Here is a Sunday lunch that gave me some punch (en plus ca rime) – I have not eaten salmon in a long time, probably because I find salmon a little boring to be honest. Maybe when a product becomes easy to find, I lose my interest, not that I like “hard to get” products but let’s say that what’s rare tends to be more special. So I tried to make this salmon a little more interesting and special. Et voila, c’est fait!

I am not a huge fan of regular potato puree with fish, so cauliflower worked very well here, and this way you lose the starch content.

I like to use large chard leaves, the flat and smooth kind (such as swiss chards) instead of spinach, simply because spinach leaves are fragile to manipulate and it’s sometimes difficult to find large leaves. In this case, I used one chard leave for one salmon fillet. For the vegetables, you can use whatever you like, I love the combination of fava beans and oyster mushrooms, they have two complementary textures and go very well together.

I really liked this dish, the herbs made it very fragrant, delicate and not a strong salmon dish with too many powering flavors. I will certainly put this on my “to make again soon” list.

Ingredients for 4

For the salmon

• 4 salmon fillets (about 1/2 lb each)
• 4 large chard leaves
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

For the purée

• 1 small cauliflower
• 2 medium size potatoes
• milk
• 1 tsp salted butter
• salt and pepper

For the vegetable fondue

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 cup oyster mushrooms
• 1/2 lb fava beans
• 1 tomato, peeled, seedless and diced
• salt and pepper

For the tarragon jus

• 1/2 bunch tarragon
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper (if needed)

Preparation

For the salmon

Blanch chard leaves in salted boiling water for one minute, until the chard softens but still keeps it shape. Remove from heat, and place in cold water to cool. When cooled, remove from water and pat dry carefully with a towel, removing excess water. Using a knife remove the hard leaf from bottom to top, this will leave you with two long panels of chards.

Remove skin from salmon, add salt and pepper on both sides and cook three minutes each sides, in a pan with a little olive oil. Then, wrap carefully the salmon with the two chard panels. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and cook in a pre-heated oven at 360F for about 10 minutes or until the salmon is cooked to your tastes.

For the purée

Cook the potatoes at low heat covering them with milk. When they’re cooked remove from heat and let them cool in the milk. At this pint, they would have absorbed a substantial part of the milk.

Boil cauliflower in salted water for about 10-15 minutes until tender.

In a mixing container, mix potatoes and cauliflower and mash with a potato masher to obtain a smooth texture, adjust with salt and pepper. Then add butter and mix well.

For the vegetables

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallot, sweat for a few minutes, then add mushrooms and cook until the eater evaporates. Place fava beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, let them cool. Peel fava beans and add to the mushrooms. Stir well, then add tomato and crushed garlic. Cook for a few minutes, until the tomato softens but still remains firm.

For the tarragon jus

Bring 1/2 cup of broth to a boil, add tarragon and cook for 30 seconds, remove from the pot and pat dry. In a blender, mix tarragon with broth to make it into a very fine mixture. Remove from blender into a bowl, add 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed.

After placing your puree and salmon in the plate, add a some vegetables around and end with tarragon jus.

I have been wanting to make polenta for months now, I had this bag of polenta in my pantry, but did not have the other ingredients I needed to make what I had in mind, so I kept waiting.

Polenta has been a big part of my life, my mom used to make a huge quantity of polenta, spread it on a large wooden surface and served it with a rabbit and tomato sauce. Everyone would take a spoon and eat it from the wooden board.

Polenta prepared in Northern Italy like Lombardia or Friuli is white, it’s served sliced with prosciutto and radicchio. Basically, it replaces the bread in some households. Actually, In Milano, they cook it with milk, and top it with a mushroom sauce, more like a gravy. That is the way I ate it at my childhood friend whose parents were from Milano. I was used to the yellow polenta served with a mushroom, or rabbit tomato sauce. Two different way to prepare it.

Anyway, I found the most interesting mushrooms at the Berkeley Bowl yesterday, and I was so curious about those tiny but still chunky-legged mushrooms, that I just had to buy them. Trying new ingredients gives me some adrenaline rush, and for the particular purpose, that store is perfect.

To be really honest, I am unable to tell you the exact name of those mushrooms, the hand-written sign was unreadable, and I did some research on the web to try to find out their names and I am uncertain of what they’re called. I believe they’re shimeji. Some kind of Japanese mushroom, that has the shape of porcini mushroom but a smaller size. A Heavy stem and a small cap. It has a great flavor and I really liked the mixed flavors of those three different mushrooms.

Going back to polenta, you can buy the pre-cooked or the regular polenta that needs to cook slowly for an hour on medium or even slow heat, so if your wrist is not trained, since you have to stir for the entire hour, you will get a sore wrist and arm. If you are new to polenta and don’t have too much time for preparation and cooking, the pre-cooked kind would work fine. Unfortunately, I only had the regular one, so I had no choice than go the traditional way.

Big polenta eaters like in Friuli, have a special pot with a mechanical arm that stirs the polenta, so you just have to sit and wait.

You might not see it on the picture, but those crostoni have been carved in the middle so you can stuff them with the mushroom sauce.

Ingredients for 4

For the polenta

• about 4 oz. pre cooked or regular polenta
• 1 tbs rosemary, chopped
• 1 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
• 3 cups broth
• salt

For the mushroom sauce

• 4 slices pancetta, chopped + 4 slices whole (for decoration)
• 5 well riped tomatoes, chopped seedless
• 1 cup small shitakee, some sliced, some whole
• 1 cup oyster mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup shimeji mushrooms
• 1 shallot
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbs parsley
• chili flakes to your taste
• 2 tbs olive oil

For the cabbage

• 1/2 cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 yellow onion chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First start preparing the polenta. Bring broth to a boil, add salt. Add rosemary, then pour polenta. Stir non stop and cook at very low heat, add water if necessary. If using regular polenta, it needs to cook for at least 40 minutes, always stirring. If using pre-cooked polenta, cook for about 7-10 minutes, and keep stirring. Add Parmesan.

When the polenta is cooked pour in a small deep dish so that the polenta has a thickness of about 1.5 inch. Let it cool. When cooled, with cut circles of about 2.5 inches in diameter. With a teaspoon, remove some of the center of each polenta circle. Drizzle with some olive oil, and brown under broiler for about 5 minutes or until the top of the polenta is golden brown. This broiling part needs to be done at the end, when the tomato sauce and cabbage are almost cooked, or the polenta will get cold.

For the mushroom sauce

Heat olive oil in a pan, add mushrooms. Cook at medium heat, until the water has evaporated, add salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add olive oil, add shallot, let it brown. Add chopped pancetta, and brown the mixture. Add garlic and parsley, stir well to get the flavors out, add tomatoes and chili flakes. Cook until the sauce has reduced but do not reduce too much, there needs to be some tomato juice left. Add mushrooms and adjust with salt and pepper.

For the cabbage

Heat olive oil in a deep pot, add onion, and brown it, add cabbage, stir and add wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook at medium heat until the cabbage is cooked.

Grill whole pancetta slices in a non stick pan.

Serve in a plate with 2 tbs of cabbage on bottom, add polenta crostoni on top. Fill the center of polenta with mushroom sauce. Add 1 grilled pancetta slice on top. Decorate with whole shitakee around the plate.

Gamberi in coperta verde – “Farrotto” verde, con gamberi ai porri, funghi e sugo di basilico

I always remember “Riso verde” green risotto I used to eat in Italy anytime I went there to spend the summer. It’s basically risotto with spinach, parmesan and panna (panna is the Italian cream but unavailable in the US) – spinach are so thinnly blended that the rice has a beautiful green color.

I wanted to make something similar with farro but less heavy, so I didn’t add any cream. The basil jus (what is jus in English anyway? juice?) enhances the whole dish without adding too many flavors. The leek wrapping the shrimps gives a perfect touch and wholesome little dinner meal.

Farrotto is farro that has been prepared and cooked like risotto, can be orzotto, or whatever grain you want to use. I think barley would work as well.

I love this dish, and will certainly make it more often. What I love the most is its delicate and wonderful flavors blending all together, its lightness and hearty beautiful green colors. I love everything about it.

Ingredients for 4

• 2 cups farro (spelt)
• 1 large shallot, chopped
• 1/2 lb spinach (fresh or frozen)
• 1/2 cup whit wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 lbs oyster mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves
• 10 large uncooked shrimps
• 2 large leeks
• 1 bunch basil
• 3 tbs parmiggiano reggiano, freshly grated
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Start making the farro risotto (I call it farrotto). Heat olive oil in a pot, brown shallots, add farro, stir and coat farro with oil. Add a little wine and a little broth and cook always stirring to not let it stick to the bottom of the pot. Add salt and pepper.

Cook spinach in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze excess water. Chop very finely to make it into a purée.

When the farro is cooked, add spinach, stir well, and add parmesan cheese.

Saute oyster mushrooms in olive oil, add salt and pepper, let water evaporate. Add crushed garlic at the end. Stir for another 5 minutes to make garlic flavor come out.

For the basil jus, bring 1/2 cup of broth to a boil, add basil and cook for 30 seconds, remove from the pot and pat dry. In a blender, mix basil with broth to make it into a very fine mixture. Remove from blender into a bowl, add 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed.

For the shrimps, cut the top hard part of the leeks. Separate carefully each leave from one another and cut in half, you should get about a piece that is 1 1/2 inch wide and 4 or 5 inches long. Bring water to a boil and cook leeks in water for about 1 minute. Drain and pat dry. Add salt and pepper to shrimps and wrap them in each piece of leek.

Saute shrimps in olive oil at medium heat until they’re cooked, brown the outside.

Set the plate. First place a nice quantity of farrotto in the middle of the plate making a timballe (a round little cone) . Add some mushrooms around the farro. Place two shrimps on top and place 2 at the bottom. Sprinkle shrimps and mushrooms with basil jus.