Dinner Diary: 7/18/11 -- Making The Most of Your Oven

• Roasted Coho Salmon in Irish Butter & Shallots
• Cucumber, Garlic, Yogurt Sauce
• Baked Sweet Potato
• Roasted Cauliflower with Whole Garlic Cloves
• Arugula & Mushroom Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Perhaps making the most of your oven in the middle of a heat wave is foolish. I was thinking more about mess and cleaning up last night. Almost everything was thrown in the oven for simplicity's sake.

I usually roast salmon, but I never bother adding shallots. It's actually a pretty good idea. Heat a baking dish (pyrex or ceramic) containing about 3 tablespoons butter in the oven. When melted and foamy, toss in a couple tablespoons chopped shallot (some fresh herbs would also be nice) and add a salmon fillet or two, seasoned with salt and pepper. Spoon the melted butter over and if needed add a few slivers more butter on top. Squeeze lemon juice over the fish. Roast until medium rare. I had the oven up to 475 degrees. The fillet was one pound. I cooked it for about 10 minutes. Should have pulled it out 2 minutes earlier. Still delicious.

Roasted cauliflower! Do this. High heat. Olive oil, whole garlic cloves, and salt and pepper. A squeeze of lemon to finish. Cook until tender and dark brown here and there.

One last thought. Garlic, lemon, salt and yogurt (especially whole milk Greek) make a great sauce for lots of things. I added chopped cucumber last night, and I've also added ginger and cucumber to really jazz things up. You could certainly add additional spices or vegetables, like curry or tomato and red peppers for a different take.

Bagna Cauda

When we had dinner a couple of months ago at Mozza for their Tuscan beef night, one of the standouts of the evening had nothing whatsoever to do with cow. The bagna cauda that kicked off the evening was spectacular. It has been haunting me ever since.

Bagna cauda basically translates from the Italian to hot bath in English. From Piedmont, Italy, it is a pungent hot dipping sauce composed of olive oil, butter, garlic, and anchovy. From there it is open to interpretation. I added lemon zest and lemon juice and I'm glad that I did. Raw vegetables are dunked into the bath and furiously gobbled up.

There are plenty of dishes where anchovies are used to great advantage and the recipe will tell you that your guests will never even guess that anchovies are in the dish. This is not one of those. It is all about the anchovies and garlic. And holy smoke, married together in melted butter and olive oil, they make an addictive pair.

I tried to finagle the recipe for Mozza's version out of Chef Chad Colby to no avail, but in the end it really isn't complicated. It requires a bit of mashing and melting. That's all. The lemon zest and juice that I added, gave the dish just a hint of zing and brightness.

You can use almost any kind of vegetable. Celery and cardoons are classic. I went with baby fennel, chiogga beets, celery, baby carrots, cauliflower and radishes. Vegetables never tasted so good!

The bagna cauda was the start of a crazy Cioppino dinner party that we had last weekend. The raw oysters and the Cioppino were divine, but the bagna cauda was hands down my favorite part of the meal.

Bagna Cauda

3 cloves, peeled and chopped

10 imported anchovy fillets, chopped

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Kosher salt to taste

Using a mortar and pestle mash the garlic and anchovies to a paste.

Place the butter and olive oil in a smallish saucepan. Add the paste and bring to a simmer over low heat. Simmer for five minutes or so. Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Season with salt, if needed.

Serve with raw vegetables.

Serves 6 (This was actually plenty for 8 of us, with some left over, but really it depends on the kind of people you hang out with.)

Sautéed Fennel with Garlic

This week I am cooking Greek food.

My sister gave me Vefa Alexadiou's massive Greek tome, Vefa's Kitchen, for Christmas. It was at the top of my list(along with India, The Cookbook) of most-desired cookbooks this season. Both are beautifully published by Phaidon. So far, I'm delighted.

I've got a number of Alexadiou's dishes that I am anxious to share, but I thought I'd start with the simplest. Her sautéed fennel with garlic(Sarah, check this one out!) is a whole lot more than its name suggests.

The fennel is sautéed with whole cloves of garlic for fifteen minutes and then you add either water or tomato juice and simmer for another fifteen minutes. I used water, because the other dish I was serving already featured tomato juice, but I'm looking forward to trying it the other way, soon. You add a healthy dose of lemon juice at the end and that's it.

The fennel is soft, sweet, and tender, and the liquids reduce to produce a glaze-like sauce that is tangy and delicious. My sister felt that there could have been even more lemon, so you'll want to play around with it, to see what suits you.

I didn't have eight small fennel bulbs, so I cut two large bulbs into eighths. This worked just fine. I also didn't have the fronds left on the bulbs, so I did without. I didn't find the dish lacking at all.

If made properly, the dish might be even more terrific, but I was thoroughly pleased.

Sautéed Fennel with Garlic

5 tablespoons olive oil

8 small fennel bulbs, halved

6 garlic cloves, peeled (feel free to add more!)

1/2 cup water or tomato juice

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons finely chopped fennel fronds

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet. Add the fennel and garlic, and cook, frequently turning, for approximately 15 minutes, until golden brown. Pour in the water or tomato juice. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. The fennel should be tender when pierced with a knife or fork and the sauce will have reduced.

Stir in the fennel fronds and lemon juice, gently shaking the pan. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Shaved Fennel, Radish and Parmigiano Reggiano

I love this salad. It's crunchy and refreshing -- a little bit garlicky and a little bit salty.

I've been making it ever since Kelly and Mark of Kelly's French Pastry in Santa Cruz taught me about it in 1994.

This fennel salad is very simple to make and is almost always what I'm looking for when I want something acidic and bright to even out a meal. This might be the relief you need amidst all the upcoming stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, and creamed spinach.

Just suggesting.

You'll need fennel, radish, parmigiano reggiano, lemon, olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper. That's it. The dressing is my go to for many of the salads that I throw together at home. I'll add a little mustard, or anchovy or champagne vinegar depending on the salad and my mood.

If you have a mandoline or a Benriner, great. If not, a sharp knife will do. The radishes and fennel ideally should be very thinly sliced. On lazy days at my house, the slices get a bit thicker. Definitely not the end of the world!

The measurements in the recipe are rough guidelines. Even with the dressing -- just taste, taste, taste. You'll know if it is citrusy enough for you.

Shaved Fennel, Radish & Parmigiano Reggiano

1 large bulb fennel

6 radishes - french butter, red, or easter egg

A hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano for shaving

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Carefully using a mandoline or Benriner, thinly slice the fennel and radishes into a medium-sized bowl. Using a regular peeler (not the y-shaped variety), shave curls (maybe twenty or so) of the Parmigiano Reggiano into the bowl.

Smash the garlic cloves and place them into a small bowl, discarding the skin. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Let sit for about ten minutes. Whisk in the olive oil, and taste for seasoning and acidity. Does it taste good to you?

Toss enough of the dressing with the salad to lightly coat. Taste, and season with additional salt and pepper. Serve. Save any remaining dressing for arugula tomorrow.

Serves 2-4

Linguine with Cauliflower, Lacinato Kale, Hazelnuts, and Raisins

Last week for Meat-Free Monday, I threw together a tasty pasta dish that was chock full of vegetables. It was much more appropriate than what we're having tonight -- leftover rack of lamb.

I'm doing my best!

I had been in the mood for something with cauliflower and mint, but I needed to somehow turn it into an entrée. I picked up a beautiful bunch of lacinato kale -- a.k.a. black kale, dinosaur kale, and cavalo nero -- at Cookbook, along with a head of garlic and a red onion. There was mint in the garden, hazelnuts and raisins in the pantry, and cauliflower in the refrigerator.

I was set.

There's not much to what I did, but the flavors mixed rather well. I'm a fan of toasted nuts with pasta. The contrast of the crunch of the nuts and the slipperiness of olive oil slicked noodles is satisfying.

Nuts and raisins are naturals with cauliflower and with kale, so I figured that marrying them all together would most likely work out well for the whole family. The garlic, red onion, and mint tied it all together. And to my mind, these ingredients would all feel a little bit naked without a healthy dose of crushed red pepper flakes.

I'll admit to you that my vegetarian cooking lacks some imagination. I never know how to put together a complete meal. I know how to make terrific vegetable sides and I can throw together a mean vegetarian pasta, but I need some help working out anything beyond this.

What do you folks do?

While I work on it, here's a recipe for my last-minute, thrown-together Linguine with Cauliflower, Lacinato Kale, Hazelnuts, and Raisins. Toasted bread crumbs would also be great in here, as would a few anchovies. The exact measurements are not important at all. A little more here, a little less there -- you'll still end up with a hearty and healthy meal.

Linguine with Cauliflower, Lacinato Kale, Hazelnuts, and Raisins

1/2 a head of cauliflower, cut or broken into smallish florets

1/2 a bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and chopped into wide ribbons

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

4 or so cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup plumped raisins

Extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts

1/2 bunch chopped mint

1/2 pound linguine

Red pepper flakes

Lemon for squeezing over and/or a drizzle or two of white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmigiano-Reggiano for passing at the table

Put a big pot of water up to boil.

When the water is boiling, salt it generously and put the linguine in the pot to cook.

Heat about 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower and sauté. When the cauliflower starts to soften, add the sliced red onion and a pinch or two or three of the red pepper flakes. Sauté until the vegetables start to color a bit and are becoming tender. The cauliflower should retain a bite. Add the kale and the garlic and stir to encourage the kale to wilt. You may add a splash or two of the pasta cooking water to help with the process. Add the raisins and hazelnuts and stir to incorporate. Take about a quarter of a lemon and give it a good squeeze over the vegetables. Perhaps you'd like a drizzle of white wine vinegar as well. A hit or two of acid almost always helps! Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When the pasta is done to your taste, drain it and add it to the skillet of vegetables. Add enough extra-virgin olive oil to coat the pasta well. Shower with the chopped mint. Toss together and serve in soup plates with Parmigiano-Reggiano to grate over, if desired.

Serves 3 or 4, depending on hunger etc.

Wilted Escarole with Anchovy & Garlic

Writing my last post made me realize that I hadn't yet shared one of my all time favorite Batali recipes with you -- Wilted Greens with Garlic and Anchovies.

I'm giving credit to Mario Batali because it is with great thanks to him and his book, Molto Italiano, that I make this escarole preparation so often. But in the end, I have a feeling that much of Italy makes this dish in their sleep.

There's not much to this recipe. Rather, it is a smart way to prepare greens that should be kept in the back of your head as a tool. Instead of a long, slow cook, this is a fast, hot preparation that leaves the greens with more crunch or chew.

Any hardy greens, like dandelion and turnip, work well, but my preference is for escarole. That pale yellow-green chicory is a favorite of mine -- cooked or in salad. Escarole has a nice note of bitterness, but is milder than most of its cousins, like endive.

I am pretty much crazy for anchovies. They mysteriously make everything taste better, adding body and saltiness. Nine out of ten times you won't even notice any fishy taste, just a bigger flavor. Worcestershire sauce is a perfect example of this.

In this recipe, the anchovies and garlic are sautéed in hot olive oil until the anchovies melt and the garlic turns a light golden brown. The recipe asks for thinly sliced garlic and whole anchovy fillets. On this particular evening, my mind was elsewhere and I chopped the garlic, and strangely I was out of anchovies and only had anchovy paste in the pantry to fall back on.

These are perfectly acceptable substitutions in a pinch, however it is more fun to bump into the sliced garlic when you are eating, and there is no question that using anchovy fillets provides an overall better flavor.

When I'm alone, I eat this dish for dinner all by itself. But that's just me... These greens taste so great with steak, but are perfectly at home served with roasted fish or chicken. To my mind, this is a very versatile dish and rather worthy of my frequent cravings.

Wilted Greens with Garlic and Anchovies

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 anchovy fillets, rinsed

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 head escarole or 1 head or bunch other sturdy leafy green, such as dandelion or turnip greens, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide ribbons, washed, and spun dry

Salt and pepper

1/2 lemon

Heat a 12-inch sauté pan over medium high heat until hot. Add the olive oil, anchovies, and garlic and cook just until the garlic is light golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add the greens and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, squeeze the lemon juice over, and serve.

Serves 4

Summer Tomato and Garlic Pasta

If you think about it, tomato and garlic pasta should be a snap. There are very few ingredients and you essentially just throw them all together and -- presto -- dinner.

This is easy cooking.

But I am going to come straight out with the truth -- I have screwed up this dish more times than I care to mention.

I know how to cook! What am I doing?

Perhaps it is a fear of using too much olive oil that trips me up.

You do not want to hold back. The noodles, preferably long skinny ones like cappellini, should be well slicked with oil and juices. You're looking for optimal slipperiness.

I got tired of expecting a gorgeous dinner and ending up with so-so spaghetti. So now I always do a quick review of Alice Water's recipe in Chez Panisse Vegetables, before I start.

If you have perfectly ripe tomatoes (And you should now, because it is peak season!) and a delicious fruity olive oil, her recipe guarantees success.

Thanks to Eric, my former boyfriend, brilliant restauranteur and fantastic cook, I have been using olive oil from -- wait for it -- Costco. The Kirkland brand no less. This extra virgin olive oil is a fruity and full bodied oil made from olives grown on the hills of Tuscany.

Look for a bottle that says "Toscano" and that states the specific harvest the olives are from. Right now the November/December 2009 oil is on offer.

The olive oil is inexpensive enough to cook with, at about $12 a bottle, and delicious enough to use for salads and to finish dishes. We go through the stuff like it's going out of style.

There are plenty of other pricier and fancier oils out there, but right now we are very content with the Kirkland liquid gold.

When making tomato and garlic pasta, be sure to have your mise en place ready to go next to stove. This is quick work and there is no time for fooling around. One minute of hesitation, and you'll end up with burnt garlic and be forced to start all over again.

While the pasta water is coming to a boil, the ingredients should be chopped. While the pasta is cooking, the sauce should be made. If you are efficient in the kitchen and cooking very thin pasta, dinner can be ready in just 15 minutes.

Tomato and garlic pasta is the quintessential dish of summer. It is the purest appreciation of what the farmer's market or your garden has to offer. Pick a few tomatoes, pluck a handful of basil, chop a few plump cloves of garlic and you are moments away from a divine dinner.

Alice Water's Summer Tomato & Garlic Pasta

3 ripe tomatoes (or more if they're little guys)

3 cloves garlic

1 small bunch parsley or basil (I used both this time and was very pleased with the results.)

1/2 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil

3/4 pound pasta (Cappellini is my favorite for this application.)

Salt and pepper

Put a big pot of water on to boil.

Cut out the stems from and then dice the tomatoes. Chop the garlic. Chop the herbs. Have everything ready to go next to the stove.

Cook the pasta in the salted boiling water.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, until hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and stir. Immediately add the tomatoes, so the garlic does not brown at all. Stir and then add the chopped herbs. Cook for a few minutes, until the tomatoes are warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss with the cooked and drained pasta.

Serves 4

Paula Wolfert's Sizzling Shrimp with Garlic & Hot Pepper

Lately, I am so-so on shrimp. When I was a kid, shrimp were a bigga deal. Now, more often than not, shrimp just don't turn me on.

It makes for a complicated relationship with the crustacean.

Because they are such a snap to prepare, I always keep a bag in the freezer. They're very handy on those evenings when you're desperate because there is nothing in the refrigerator to cook and there is no way that marketing is an option.

Maybe I was simply fed up with the the garlic, white wine, and parsley tossed over pasta or pilaf preparation. Perhaps all I needed was a shrimp recipe that would breath new life into our partnership.

I have found a recipe that has begun to bring the romance back.

In one of the October 2009 Los Angeles Times' Food Sections that my mother saved for me, I stumbled over a Paula Wolfert recipe for Sizzling Shrimp with Garlic and Hot Pepper. It's adapted from her book, Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking.

That this recipe could be realized in just twenty minutes was a shocker. Wolfert is the queen of Mediterranean cooking, and her recipes are brilliant, but are almost always highly involved, time consuming beasts. No surprise here -- she is a major proponent of the Slowfood movement.

I've made her Sizzling Shrimp many times. You should too! It is delicious and lots of fun to eat.

Please don't panic about all of the olive oil.

You do not have to eat it all! I always have a pool left in the bottom of the pan. Though, you will probably be tempted to dunk just one more piece of bread into the smoky, spicy, garlicky bath.

If you have a Spanish cazuela, now is the time to put it to use. I turn to the bottom half of my Flameware tagine. Of course, you could use a cast iron skillet, if that's what you've got.

The garlic and Aleppo pepper is slowly warmed in the olive oil, until it begins to sizzle and the garlic is just turning golden. The kitchen smells fantastic and you begin to toss a salad. The shrimp cook for four minutes -- at most.

The table should be set with a trivet, because you'll proudly carry the dish to the table for all (could be 4 to 6 friends sharing an appetizer or more likely, just A. and me sitting down to dinner) to tear into.

Eating shrimp with your soon-to-be oily fingers and mopping up the sauce with crusty French bread is definitely a satisfying way to reignite the flames of passion -- for shrimp!

Sizzling Shrimp with Garlic and Hot Pepper

1 pound peeled small (about 60) or medium-large (24 to 30) deveined shrimp

1 scant cup extra-virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

1 teaspoon mildly hot dried red pepper such as Aleppo or Marash

2 tablespoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon sweet pimenton de la Vera (smoked Spanish paprika)

4 to 6 slices chewy country bread

Rinse the shrimp and wipe dry with paper towels. Leave them at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes so they are not cold when they hit the pan.

Combine the olive oil, garlic and hot pepper in the cazuela. Set it over medium-low heat and warm the pan slowly, gradually raising the heat to medium or medium-high until the oil is hot. Continue to cook until the garlic sizzles and just turns golden, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Immediately add all the shrimp and cook until they are firm and curled, 2 to 4 minutes, depending on their size.

Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons hot water and pinches of sea salt and pimenton. Serve immediately from the pot with the bread for soaking up the delicious oily sauce.