Tag Archives: food

Broiled Salmon Udon – It’s all about the Noodle Bowls

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For lunch or dinner, on a cold winter’s day nothing beats a bowl of agreeably slippery udon noodles served in piping hot miso soup. The trick is finding the right bowl.

Ramen, soba, udon – we are big fans of Asian noodles. In Mongolia our apartment came ready with two perfectly-sized bowls for serving up this kind of fare. Back in America, finding the right bowls proved to be much more of a challenge than we anticipated. The average soup/cereal/pasta bowl isn’t big enough, and the average serving bowl is too big.

With a bit of persistence we found just what we were looking for. Mrs. Lin’s Kitchen carries beautiful karakusa swirl noodle bowls in classic white and classic black. These bowls are made in Japan and reminiscent of higher-end noodle shops there. Karakusa is a traditional arabesque design of repeating swirls popular in Japanese ceramics. The bowls are simultaneously elegant and sturdy. Best of all they’re large enough to fill up with a true noodle soup meal.

And the people at Mrs. Lin’s know how to pack fragile items. Here in Chignik Lake, our post office is just a two-minute walk from our house – but it can be a treacherous walk, especially on days such as yesterday when the road and footpaths were covered in hard ice. On the return trip, my feet went up and I came down – hard – as did the box containing our brand new noodle bowls. I was fine, but I dreaded what I might find when I opened the box. We needn’t have worried. In fact, we don’t think we’ve ever seen anything packed quite so well.

Roasted Moose? Put it in a Pie and serve it with a Nut Brown Ale

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Tender roasted moose, caramelized onions, potatoes, parsnips and mushrooms pulled together with moose gravy, topped with a flaky, golden-brown crust and served with our home-brewed Nut-Brown Ale. That’s how we do it in Alaska.

This has been a good year for moose hunting in Chignik Lake, and while I’m not sure we’d know what to do with a twelve-hundred pound bull, anytime a friend offers up a few pounds, we’re in. This moose pie is a long-standing favorite recipe, easily adapted for other wild game or beef. Start with a pound of tender roast, toss in your favorite vegetables, add time-tested seasonings and a little gravy, top with a savory pie crust and bake at 375° F for about 25 minutes. Serves four Alaska-sized appetites.

Rustic Moose Pot Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups beef broth or moose broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 2/3 cups potatoes, cut into 1/2″ cubes, skin on
  • olive oil
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 pound roasted moose meat, cut into 1/2″ cubes
  • 1/2 cup sweet corn
  • 1/2 Brussels sprouts, quartered
  • 1/2 cup carrots, sliced into discs or chopped coarse
  • 1/2 cup parsnips, sliced 1/4 inch think x 1/2 inch
  • 1/2 onion, cut into slices and caramelized
  • 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped coarse
  • 1/2 rounded teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • several generous grinds freshly cracked black pepper
  • salt, to taste

Directions

  1. Place a baking sheet on the center rack of oven and preheat to 375 °F (190° C).
  2. Place broth in a pot, add bay leaf. Taste to determine if salt needed.
  3. Add potatoes. Simmer potatoes till just tender, but do not overcook. Save broth and remove potatoes to a large bowl.
  4. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, add olive oil to cover bottom and bring to sizzling hot over medium/medium-high heat. Brown the mushrooms, remove and set aside. Add onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook till caramelized. Remove onions and set aside.
  5. Add additional olive oil to frying pan as necessary and continue heating over medium heat. Add Brussels sprouts, parsnips and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Cook till Brussels sprouts are browned and all vegetables are just tender, stirring occasionally. Remove vegetables from pan and add to bowl with potatoes.
  6. Over medium-low heat, place approximately 4 tablespoons olive oil into a small frying pan. When oil is heated but not sizzling hot, briskly stir in flour a little at a time. Continue stirring until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
  7. Heating beef broth over medium heat, stir in oil and flour mixture. Combine thoroughly. Simmer till reduced to a thick gravy.
  8. To the bowl that already has the potatoes and vegetables, add the moose meat, mushrooms, gravy and the remaining seasonings and mix together. (There are a number of ways to make a thick gravy. Try using a dark ale to deglaze the pan you used for roasting the moose.)
  9. Pour meat and vegetable mixture directly into a deep pie dish. Cover with a crust. Be sure to make holes in the crust to allow steam to escape. Brushing on a beaten egg will help create a golden brown crust.
  10. Place on baking sheet and bake at 375 °F for 25 – 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Although a full-bodied red wine such as an old vine Zinfandel, Malbec or Cabernet is a classic choice with this dish, a full-bodied ale pairs equally well.

Fine Dining for Two: Broiled Char or Trout

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A hint of thyme compliments the delicate flavor of wild char, one or our favorite fish. No wild fish available? Look for Arctic Char at the fish market. They get high marks for being responsibly farmed and are delicious.

There’s something about wild char and trout that calls to simplicity. Among all species of fish, they are among the most demanding of unspoiled environments. Where streams, rivers and lakes are clean and lightly trammeled, these species often thrive, both their numbers and the setting they inhabit evoking bygone times. It is in such settings that light harvest of a few fish is sustainable.

When presented with such fish in the kitchen, the most basic ingredients are all that is wanted. Salt and butter, perhaps a little pepper or a pinch or two of an aromatic herb. A little lemon can be nice, too. Root vegetables such as potatoes, parsnips or rutabaga roasted or pan fried in olive oil and soy sauce make the perfect accompaniment on the serving platter.

Broiled Char or Trout for Two

Ingredients

    • 1 char or trout of about 16 to 18 inches (40 – 45 cm) (between 1 and two pounds, dressed)
    • fine sea salt (we use Grey Sea Salt in all of our salmon and trout recipes)
    • two light pinches of dry thyme (or about double that if you have fresh)
    • 1 lemon cut into thin slices, peel cut away
    • butter, sliced into thin pats
    • olive oil or canola oil
    • broiling pan. We use a Swiss Diamond cast iron griddle for this kind of broiling.

Directions

    1. Place a broiling pan near the top shelf in the oven and preheat on broil. You want the pan to be very hot when the fish is placed on it. This prevents the fish from sticking. Do not oil the pan yet.
    2. Rinse the fish in cold water and dry with paper towels. Make sure the gills and viscera have been removed.
    3. On a cutting board or platter, position the fish with its it’s open belly toward you.
    4. Using a very sharp knife, cut shallow, oblique slashes spaced about an inch apart (2.5 cm) down both sides of the fish. You want to break the skin without cutting all the way through to the body cavity.
    5. Rub fish inside and out with fresh lemon juice.
    6. Salt the fish inside and out. Sprinkle a little thyme inside the cavity on the sides.
    7. Place a few thin slices of butter inside the cavity and on top of the fish’s side.
    8. Place pieces of lemon on top of the fish’s side.
    9. Spread olive oil on broiling pan. A basting brush works well for this. Return pan to oven for about a minute to ensure that oil is very hot.
    10. Place fish on broiling pan or griddle. The fish should really sizzle when it hits the pan. Once the fish is on the pan, do not move it. (Moving a fish just after it hits a pan can cause it to stick to the pan.) Return to the oven and broil for 5 minutes.
    11. Remove pan from oven and gently flip the fish. Do this by rolling the fish on its back using spatulas. This will prevent the cavity from draining. Place additional pieces of butter and fresh slices of lemon on the up side of the fish and return to the oven. Broil for 3 or 4 more minutes.
    12. The fish is done when the slashes have opened, the skin is golden brown, the tail is crisp and the eyes are opaque.
    13. Serve with roasted root vegetables on warmed plates. Compliment with a light Chardonnay or a crisp ale.

Smokey, Spicy Mix: In Hearty Soups, as a Rub for Poultry and Pork, and on Salmon, our Go-To Seasoning

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Jack’s Mix: Nine herbs, spices and seasonings create a blend that adds deep flavor and an agreeable spike of heat to pumpkin soup, chicken breasts, pork, broiled salmon fillets, moose meat pizza and more. 

Every kitchen should have a few items like this in stock – a house dressing, a specialty dipping sauce, or a proprietary spice or herb blend. This is “the secret:” the bottle that invariably gets emptied first, the jar that has to be replenished again and again while other similar items languish with their contents intact.

In the case of Jack’s Mix, sure, there are a wide variety of commercial rubs available, and most of them are quite tasty. But we wanted something a little smokier in flavor and with a certain zip that would best compliment our style of cooking. And since we prefer to add salt as a separate item in cooking, we wanted a salt-free blend. So we came up with our own blend from a handful of ingredients we always have on hand.

Our message in this post is to encourage you to give it a try. Pick something you use frequently – salsa, an Italian herb blend, barbecue sauce, salad dressing or a spicy rub and instead of continuing to purchase Brand X at the store, start experimenting with your own creation. It’s fun, you’ll likely learn something valuable about the way flavors work together, and when a guest exclaims, “This _____ is fantastic! What kind is it?” You can smile and casually reply, “It’s mine, just a little something I threw together.”

 

 

Adzuki Maple Bars with Matcha Maple Frosting

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Mmmmm – matcha green tea and sweet adzuki bean paste – a flavor combination we love add a Japanese twist to an American classic. Just the thing with piping hot green tea after a cold morning of birding.

Matcha green tea powder and adzuki beans may not be in everyone’s pantry, but they are always in ours. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that this flavor combination makes a regular appearance in our kitchen. When a friend gave me a recipe for maple bars, I couldn’t help imagining them stuffed with sweet adzuki bean paste (directions to make the paste here), and changing up the frosting recipe to include the zip of spiced matcha tea along with maple syrup. I think the original maple bar recipe somehow reminded me of cinnamon rolls. I’d made a version of cinnamon rolls where the adzuki bean paste was spiraled into a dough which in turn was infused with matcha tea powder. That was delicious! So why not tinker around with this maple bars?

Today’s recipe initially started out with my friend’s successful recipe. Her dough recipe is deliciously flavored with cinnamon. After baking, I sliced the rolls in half and spread them generously with adzuki bean paste. I did change up her maple icing and made more of a donut glaze that I then flavored with matcha green tea powder and real maple syrup. (Thank you JW for sending us some real Pennsylvania maple syrup!)

Matcha powder is used to make high quality green tea. I enjoy baking with this flavorful ingredient – adding it to breads, cookies, cakes, and even custard dishes. If you are not convinced that I really do enjoy this ingredient, just search “matcha” in the search bar on our blog and look at all the lovely recipes. 😉 I’m happy to report that both adzuki beans and matcha green tea powder are easy to procure – even in remote places like Chignik Lake, Alaska – thanks to the Internet.

Adzuki Maple Bars with Matcha Maple Frosting

Ingredients

Maple Bars

  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter
  • 4 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 4 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups sweet adzuki bean paste

Frosting

  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup real maple syrup
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp matcha green tea powder

Directions

  1. Combine milk, butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan.
  2. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat.
  3. Let milk mixture cool slightly. Mixture should cool to about 110 8° F, or cooler.
  4. Pour milk mixture into a large mixing bowl. Stir in yeast.
  5. Stir beaten eggs into mixture.
  6. Stir in flour, one cup at a time.
  7. The last 3/4 cup of flour will need to be kneaded in.
  8. Once flour is well incorporated and dough can remain in the shape of a ball, let rise in the mixing bowl for an hour covered with plastic in a warm place with no draft.
  9. Punch down dough and roll out to about a 1″ thickness.
  10. Cut dough into 16 rectangular pieces. Place bars on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30 minutes.
  11. Heat oven to 425° F. Remove plastic covering and bake bars for 8 – 10 minutes. Finished bars should be lightly browned.
  12. Let bars cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before icing.
  13. Make icing by mixing together icing ingredients and stirring until smooth.
  14. Cut bread bars in half, like a sandwich.
  15. Spread adzuki bean paste on lower half of bar.
  16. Take top half and dip it into matcha maple frosting.
  17. Place dipped top part of bread onto bottom which has been prepared with adzuki paste.
  18. Serve immediately or  serve later the same day. Just make sure to cover them with plastic so they don’t dry out.

Uni & Ikura Amuse Bouche (Sea Urchin & Salmon Roe)

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Fresh from the sea, uni and ikura create a salty, savory combination.

Much as is true of most Japanese people, most Alutiiqs love virtually anything harvested from the sea. From octopus to chitons (locally known as bidarki), if it’s fresh from the ocean it’s likely to find its way onto the menu here in Chignik Lake. Sea urchins are highly prized.

And there’s really nothing to preparing them. Insert a small knife into the opening on the bottom of the shell, cut the shell open, and remove the bright yellow lobes, which are the urchins’ reproductive organs.  (They are not roe.) Most people are careful to remove the dark colored matter inside the shell, but the urchins we had were small and including this substance added, we thought, both a subtle additional flavor and contrasting color. In Alaska, we almost always have a jar or cured salmon roe on hand. This bright, salty, translucent salmon caviar is a perfect finishing touch on many dishes. For a popular recipe for making your own ikura, click here.

Oh, Daddy! Umami! Clam Fettuccine and Sea Urchin Amuse-Bouches

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Fresh sea urchin appetizers, clams still wet with Chignik Bay brine, freshly made fettuccine, and  home-brewed Bavarian Weissbier – Ringing in 2017 Off the Beaten Path. Oh, Daddy! Umami! (Recipe below)

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When a friend showed up at our door on New Year’s Eve with a big bowl of fresh-from-the-sea clams and sea urchins, we immediately began planning out a celebratory dinner to greet 2017. While Barbra whipped up two servings of fettuccine, I set to work cleaning and preparing the seafood. A carafe of hot sake might have been perfect, but Barbra’s medium-bodied, slightly citrusy, Weissbier proved to be an excellent compliment to a shellfish feast that couldn’t have been any fresher.

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Umami Power: Sea urchin topped with salmon roe. Note to self: Stock a few bottles of sake for these occasions!

Clam Fettuccine for Two: This is a simple yet elegant dish. The standard butter and garlic mixture really comes to life with the addition of tarragon and a dash or two of grey sea salt.

Ingredients

  • Fettuccine
  • Cherrystone Clams, Butter Clams, Cockles or Ark Clams, rinsed to remove any debris. Clams should be closed tight. If a clam isn’t closed, give it a few vigorous taps. If it still doesn’t close, discard it, as it’s dead and may be unfit to eat.
  • Butter, preferably unsalted
  • Olive Oil
  • 4 large cloves of Garlic, chopped fine
  • 1/2 tsp dried Tarragon crumbled fine (or 1 tsp fresh chopped)
  • 1/4 tsp Coarse Grey Sea Salt
  • Nori (dried laver) cut into thin strips for garnish

Directions

  • Prepare the fettuccine as you normally would. Drain and then return to the pan with a little olive oil and toss together. This will prevent the noodles from sticking together.
  • In a small pan, heat about 6 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat. Once butter has melted, place on very low heat to keep warm. Just before serving, return to medium heat, add the garlic, tarragon and sea salt and briefly cook while stirring. In about 30 seconds, you’ll begin to smell the aromas of the garlic and tarragon. Provided you have chopped the garlic fine, that’s all the cooking it needs.
  • Meanwhile, place clams in a metal strainer – one that will fit into a larger pot. Add an inch or so of water to the pot and place clams in strainer inside pot. The clams should be above the water so that they steam rather than boil. (Hint: If you place the clams inside a heat-proof bowl inside the strainer, you can save the juice from them as they steam open. The juice can be used in soups, sauces or in Bloody Mary Cocktails.) Cover clams with a lid and bring water to a boil. When clams are cooked, the shells will pop open. This generally takes about five minutes.
  • Meanwhile, place clams in a metal strainer – one that will fit into a larger pot. Add an inch or so of water to the pot and place clams in strainer inside pot. The clams should be above the water so that they steam rather than boil. (Hint: If you place the clams inside a heat-proof bowl inside the strainer, you can save the juice from them as they steam open. The juice can be used in soups, sauces or in Bloody Mary Cocktails.) Cover clams with a lid and bring water to a boil. When clams are cooked, the shells will pop open. This generally takes about five minutes.
  • Use a small knife to cut the clam’s abductor muscles away from the shell so that they can be easily eaten, but leave the clam meat inside the shell for a more attractive presentation.
  • Place the fettuccine on serving plates. (It helps to keep plates warm in the oven.) Arrange the clams on the plate. Pour the butter sauce on the clams and pasta. Add nori. Serve with slightly chilled Chardonnay or warm sake.

Linzertorte with Raspberry Freezer Jam – A Bright Idea!

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Lovely rich texture of ground almonds brightened by fresh, tart raspberry jam. Yes, sir, I’ll have another!

Linzertorte is not a new creation. I read that the first published recipes for this lovely dessert appeared in the early 1700’s. Sidestepping a culinary history lesson, I can happily report that you we love this torte. What makes ours a bit different is freezer jam – which is a magical concoction made from a mix of fresh berries, pectin and sugar without using heat. The result is a fresh, bright flavor, featuring the sweet, tart Pow of right-off-the-bushes raspberry taste. Click here to read more about freezer jam.

Freezer Jam Linzertorte

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup whole almonds
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 1/2 cups raspberry freezer jam

Directions

  1. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a food processor, process almonds with confectioner’s sugar. Almonds should be finely ground.
  3. Pour butter into almond mixture and mix well.
  4. Add in egg yolks. Mix well.
  5. Add flour mixture to almond mixture and mix well.
  6. Separate about 1/3 of the dough. Flatten it into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
  7. Take remaining dough and press it into a greased, fluted tart pan. I used a springform pan and that worked well, too.
  8. Spread dough with jam. Place this part of torte into refrigerator.
  9. Take chilled dough and roll out into a circle about 1/4 inch thick.
  10. Using a fluted roller, cut the rolled dough into 6 strips.
  11. Criss-cross strips on top of torte.
  12. Press edges together to seal.
  13. Place torte in refrigerator while preheating oven.
  14. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
  15. Bake torte until crust is browned and jam is bubbling, about 45 minutes.
  16. Let cool on wire rack until torte is just warm. Remove torte from pan and move it to a serving plate.
  17. Dust top of Linzertorte with confectioners’ sugar to serve.

Home Brewed Amber and our Razor Clam Fritter Recipe: Dinner in the Alaska Bush

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A wonderful marriage – home brewed dark amber beer by brewmeister Barbra and razor clam fritters by chef Jack. See the fritter recipe below.

Jack has been making razor clam fritters for years. He has culinary ties to the delicious shellfish from his life on the Oregon Coast. When we first visited Alaska, we dug the biggest razor clams either one of us had ever seen and promptly turned them into soups, pasta sauces, sashimi and fried dishes. These delicious beauties are something we try to stock in our pantry every year… we dig them ourselves or pick them up at our Anchorage Costco. The following recipe is tried and true. It’s been with us for years. We may change the seasoning up a bit, otherwise, we stick to the original, which has proved hard to improve upon.

To accompany our delicious fritters, we opted for our amber home-brew. It was only a matter of time before my yeastly attentions turned from bread to brew. Now that we live in a “damp” community, we are free to experiment with adult libations. Thanks to a company called Mr. Beer, I’ve been able to experiment with beer-making with great success. In addition to the amber beer (pictured above), we also are enjoying a slightly more complicated kit which yielded a robust, slightly-citrusy hefeweizen. We currently have a nut brown ale and a Mexican style lager fermenting. The beer we’re turning out would stand up nicely against any of the favorites we typically order in restaurants or buy at the package store. Brewing beer seems a natural addition to our kitchen. It certainly has been a tasty and satisfying compliment to our cuisine!

Clam Fritters: serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chopped clams
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp chopped tarragon (or substitute dry tarragon or marjoram)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup clam juice
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
  • couple dashes cayenne pepper (to taste)
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • oil for frying

Directions

  1. Chop clams on a cutting board. Not too fine. Place them in a mixing bowl.
  2. Add the egg, lemon juice, tarragon, cayenne, black pepper, baking soda and flour and lightly stir together.
  3. Blend the clam juice and milk. Add gradually to the clam mixture along with the butter, continuing to stir. Do not make the batter too runny and do not over-stir.
  4. Heat about 1/8 inch of oil in a frying pan.
  5. Drop batter in the hot oil – about 2 tablespoons per fritter. (They’ll cook better if they’re fairly small.)
  6. Turn when the bottom is browned, as you would for pancakes.
  7. Finish cooking till golden-brown. Serve with a side of slaw and a favorite ale or lager.

Improved Gingerbread Cookies – Hold the Molasses

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The look and smell of December – warm, spicy gingerbread cookies straight from the oven, or let them cool and frost them for a more traditional treat.

‘Tis the season for hot toddies and gingerbread cookies. Out in the Alaskan bush, we have to plan ahead for any special ingredients. Ginger, yes. Cloves, yes. Molasses? When stocking up our pantry, I was on the fence when it came to molasses. I really don’t like molasses. It’s not a flavor I would normally add to any of my creations. But it is very traditional in a couple of bread and cookie recipes. In Point Hope, we kept it as a pantry item and only used it once over three years. So, I opted against stocking it again here at “the Lake.”

Here it is December, and I have a hankering for gingerbread cookies, but I have no molasses… Throwing molasses to the wind, I altered a gingerbread cookie recipe by upping the ginger and using a combination of honey and pure maple syrup instead of the traditional molasses. The result? A flavorful, spicy cookie with enough “brownness” to satisfy the eye and a flavor to satisfy my December craving. After frosting these little babies and bringing them to my students, I was met with many compliments and requests for more. Who says elementary student palates don’t know what’s good? The adults who sampled the cookies concurred with my young tasters. I patted myself on the back for improving a long-standing recipe and also for avoiding an expedited shipment of molasses from the nearest grocery store – nearly 500 air miles away!

Improved Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cut unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • pinch salt
  • Royal icing (optional)

Directions

  1. Mix butter and sugars.
  2. Mix in honey and maple syrup.
  3. Mix in egg.
  4. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a large bowl.
  5. Stir butter mixture into flour mixture.
  6. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and form into two large disks.
  7. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
  8. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  9. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.
  10. Roll out dough of one disk between two sheets of waxed paper. Dough should be about 1/4 inch thick.
  11. Using cookie cutters, cut out figures. Use an offset spatula to move cookies to prepared baking sheet.
  12. Repeat with remaining dough.
  13. Gather up scraps and roll out and cut as with original dough.
  14. Bake cookies until lightly browned, about 6 minutes.
  15. Let the cookies cool on sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling.
  16. Decorate cookies with Royal icing, if desired.