I can safely say that today's cooking class
at the Roanoke Island North Carolina Aquarium
was one of the most enjoyable
and, certainly, the most fun one
I've been to.
Today's demonstration was presented by
Chef Andy Montero
of Montero's
in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
I always love it when the chefs
offer up their printed recipes
for their various preparations.
I get a starting point,
from which I can do what I want.
And this is what I loved about
the engaging Chef Montero.
He cooks from his heart.
And it is obvious.
As he said,
he doesn't have "recipes."
He just does it.
He knows.
Then, when he had to sit down yesterday morning
and actually write down everything,
he had to mentally go through
what he normally does automatically.
I understood exactly what he was saying,
since I try very hard to give out actual measurements
for my readers when there are none.
But as Chef Montero said,
it's all about making do with what you have.
If you need to make substitutions,
then you go with what you have.
You taste, smell, and adjust.
It's what I've been saying
all along in this blog.
It's called cooking.
One of the reasons today's class was so much fun
was that it was "hands-on."
We all came up,
donned gloves,
and skewered two skewers
with 2 pieces each shrimp and cantaloupe.
When you skewer shrimp,
go in right above the top of the tail,
curl the head in,
and skewer right through the bottom of the head.
Then put the cantaloupe slice on.
And alternate.
Or you could also put the cantaloupe
in between the shrimp body -
the tail and the head.
Chef Montero then poured a Garlic Chili Sauce
over the shrimp.
Chef Montero talked about making substitutions.
One he suggested for this would be
the shrimp with pineapple and perhaps a Teriyaki sauce.
He made all the points I try to do in my blog
about how to cook.
Get a basic idea and expand upon it.
The shrimp skewers went into a 375 degree oven
for 15 minutes.
I would have broiled them
and turned them halfway through.
That's me.
That's also Chef Montero having to be professional
and give a presentation
in an unfamiliar "kitchen"
(Not. It's just 4 gas burners.),
and explain his method of preparation,
field questions,
and make four different dishes,
one of which he couldn't do
since he he'd forgotten a main ingredient.
And he had to SUBSTITUTE.
We all got 3 printed recipes.
And the one for Monkfish Miso Soup,
Chef Montero couldn't do.
He had forgotten the Miso.
And he's from Elizabeth City
and he's driven all the way to Manteo -
about 70 miles.
And I don't think the local Food-a-Rama
carries Miso.
The interesting thing about his presentation
was he was all about having a basic idea -
the Non-Recipe
and doing with it with what you have.
Make substitutions.
That's what Mr. Hawthorne and I do all the time.
Here are my shrimp skewers.
I would've loved this except for one thing.
My shrimp was undercooked.
The flavors are all there.
I love the flavors.
And despite the fact that if I eat more than
1 slice of cantaloupe
I get gastrointestinal morphings
of Gargantuan proportions,
I liked this.
Except for the shrimp.
Next, Chef Montero started on his sauce
for his Mirin Lacquered Tuna.
Here's the recipe:
1 pound tuna, small dice or thinly sliced
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup Mirin
1 cup White Zinfandel or Chardonnay
3 TB soy sauce
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp each white and black sesame seeds
1/4 cup green onion, sliced on bias
1/8 cup rice wine vinegar
1 TB oyster sauce
In a small sauce pan, heat the two oils and add
the pepper flakes, garlic, and ginger.
Saute for a minute or two,
being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add in the mirin, white wine, and soy sauce
and reduce by at least half.
In case you're wondering about Mirin,
it's a rice-based wine often used in Japanese cuisine.
It is similar to but has a lower alcoholic content than Sake.
(14% as opposed to 20%)
Add in rice wine vinegar and oyster sauce.
Add the sesame seeds and green onions
and pour over the tuna.
Serve immediately.
Wait just a daggone minute!
What?
We're having RAW tuna today?!!!?
But! But!
A hand count is made of who wants their tuna more "cooked."
Five hands go up.
Mr. Hawthorne's and mine on the front row
and three people behind us.
So, if you look at the monitor above,
there are all these little ramekins for the tuna.
When we went up to get our tuna,
we were asked for thin or thick.
It's still RAW.
Yes, I have a problem with raw fish.
I'm trying to deal.
Bear with me.
I asked for thin.
Since you're pouring a hot sauce over top
and it's going to "cook" it some.
Ehnnnn ...
Here's my thin cut.
All but the top right is kinda cooked.
The sauce is good.
In fact, I'll be using the sauce recipe.
It would be good on shrimp
or cooked tuna.
And I like my tuna medium rare.
I added the Sriracha sauce
for a bit more bite.
That's the red in the picture.
Did I mention
my tuna is RAW?
I'm sorry if my tastes are plebeian.
I have a problem with RAW FISH.
Even though I love my steaks BLOODY RARE.
Go figure.
Now, because an ingredient
- the miso-
was missing,
we weren't having the Monkfish Miso.
But I'll give you the recipe
since you may want to try this.
Monkfish Miso
2 qts. Miso, prepared according to package + 1 cup water
1/2 lb. monkfish or other firm fish, diced
1 cup mushrooms, wild or exotic blend, thinly sliced
1/2 cup green onion, sliced on bias
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 TB cilantro, fresh chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Bring the packaged miso to a gentle simmer.
Add ginger and diced monkfish and allow to poach
until done (about 5 minutes),
skimming any solids that come to the top.
While the miso is still hot, but not simmering,
add the mushrooms and garlic.
Remove from heat and add cilantro
just before serving.
You can also use soy sauce or red pepper flakes
to season the soup.
So, Chef Montero has all this
monkfish, but no Miso and had to substitute.
This was my favorite dish.
And it's the one that Chef Montero
had to do on the fly, so to speak.
He'd brought the monkfish for the miso soup
and left the miso, 70 miles away.
So he had to come up with something
to do with the monkfish
which he normally wouldn't have done.
And he had to do it
WITH WHAT HE HAD.
Monkfish is a very delicate fish.
It's actually called the "poor man's lobster."
It's like crab meat.
And lobster.
You really don't need anything else
but melted butter.
And lemon for me.
I don't think Chef Montero would have normally
used monkfish for this dish,
because monkfish is so delicate.
The monkfish was intended for a light soup
and the soup just.wasn't.meant.to.be.
Chef Montero had to come up with an entirely new
use of monkfish with the ingredients he'd brought.
And it was the best I'd tasted today.
That's a chef.
Next up:
Rockfish Spring Rolls.
1/2 lb. rockfish, cooked and flaked or diced
1 small package cellophane noodles,
prepared according to package
1/4 cilantro
1/8 cup basil
1 stick celery, thinly sliced into sticks
1 stick carrot, julienned
1 TB soy sauce
Dipping Sauce ingredients:
soy sauce
oyster sauce
honey
red pepper flakes
sesame seeds
brown sugar
ginger, minced
garlic, minced
lime juice
Sriracha sauce
To prepare the rice sheets,
just soak in warm water for about 30 seconds,
or until they're pliable.
Lay a prepared rice paper sheet in front of you and
place a small amount of noodles, rockfish,
cilantro, basil, celery, and carrots
on the bottom middle section.
Roll the bottom up one rotation
and then fold the sides over to create an envelope.
Continue to roll forward until
the spring roll is complete.
To prepare the dipping sauce, combine all ingredients
together and mix well.
It's HAND'S ON!
Everyone goes up,
gets a rice circle,
and makes their own spring rolls.
We had rockfish, carrot, celery, basil, cilantro,
scallions, and cellophane noodles to build with.
Overhead cam.
We pile on the sheet,
we go back to our seats,
and we roll up.
I get back to our table:
Woodja jes look at that bitch Xmaskatie's plate?
She's got a freakin' perfect roll.
Rosie bows to Xmaskatie.
And the single scallion, carrot, celery?
Very nice touch.
My spring roll with sauce.
Thankfully, I'm not wound up as tight
as Niece Xmaskatie.
And ...
we have GLOWRIA'S
spring roll to go.
DRUM ROLL, PLEASE.
On Colington Road on the way home,
Mr. Hawthorne pulled out a purloined glove
from today's cooking class.
He wants to play Doctor when we get home.
Stay tuned for more food fun this weekend
as I attend a few events at the
annual Outer Banks Taste of the Beach.
Naughty Mr. H.
ReplyDelete...looks like it was a great class, I am going to have to try to make all the dishes!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, it was a FUN class. The sauces were great, and I got some good ideas for future dishes. And thanks for your kind (?) words about my spring roll, the trick is not to overstuff, (Glo, I'm looking at you!). This was the first class that I had tears in my eyes (Glo, looking at you again!).
ReplyDelete