All about Sea Urchins

Recently I had sea urchin served on a bed of softly scrambled eggs with brioche toast at MKT (a new restaurant in the Four Seasons in San Francisco). It was probably the sweetest tasting sea urchin I had ever eaten. The waiter told me it came from the North Coast, near Mendocino (I've also had sea urchin from Hokkaido, Santa Barbara and in Morocco). Sea urchin is a delicacy that you might know from sushi bars where it's called uni. But it's also used in other cuisines. In Italian it's called ricci di mare, in Spanish it's erizo de mar. The color of the edible part is usually a murky orange, although sometimes it's dark yellow or almost red.

The edible part of the sea urchin is not the roe, although that's typically how it's described. The five large lobes are gonads. They can be eaten raw or cooked, but the texture is best raw. Pureed, they make a luscious sauce that does not need to be cooked. Sea urchin gonads look like little tongues and their texture is buttery and creamy. Sea urchin has a briny flavor that's hard to describe. It can be a bit sweet or a little bit salty, it has funky earthy kind of taste. It's something you either love or hate.

You can buy sea urchins live in the shell or in a tray. I've always bought it at a Japanese market, but Whole Foods stores in San Francisco have just started carrying "California Gold" quality and whole fresh California red sea urchin caught between Fort Bragg and Mendocino. California Gold, was formerly known as Grade A and according to the California Sea Urchin Commission, it's described as "bright gold, yellow or orange color; firm buttery texture; fresh salty ocean scent; and with a sweet buttery taste. Uni sections are large and complete intact pieces. This is exceptionally high-grade uni for use in top quality sushi."

As far as nutrition goes, sea urchin is fairly low in fat, but is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, protein and zinc. It's harvested completely sustainably, with no by catch, since it's hand collected by divers.

 If you buy it in the shell, you can break it open either with shears or spoons. You don't need a recipe to enjoy sea urchin, you can eat it fresh out of the shell with just a squeeze of lemon, but here are some ideas if you feel like experimenting:

* On top of or in scrambled eggs

* As a simple pasta sauce

* In a souffle

* Ceviche style 

* In soup

* On bruschetta

* In risotto

* On pizza

* In a compound butter

* With ramps or chives and linguine

* Carbonara style with bottarga


More Pacific Urchin Harvesters recipes 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Whole Foods for providing me with some sea urchins. Recipes coming soon! 

Rabarcello: Drinks on Friday

Recently on Facebook I asked for recommendations for favorite rhubarb dishes. I was surprised at how many people despise it. As previously mentioned, in my rhubarb compote recipe post, I love it. And I wrote a rhubarb post for 7x7 on some great places around town with innovative rhubarb creations. 

While 7x7 is a local publication, my post caught the attention of these rather handsome fellows in Amsterdam who make Mister Kitchen's Rabarcello, a Dutch spirit that is not yet available in the US. And they offered to send me a bottle. So I might be the only person in all of America to have some Dutch rhubarb liqueur! If not, please don't ruin the dream. It's only available in Holland, Belgium and the UK for now. It was created by food writers and product developers, and inspired by pink rhubarb lemonade (which also sounds lovely). Checking out their website I found out about a restaurant promotion called Rhubarb Week that featured rhubarb drinks and dishes. Heaven! 

If you've ever cooked rhubarb, you know it gives off the most beautiful pink syrup. That is the color of Rabarcello. It's something you can drink straight, on ice or it can be mixed. It is recommended with any kind of sparkling wine. It can be paired with other white spirits like vodka or gin, but I'm not a bartender so I'm just enjoying it very simply. It's 18% alcohol which is less than 40% proof and is made without any additives or preservatives so should be kept in the refrigerator and only lasts a few weeks. 

So what does it taste like? The very essence of rhubarb. It's bright, tangy and sweet, but not cloying and with a dry finish. It's rather refreshing. It has the floral quality of cooked rhubarb too. I've never had any other rhubarb liqueur, so I can't really compare it to anything else other than to say, it has a luscious viscosity and is a perfectly delightful and delicious thing to drink chilled on a sunny day. Here's hoping that Mister Kitchen's gets approval to sell it in the US soon. 

Peach Avocado Lobster Cocktail Recipe

I confess, I only cooked live lobsters once, and I kind of freaked out. I made Lee come and put the lobsters in the pot. That was several years ago, so when the nice folks at LobsterAnywhere offered to send me some fresh lobsters, I figured now was as good a time as any to overcome my phobia.

LobsterAnywhere has been a wholesale purveyor since 1999, and their prices are a bit less than some of their competitors. They pride themselves on providing top quality hard shell lobsters from Maine and indeed, mine were very large and very lively when they arrived! They sent the lobsters with a booklet of very useful information, especially on the timing for boiling or steaming them. I went with steaming. But I didn't just drop the lobsters head first into the pot. I followed the instructions on the Fine Cooking video for How to Kill a Lobster. Many articles and experts say it's more humane to kill the lobsters first and them steam them. So I chilled them down for a few minutes, and sliced through the heads before putting them in the pot. 

LobsterAnywhere also offers desserts and a delicious clam chowder, but the main focus is on fresh live lobsters. I know many people think eating them with butter and lemon is best, but I like creating recipes so that's what I did. I was planning on making a mango and lobster cocktail, but I had some excellent peaches and so I used those instead. But I'm sure it would be good with mango too. After you get over your fear of lobsters, the rest is easy! 



Peach Avocado Lobster Cocktail Recipe
Serves 1

Ingredients

2 ounces lobster
1/3 cup seedless cucumber, diced
1/4 avocado, peeled and diced
1/2 peach, diced
1/4 lime

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1  Tablespoon Champagne vinegar
1/2 teaspoon honey
Salt and chili pepper flakes to taste

Instructions

Make the dressing by combining the olive oil, vinegar, honey and seasonings to taste. Whisk together thoroughly. Place the lobster in a bowl. Toss it with a bit of the dressing. In a separate bowl combine the cucumber, avocado and peaches and squeeze the lime over the mixture. Then dress the fruits and vegetables lightly with the dressing. Layer the avocado, cucumber and peach with the lobster in a glass. Serve immediately. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: LobsterAnywhere provided me with the lobsters used in this recipe. They did not pay me to write this post. 

Peaches and Cream Chamomile Tea Cooler

Sometimes your instinct and reasoning skills line up to tell you something.  A situation in which success should be guaranteed.

You see the way he gets all excited playing with a ball.  You know how energetic he is.  You are extremely aware of his inability to sit still.  Friends and family all said yes, he will love it.  Toddler soccer seemed like the perfect activity for Max.

But it was not.  To say the least.  In his defense, the soccer class was held on a patch of grass immediately adjacent to the big toys on the playground.  Like right there, calling out to him with its siren song of fun and climbing adventures.  A song that he could only hear, apparently, as none of the other tots seemed to be running off to play on it.

At first, everything seemed like it would be perfect.  Hilarious and adorable, with a happy little tot playing with the soccer ball.  But that scene was crushed after all of like thirty seconds (I'm not exaggerating), when he decided he needed to be elsewhere. The two train-shaped toys were especially appealing to his sensibilities.  After using various strategies to get my child back to soccer, I eventually had to admit defeat.  As soon as I would carry him over to the soccer balls he would just dart right back to the playground area.  Futility at its finest.

So that was that.

I was so wrong about his interest in soccer.

But I don't think I am wrong here.  I had a vision, instinct and reasoning, telling me that sweet cream and peaches and chamomile and lemon would come together to make a delicious summery drink.

Sometimes our instincts are wrong.  And sometimes they are spot-on.  Not sure what to make of that situation.

Ingredients
For the chamomile-black tea:
8 regular-sized chamomile tea bags
3 regular-sized black tea bags (I insist on my mom sending me packages of Red Rose brand of tea)
4 cups just-boiled water

4 peeled peaches
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons International Delight Cold Stone Creamery Creamer Sweet Cream Flavor
honey, to taste (depends on the sweetness of your peaches)

Instructions
To make the chamomile-black tea:  Pour the water over the tea bags.  Steep for 4-6 minutes, remove bags. Cool.

To make the tea cooler:  Pour the tea, peaches, lemon juice, creamer, and honey (if using) in bowl.  Blend everything with an immersion blender (or regular blender) until frothy. Ladle into ice-filled glasses.

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By the way, in addition to the Sweet Cream creamer flavor, International Delight and Cold Stone Creamery have three additional flavors! They are:
Cold Stone Creamery Hot for Cookie
Cold Stone Creamery Founder's Favorite
Cold Stone Creamery Churro Caramel

Sound amazing?  Click here to find out where to get them!

Love ice cream + coffee? This summer, International Delight is bringing your favorite Cold Stone Creamery ice cream flavors to coffee and they're celebrating by giving away five $400 grand prizes to throw this summer’s ultimate Ice Cream Social!  To enter, visit the ID + Ice Cream Pinterest board and pin your favorite image using the #IScream4ID hashtag. Good luck!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

Peach, Basil, Ginger, and Brie Puffs

I'm not really sure how it started. I didn't grow up saying this word.  I used words like fruits and vegetables, or more specific words like "apple" or "strawberry."  Or place-centric references like "I'm going to the store" or "I'm going to the farmer's market."

 But I hadn't used the word "produce."  Until now.  

And somewhere along the way, I taught Max to say this.  And now we (and by we, I mean he) loves to say this word.  Not just say it.  But live it. Dance to it.  Replace all the words of Hey Jude to simply "produce." Games of identifying whether or not the object in front of us is produce or not.

Instead of saying "we are going to the farmer's market," we say "we are getting produce today!"

Seth recently asked me why Max is so excited about going to the farmer's market, why he is so excited about produce?

I just laughed.

Who wouldn't love produce?!?  I'm kidding, this is not one of those posts espousing the beauty and deliciousness of produce from farmer's markets...

I laughed because Max doesn't actually like being at the farmer's market (unless he is chowing down on a juicy peach or tossing back berries by the handful).  He just likes saying the word.  Once we are actually out shopping, shoes will be definitely, defiantly kicked off and "bye bye produce" will be shouted pleadingly.

And while he has an appreciation for the actual word, it most definitely does not mean he loves all produce.  We are not one of those impossibly charming families where kids skip around swinging baskets of hand-picked fruits and veggies and turn their heads in disgust at the sight of a processed food item.

This time, Max was super excited to eat his produce in peach form.  He did not however enjoy the peaches turned into puffs.  Puffs filled with lime-scented peaches, ginger, basil, and brie.  They tasted pretty awesome to me though...  To make up for his lack of enthusiasm, he did perform a produce dance.  So that helped.

Love this video from Cooking Light about buying and storing fresh peaches! So informative!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled peaches
2 tablespoons chopped basil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 ounces brie
1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed
1 tablespoon half and half
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions
Heat oven to 400 (or whatever temperature is recommended on your puff pastry dough). Cut the puff pastry into four triangles. In a bowl, toss together the peaches, basil, lime juice, lime zest, honey, ginger, and cornstarch.  Place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the peach mixture as well as a slice of brie on each triangle, bring the opposing edges over and seal the puff into a triangle shape. You may want to use just a bit of water to help seal. Whisk the egg and milk and brush the half and half on each triangle and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown and puffy.

Hourglass Blueline Estate Merlot: Wine on Friday

Merlot is back! Actually, it never went away, it just fell out of favor with a lot of wine drinkers. Recently I visited Hourglass Wines in Napa and talked to owner Jeff Smith about Merlot, a wine many people think is insipid. Was it the dreaded Sideways (the movie in which the lead abhors Merlot) affect? Not according to Smith, "Sideways wasn't the problem, it was the punctuation point, at the end of the problem." And it's true, at the time of Sideways, there was a lot of lousy Merlot. 

Lately there are a lot of Merlot producers, even some very good ones, trying to market Merlot by saying things like "Merlot for Cab lovers" but Merlot should be appreciated on its own merits. If you haven't had a really great Merlot in a long time, or ever, here's what Smith says it should taste like--spicy, aromatic, with density, rich and vibrant. The holy grail? According to Smith it's richness with energy and structure. Although often blended with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon is darker, more tannic. Merlot is an easier drinking wine with lots of black and red fruit. Here's an easy way to think about Merlot. Think Marilyn Monroe--voluptuous, fleshy and soft, sometimes elegant.  

Hourglass acquired the lovely Blueline property in 2006, it's located in the Northeastern part of Napa Valley, two miles south of Calistoga and has  a mix of alluvial gravel, sand, and loam. On the property Hourglass grows not just Merlot but Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The 2011 Hourglass Blueline Estate Merlot has spicy and lots of fruit but also some chocolate and vanilla notes. It's silky and lush and complex in a good way. It's a pricey wine at $75 but cheaper than a "cult Cab." 

One of the other things I love about Merlot, is how easy it is to pair with food, often much easier than Cabernet Sauvignon. Of course, there is a range of Merlot from lighter styles that pair with pizza, pasta and charcuterie, to riper styles that stand up to spicier dishes too.  It's great to see a winery like Hourglass committed to making a really great Merlot. I hope other winemakers are inspired to do the same.

Disclaimer: I was a guest at Hourglass for a private event and got a chance to try the wine and meet the winemaker and owner. 

Mango Stuffed with Lime and Strawberry Cream, Topped with 5-Spiced Granola and Strawberry Hibiscus Tea Drizzle

We all have different sides, different facets of our personalities.  We have the potential to be any of of these at a given moment.

For instance, our cat Rambo.  He can be a wild-eyed pig cat, ripping through every room at the speed of light.  He can be a dignified elder statesmen cat, appearing to be pondering life's big questions.  He can be a sweet cuddly pig, settling into position on my head to be my hat or on my lap to do some tail sucking (yes, he sucks his tail).

JiJi has the potential to be a hen, looking as though an egg will be laid any second.  She can be a needy baby, demanding cuddles, as though her life truly depended on it.  She can be a fun little kitten mouse, batting and pawing at her toys.  She can also get her scary Jiji on - fur bushing out and weird sounds emanating from deep within - at the sight of another cat outside.

I, too, have a multiplicity of selves.  I can be the mean mom, sending Max into time-out for throwing markers. Or the fun one, taking him out for malted chocolate milkshakes.  I can be a paragon of routine and regularity and then toss that all aside on a whim, allowing the day or days to take me where it wants. I can blast the music and dance ridiculously, or I can get in a debate about politics.

This month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge is to "stuff it."  I decided to make a mango stuff-able, scooping strawberry lime cream in the middle as well as some Chinese 5-spiced granola, then drizzling a strawberry hibiscus tea mixture around it.  The round-up of all the CCC "stuff it" entries will be posted on July 29, so check back then for the link to see all of the amazing posts!  Round-up is live - click here to see all the amazing posts! 

These stuffed mangoes too have differing sides.  They could be breakfast.  Or dessert.  Or breakfast's dessert, which totally needs to be a thing because breakfast is most definitely jealous of dinner.  After all, breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day - should it not also get a dessert?  Or it could be a fun snack.  It has the potential to be all these things.

Ingredients
For the 5-spice granola:
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup roughly chopped almonds
1 tablespoon Chinese 5-spice powder
pinch salt
3 tablespoons warm coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar

For the strawberry hibiscus tea drizzle:
2 tablespoons dried hibiscus leaves
1 tablespoon black tea
1 cup just boiled water

For the lime and strawberry cream:
2 pint strawberries, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lime zest

For assembling:
2 mangoes, halved, with about 1-2 tablespoons of the flesh removed (just eat it! or save it for a smoothie.  but I just ate it.)
fresh lime juice

Instructions
To make the 5-spice granola: Heat oven to 300.  In a bowl, toss the oats, almonds, 5-spice powder, and pinch.  In another bowl, mix together the coconut oil, honey, and agave.  Pour the coconut oil mixture over the oats and toss to coat.  Spread on baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown, turn oven to 250 and continue baking for about another 15 minutes, until dry.

To make the strawberry hibiscus tea drizzle: Combine hibiscus and black tea.  Pour water over the hibiscus and tea leaves.  Steep for 4 minutes.  Strain.  Cool.  Once cool, use an immersion blender to combine the tea with 6 medium-sized strawberries.

To make the lime and strawberry cream:  Combine the strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar, and lime juice.  Set aside for 30 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream with the sugar, vanilla, and lime zest.  Once the mixture holds stiff peaks, fold in the strawberry mixture.

To assemble the dish:  Drizzle the mango with some fresh lime juice. Spoon the strawberry cream into the mango.  Top with granola.  Drizzle the hibiscus tea around the mango.