The Last Samurai (of Galway)

A great thing about living in New York is the endless and diverse amount of produce at your disposal. I doubt there's an ingredient for some obscure dish that you couldn't find in one of the thousands of ethnic shops. So when you get the urge to make your own Japanese feast you need only walk to your trusted fishmonger and get yourself  a big chunk of sushi grade tuna. But I don't live in New York anymore. I currently reside in the west of Ireland.  Not exactly the mecca of Japanese cuisine.  But specialty shops have started to crop up and after a few years of searching around and asking i can pretty much get whatever i need these days (albeit sometimes at extortionate prices).  Even Italian food is a relative newcomer in these parts.  In an article by Paolo Tullio, "the Italian food critic of Ireland", he describes how ten years ago the only place to get a bottle of extra virgin olive oil was the pharmacy!  But Italian food is now firmly rooted here.  In Dublin there is a wide variety of regional Italian restaurants to choose from.  The west is catching up, but ask a local for marinara and you could get mistook for soliciting drugs.

But this an island and an island means fish.  Fresh fish means...well a lot of things, and one thing is sushi, those beautiful shining pieces of raw fish flesh that i miss so much.  I realised about 3 years ago that the only way to get it here in Galway was to prepare my own. As willing as most people are to gorge on it in restaurants, most home cooks seem to shy away from it. I'm not a skilled Japanese knife wielder but i no longer have the luxury of walking out of my apartment on the upper east side and having my choice of Japanese restaurants on every corner.  So if i want it i make it.  Obviously you need the freshest of fish. Salmon is abundant off the shores of Ireland and you can get it as fresh as the best restaurants in the world.  Tuna, the crown jewel of sushi, has to be imported. But not to worry, a lot of Japanese restaurants import their fish from Japan.  I just have to be patient. This is where it helps to be friendly with your fishmonger. When Patrick gets in a nice piece of fresh tuna, usually from Sri Lanka, he sends me a text. This often leads to spontaneous sushi eating when you weren't expecting it but who's complaining.  If you don't know your fishmonger and don't like the look or smell of the fish, DO NOT ask him if what you are buying is ok to eat raw.  What is he going to do?  Admit that his fish isn't fresh?  I don't think so.  If he lies and says yes then you're possibly in store for an agonizing, sweating, gut wrenching night.  Basically, not a good strategy.  So get to know your guy and use common sense.   

Fresh fish in hand, the next key ingredient is your sushi rice. The sugar and rice vinegar flavouring is nearly as important as the freshest of fish.  I always use this rice recipe:   Rinse 2 1/2 cups sushi rice under cold water until it runs clear; drain in the strainer for an hour.  Put in a saucepan with 3 cups water, bring to the boil and cook 5-10 mins or until tunnels form on surface.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook 12-15 mins until tender. Remove from heat, cover with a tea towel, leave for 15 mins.  Combine 5 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp mirin, 2 tsp salt and 2 tbsp sugar(yes 2 tbsp) and stir to dissolve.  Spread the rice in a non-metallic tray, top with the dressing and mix thru.  Spread out and cool to body tempurature.  Once your fish is sliced you're ready for rolls, sashimi or sushi.  Get a nice hot wasabi paste because who doesn't love the wasabi burn that hits you right in the most sensitive area of your nostril and an overdose can double you over in pain.  And don't forget your sake, lots of it.

P.S.  Shizuo Tsuji has a book called "Japanese Cooking- A Simple Art"  It's a bible of Japanese food.  If you enjoy Japanese cooking then  I highly recommend it.

Paella Tunnel Vision

I love Spanish food.  Whether it's a simple plate of jamon serrano with manchego cheese or pulpo gallego I just can't get enough.  I like paella but I refuse to order it in a restaurant.  I was just having this discussion with my brother 2 weeks ago.  You're basically paying for a big ass plate of rice with some shellfish thrown into it.  I like rice and I love shellfish, but with paella you just get overcharged and wait a long time for a lot of rice and a little bit of shellfish.  For the same price you can get a huge mixed grill of various shellfish.  Paella is time consuming to make and you pay for that time, not the ingredients.  I just don't get peoples' fascination of going to a Spanish restaurant and having paella tunnel vision.  When it comes to Spanish food I rank paella at the bottom end of their cuisine.  I don't think you'll find paella at el Bulli. http://www.elbulli.com/  (It was voted best restaurant in the world for the past 5 years or so.)  I will make one exception on ordering paella- if i'm in Valencia, with a local, who shows me a restaurant that is, (as this local may claim), the grandfather of paella, then bring it on.  But that's it. 

On the other hand, Paella is a great dish to cook at home.  It's relatively cheap, fills you up (all that rice), and pretty easy to make.  So i'm not anti-paella, I just won't order the stuff in a restaurant.  But for home cooking it's great, you can vary the ingredients and in doing so you can seriously vary how much you spend.  I'm going to give you my brother's recipe, it's simple and always comes out great. 

Dave's Paella - this will easily feed 4

2 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
2 tsp saffron
3 chicken thighs
20 shrimp (prawns)
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic halved
chili flakes
1 large red pepper diced
3 3/4 cups chicken stock
2-3 chorizo links sliced
bag of clams

Preheat oven to 475F
Fry garlic, onion and pepper in oil.  Throw in chicken and brown. Add Chorizo and brown and then add the shrimp.  Add rice and stir.  Add stock mixture(with dissolved saffron).  Season with salt and pepper and add some chili flakes (depending on how spicy you want it). Push everything into the liquid and put in oven for about 40 mins, add the clams for the last 10 mins.  After 30-40 mins check rice, when its tender, but still a bit al dente, its done.  See, easy.

Top Ten Club

While Venice is notorious for overpriced, bad Italian food, there is a restaurant which makes it into my all time top ten.  La Hosteria da Franz, situated on a quiet side canal,  is one of those once in a lifetime food experiences.  Now remember, you are in Venice, where nothing is cheap, and neither is La Franz, but you do get your money's worth.  Franz, the owner, will personally seat you at your table and guide you through your dinner, Franz style.  Relax with your glass of complimentary prosecco (unheard of in Venice) and let Franz take over.  There are no menus, apart from the wine list, only what was caught or made that day is read to you from the specials list, mostly seafood.  They love their food at Franz and they love serving it to you.  I had the fresh baked eels to start, followed by the pasta special, a homeade chocolate infused pasta, and sea bass for my main course. All perfect, with portion sizes that just leave enough room for a homeade dessert.  We let Franz choose a Venetian white(of which i can't remember) to wash it all down with.   During our stay, we tried two other restaurants, both more expensive and highly recommended, but they didn't come close to Franz.  We wound up eating there again on our last nite. And the location is perfect, set away from the cattle herds of cruiseliners, Franz is on a quiet canal in a residential part of the city, about a ten minute walk from the main square.  About 12 tables are lined next to the canal which makes the experience even more pleasurable.I would go back to Venice just to eat at Hosteria da Franz. 

I love Octopus

I admit it 110%.  I love octopus.  That may turn some of you off right away but i do.  I could eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.  At least for a few months.  Whenever i'm in Spain or Italy i know it's pulpo or polpo time, all the time.  I was recently in Sicily and told my relatives about my love for octopus, well, let's just say for the next two days i was force fed octopus.  Everywhere we went together there was a huge plate of octopus being thrown at me and i wasn't complaining.  Like i said, i love it.  Cold, warm, hot. In a salad or in a smoking skillet, doesn't matter, just keep it coming.