Sunday, June 5, 2011

It's been too long/A West Coast send off

Once again adulthood has gotten in the way of me writing about something that happened AGES ago. Meet Leeana and Dave...


The original plan was to head to a restaurant named "Taste" in Downtown Albany, NY. The young chef is married to a woman who has a gluten intolerance, meaning his menu has a great selection of gluten-free fare. Leeana has been a very close friend (more like sister) of mine for the better of 12 years, however has only recently discovered that oppose to an extremely sensitive stomach she actually has a gluten intolerance. Coming from a family of Italians (and I mean Italians, like two kitchens in the house, grandmother who doesn't speak the language, more vowels than consonants Italians), you can imagine how hard this news could be. After some last minute conversation between Leea and I, we decide I should instead cook us dinner at their house. Now Dave spent quite some time in SoCal, and the two of them were heading to  Cali in a few short weeks (they are, in fact, their as I write this). So not knowing a  ton about gluten free, I decide to go for a San Francisco classic, Cioppino. I feel as though a Cioppino is the perfect choice for the meal. Not only is it Gluten free, but both Leeana and Dave are avid seafood lovers, and so is Kay.

So a traditional Cioppino is  dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and fish. I opt to ditch the crab and the white fish and add 1 1/2 pounds of cold water Maine Lobster instead. When being completely over the top, I find it best to go big or go home. And let's be frank, Lobster makes EVERYTHING taste better. I was a but concerned it could get lost in everything else...


Now the BEST part of Cioppino is that it is VERY impressive to eat and incredibly easy to make. Shallots and fennel heated to translucency with olive oil. Followed by garlic and VERY thinly minced red peppers. Add in a dry white wine, tomato paste, diced tomatos with the natural juices, fish stock, and bay leaf (or leaves, depending upon your taste). Let it sit and reduce for roughly a half hour (or until all the tastes begin to blend). Now the fun part. Through in the mussels and clams and cover.  


 Within 5 minutes the mussels and clams will open. Now add the uncooked, peeled and devained shrimp. The shrimp, much like the mussels, will take little to no time. Simply watch the color. As they JUST begin to turn pink, throw in the lobster. The lobster will take less time then the shrimp to cook through, and the result of overcooked lobster is, in my opinion, significantly more upsetting than overcooked shrimp. 







The finished product. Like I said, looks cools, awesome thing to tell your friends you made, and beyond delicious. It is like drinking the ocean. It was beyond delicious, it was superb. I would have slept in it if it was an option. The fennel (even though it does smell like Jaeger while cooking) is the perfect bitter to the sweet and salty of, well, everything else in the pot. Garlic of course plays a major role. The small hint of heat from the red pepper, not a ton of salt given the amount of natural salt in the proteins themselves. It truly is a dish that makes itself. And if you like seafood, it's the home run of home runs. I could (and would) eat this 3 to 4 times a week. Its light but robust in flavor. It fills AND warms you up without carb loading. It is, well, Cioppino.  And after not so long, it was gone...



The Sad part, of course, is that as I write this Leeana may very well be enjoying the west coast sun with her husband, eating a cioppino somewhere on some deck overlooking the north pacific. I fear that as good as this was, it took SO long to post that the joy is now gone, the flavor forgotten, the wine has been replaced with many others, and the conversation has floated into the realm of the lost, which means only two things: 1. I need to make it again, with the Tetas, and Joseph Carr, and soon. 2. Off to look for something else to eat...