night.

I’d definitely recommend the Yummy Roll – it’s not on the menu, but it’s a must. It’s a spicy, tuna, avocado, chili sauce rolled inside out then rolled in tempura flakes. It’s a sensational textural experience. It’s sweet, savory, spicy, cruncy and smooth all at once. True to its name, it’s totally yummy!

The Tai (red snapper) that Tango puts together is to die for. Ask for it right when you sit down because it’s very popular and is often out. They serve it will a little grated cayenne and a sliver of lemon. Very, very good.

Also recommended options: Mutsu (super white tuna), Aji (spanish mackerel – incredibly good), Caterpillar roll, some of the best miso soup, awesome home made egg rolls that are piping hot.

Also, their oysters are phenomenal. They serve regular or spicy with ponzu sauce.

Go ahead and get yourself there. It’s worth it.

Sushi Tango

Calhoun Square, second level

Minneapolis, MN 55408

612.822.7787

After an excellent lunch at Etta’s Seafood, my friend and I decided to lunch at one of Tom Douglas’s other Seattle restaurants: Dahlia Lounge.

We succeeded in having the second best dining experience at this restaurant (the first would be Etta’s). Whatever Tom Douglas is doing, he’s doing it very well at more than one restaurant.

The lunch crowd at Dahlia Lounge was definitely more hopping and business than at Etta’s, but that was fine. Our server was very friendly although a little busy.

I had steamed mussels served with smoked tomatoes, saffron broth and lemon garlic cream sauce. OMG! This dish kicks every other mussel dish’s butt. I thought my Tour of Mussels in Minneapolis this past year proved that Minneapolis has good mussel options, but the Dahlia Lounge shot right up to first place.

This dish had outstandingly fresh flavors. They mussels were perfectly cooked – tender, almost velvety in texture with a hint of the sea. The sauce was a light yet robust smoky tomato saffron sauce – delicious. The tomatoes themselves were incredible. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes, but these were great. Smoked tomatoes will also go on my list of things I need to make.

The Dahlia Lounge serves a natural soda called Dry. I haven’t seen it anywhere but this restaurant, but it’s much better than the Izze sodas I’ve had. My friend had the lavender flavor and I had the lemongrass. Man, they were good! I’ll have to see if my local coop can start carrying it.

We shared Tom’s World Famous Creme Caramel for dessert. Oooh! Yummy! Silky and creamy, firm and not gelatin-like with a hint of vanilla bean.

Dahlia Lounge

2001 4th Ave

Seattle, WA 98121

206.682.4142