Coastal Cooking with John Shields; 101K1: California Coastal

Coming up next on Kosovo cooking we visit the beautiful California coastline where we'll eat some seafood at the Monterey Aquarium without making the fish nervous and make it tasty minted Calomiris salad with it too hot tamales. We'll taste the waves with a big serve salad so you're some scallops. Then play the shell game with our kitchen goddess Andrea. All next on coastal cooking and me. Hi I'm John Shields. I grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and I've always enjoyed the wishes muti provided some of the cooking took me out west for over two decades. I too like your recipes for sea towns by sea shores all over the country. Since joining Mercosur program. You. Know still cooking with John Shields is made possible by Philip seafood helping you create gourmet seafood originals that are as close as the refrigerator available at

supermarkets nationwide. Phillips seafood make every taste like a night out. By Gertrude's coastal dining at the Baltimore Museum of the art Gertrude's features regionals with the using sustainable food program on the web at Gertrude's Baltimore dot com. The alluring coastline of California has a magical feel unlike that of any in America. The dramatic sea shores hugging Highway 1 have been the subject of countless writers an artist put words in reproductions can hardly do the landscape justice. One of the stops I love along this coastal paradise is the city of Monterey. Once a lively fishing town made famous by John Steinbeck and ANSA Latham's the waters produced more sardines than they knew what to do with. When the fish vanished. Monterey reinvented itself into a modern tourist attraction with shops

restaurants and hotels. Not only a tourist destination. This area is known for its sustainable farming and sustainable seafood. Taking the lead in showcasing sustainable seafood is the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium known for their stunning displays of sea life. They're also promoting environmentally smart seafood choices so that consumers and retailers alike can participate in the preservation of our ocean wildlife. They're fantastic today event known as cooking for solutions featured celebrities and celebrity chefs as well as tours of sustainable farms and vineyards. Right. The Friday night gala however was the place to be inside the aquarium where dozens of food stations featuring sustainable seafood. Wine and gourmet dishes all prepared using organic ingredients and created and served by fantastic chefs from all

over the country. Two of those chefs are serving up their delicious music our Mary salad with two hot tamales. Mary Sue Milliken and Susan FENECH are owners of the Border Grill and see that in Las Vegas and Los Angeles these two women not only produce flavors that are intricate and exotic There are simple techniques allow home cooks to follow their lead and create their own flavorful meals. Boy am I excited for that. I cannot believe the program with you and I cannot believe it. I cannot believe that Susan where Mary Sue thank you so much for being here today. I'm loving it and I'm loving this cooking for solutions thing here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium was that great or why I don't like it. What about those jelly fish. Oh well oh well the whole aquarium is so gorgeous. And then they're doing so much for the seafood community all over the world. Really it is it's amazing isn't it. It really is there is it with the whole Seafood Watch I

think it's really important the message that's getting sent out there about you know how we're destroying you know our supply of fish and so I think having this actual event not only is it a great event I don't really remember that much from last night. And it's a great message that's getting sent out by the aquarium really wonderful it is and use the seafood watch with your restaurant all the time and I love those little cards now that they have the diners can carry. So when they're purchasing or buying for their fish they know that they're endangered. And I just I think of people people out there aren't aware of it I mean Chilean sea bass a perfect example. You know everybody's favorite for years years years and now you can't get it anymore. Exactly. I think it's really important people are aware enough yet but I think it's happening well they're doing great work. You really are. Yes. Well speaking of great work I'm thinking great food in on. I can't wait to see the squid salads. Yes. Well these are squid actually right from Monterey Bay. They're tender tiny baby beautiful squid from right from this bay Monterey Bay.

And what we're going to do is make a fabulous salad with fresh mint. Yeah. Now first we're going to take this and just take out the inside. In fact some of these are already clean they're so tender and Yanni. But we're going to take that out and then. Then we're going to die some up and these really these small ones like this are just so tender and I think that's what I think a lot of times people end up getting those big huge squid and then they're tough and chewy and people get weirded out by that texture. Ladies if you can get little baby ones like this it's really one and they're there they're plentiful in the bay there. So we're going to just dice them up really quickly like that really easily they're so tiny you know just one of the things I think about squid is that people think of it only as having fried squid sure. So we love to do this. So a little salt and a little pepper we're going to do a squid basically. And then I've got here simmering in the pot a little bit of clam juice OK. And a seasoned Well I think it's a great quick for starters. This is going to cook so quickly

it's going to be done in absolutely no time you basically put it in. Bring it barely back to the boil. And then we're going to drain it and chill it won't take long. The thing you want to make sure here is that you don't overcook it if you overcook it again it in no matter how tiny it'll still be to get stuff a little rubbery. Exactly. We're just going to pour it right into the strainer there. Catch the juice because we're going to use some of the juice right in the salad chillum both the Squid and the juice and then we can start making the government. Very soon I'd love to have tons of garnish Yeah. So is equal parts of garnish to the actual squid itself so we're going to start with pick among my favorite. Yeah. All in the Latin kitchen tons. Want to cut a flat in first That's one of the things because it's so fibrous we're actually going to use a knife to peel it instead of appeal or because otherwise it'll be too stringy. Yeah so we just peel all the way down around the whole thing. What we want to do is to just make sure we're make a nice thin slices because we want to cut it all up to be about the same sizes.

I mean we want crunchy texture and he has got great crunchy texture doesn't it. All over the streets of Mexico they give you chunks they hit them all with cayenne in Lima and salt on it and a shot of tequila. Yeah yeah. So we're just going to die small and a small little guys like that obviously just make like a little production line here lots of pieces like that and then just a little shopping like that so then we're going to cut a lot of garnish. You're going to have to finish them. You've got cucumber red onion tomato and then we're going to add these Serrano chillies which are quite spicy. Yes. What I do is I make a flat side like this and then I just cut around the seeds so we can avoid the seeds and avoid a little bit of those veins that hold the seeds were all the spices. Most important thing is to have your partner tasted to see if you have spicy or not. So John your new partner. Yeah. OK perfect it's perfectly grown. Yeah one thing that I think any time a year you can never tell if it's going to be really spicy

or really mild. So what I like to do is make a go ahead and cut my Chiles up first and I wouldn't put this all into the into the salad but just add it like as if it's a seasoning a little bit at a time until you get just the heat you want and I think that's why people sometimes you know a recipe a call for two Chiles and sometimes you know one chili or a half a chili and someone you need for. Yeah exactly. But that's always the case with cooking. It's never about the specific I mean the tomatoes could be less sweet or more watery. Just have to I think people get stuck on recipes or that it is that taste it is totally exact So we're going to mix everything in here OK we've got our cucumbers. We want to make sure that we have freshly cut onions if they've been cut the day before the accident. They get really strong tomato a little bit. Heckuva has that flavor its a cross between like a sweet cucumber and a potato I think it hasn't magical do add something really magical look and it's pretty and I'll grab the squid.

OK we're going to add some fresh life in the Latin kitchen black pepper lime or like the key of everything. Okay so we're going to add that squid in fabulous Let's see if you cooked it right. What do you think. Pretty nice pretty eyes and a nice about this salad is we use a ton of fresh mint. OK and a little bit of fresh cilantro and you know I don't even worry too much about the stems honestly because I know how you know you don't have that much time I just like to hold them in a. Bunch like that and then just cut the leaves. One Direction's all right and I need you to chop a little bit of your formula down will you. OK. So we want to add tons of verbs into this OK so we've got mint salon sure oh. Then we're going to add a little bit of fresh lime juice. So I want to roll it like that breaks those pods that I'm going to cut it. And with a fork I just put it in here put the fork in there make sure that it doesn't squeeze right into your eye like my partner is used to doing.

Fresh lime fresh lime is always fresh squeezed. We're going to add a little bit of white vinegar. You can always add more. You can't take it away. So I always start start light. And also this is an unusual idea but with fish sauce not really used in Mexico very often but it has an amazing flavor and just you can't get it from anywhere else you can. It's Yeah wonderful I love it. And you can't really detect it in there but there's just something a little bit more savory than salt. Yeah you know this reminds me of you know the laying on the beach in Mexico working hard tasting food. Yeah. Yes. A little olive oil extra virgin olive oil just makes it a little bit rich. And then we're going for a little bit of the juice that we poached the squid in it's the juices as good as the fish itself doesn't need more lime. Probably needs a little more salt salt and fresh pepper. Who's going to do the first taste just the same. You know I think you've got to put the herbs in there want to see if there's enough seasoning for six. If you

want a little bit of cilantro lots and lots of fruit that's actually pretty good. That squid is really I didn't put in the chili and yeah I think it needs some I think you and John are a little wimpy about the challenge. Yeah I'm good like one but is there enough juice in there that I was like we need more juice so you can look there see how much I really wanted to be really juicy and I like to serve it in a martini glass or in a glass so there's really juice. Always looks great. Mary Sue thank you so much oh thank you it's a great treat to cook with you. If you're travelling up the Northern California coastline and you want to look for an idea for a snack How about stopping off at some modest beta guy Illinois. Get yourself a trayful comes right with a shocking knife. Get yourself a lemon. Just a little squeeze and you have the perfect California snack.

We had some delicious food in Monterey but now we're going to move our way down the coast to Big Sur and have a delicious big serve with roasted beet salad. Now this is this is one of the best salads you're ever going to taste. Big Sur is just gorgeous down there and I stopped by Aslan Institute. It's kind of where you get in touch with your inner self you know you turn your crystals check your shock. And they can make a salad. Let me show you what you do. First we're going to roast some beets. I take a beet and I cut off the stem put it in some boiling water and I let it boil for about 15 20 minutes or until it's just tender just barely tender. Then I'm going to take it and cut it into pieces about this size. Kind of like wedges. Now we're going to take a little bit of olive oil. I like the extra virgin. It's good. Has a great flavor. And we're going to just toss these beets with the

olive oil. And then I'm going to put them on a tray that's already been lightly greased with olive oil. I preheat it in an oven at about 400 degrees. You want it nice and hot and they take about 20 25 minutes and I've already roasted some for you. And I want you to see what these look like what's happening while they're roasting. You're bringing out all the sugar in the beets and it gets so sweet it's wonderful. And you kind of get this crinkly skin on it. I'm going to start off with some rule go up. We wash it several times now a rugosa is a great lettuce. Very bitter has a wonderful mustard flavor. Now we have some baby spinach baby spinach is wonderful it's a little more tender than the larger variety. Would you still want to wash this several times because sometimes spinach tends to be a little sandy. OK. Next I want to get some fennel. Now let's take a look at fennel. You start with the bulb. You can roast it grate it the leaves are used to season

and you have all heard of fennel seeds. Again you can cook with those. So what we've done is we kind of grated those up shredded on a little bit and it has this beautiful anise like flavor a little bit like licorice. Let's put some of that in there. OK. Then we have a little now. Riddick you know is also known as. That's how you chicory. Again we have a little bit of bitterness within that. And then I'm going to get some nuts. These are walnuts that have been toasted chopped up. And last but not least we're going to get those roasted beets and put those right in there. We have a great Vinogradov it's a Gorgonzola Vinogradov and it's quite easy to make. Let me show you. We're going to take some white wine vinegar and into that I'm going to put a little bit of minced shallots shallots have

a great flavor there a little bit like an onion but much more pungent. Just a tad. Of lemon juice it's fresh squeezed. We have some Dijon mustard. Right on in there. And now we're going to whisk in some extra virgin olive oil and just pour it in a little bit at a time. You don't want to dump it because if you just do it in a small stream like this you kind of get it to a mole so fine you make a very very nice Vinogradov dressing. Students were saying this is a Gorgonzola Vinogradov. We need the cheese. I like to get a good full flavored blue gorgonzola and put that right in. If you like it you could really use any blue cheese that you that you like. OK. Look at this. Now we're going to just take our dressing here. Get this monograph all over. And I tell you. This is one healthy healthy salad for you.

Absolutely delicious. And I believe if you listen you can almost hear the waves of Big Sur crashing. The first time I had this amazing scallop issue was down at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Now you know it's kind of a strange feeling for a seafood chef to walk into the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I got that this stinks feeling the fish were a little nervous. But they do some great cooking down there. We're going to start with some beautiful scallops. I like a nice big sea scallops that it's a tri pack scallops but it doesn't have any water in it. And Karma lies beautifully. Now I got my pan nice and high has a little bit of oil down there and we're going to just put in these scallops. The idea here is a lot of heat and will get a beautiful brown color

on the scale. This won't take too long because they're going to sit while we make the sauce. And we don't want to overcook on just about one one and a half minutes on each side. Just move them around a little bit with the tongs so that they don't stick while they're cooking. We're just going to give you a good sear and they'll be beautiful. Now you can see here we're just starting to get that that rich golden color we're looking for. We have a nice brown color here. I sitting next to the stove. That way they keep warm while we make the sauce. OK. There you go. Now all we have left over is a nice dirty pan. And it is the perfect vehicle to make a delicious sauce because you want all of the scallops flavor that's on the bottom. Let's start first with some shallots. Minced up very nicely sliced

garlic sliced very thin some minced Ginger a little bit of fennel it's Julia and and we're going to just sauté this briefly. Looks like the panel is just getting a little bit soft is what you want and we're going to add a little bit more flavor in here. We're going to take some dry white wine and actually dig glaze. That. OK I'm going to turn that down and kind of let it all braised together. This smells so good you can't believe it. So while that's brazing I'm going to teach you a restaurant trick. They're going to think that you went to Colony area school. We're going to make some fried crispy leeks that we're going to use to garnish this dish. OK what I have here have a little

bit of flour put some salt and pepper in it and the leeks are actually Julie and in thin strips wash them several times because there's a lot of sand in leeks. Then I drive these a little bit and I'm going to take just a handful and toss them in the flour. Then I'm going to shake off the excess flour here to shake it all off and then right in to the oil. Look at this. We got a sizzle gone. And this won't take long this is pretty quick. We're going to just let him fry for a couple minutes until they get nice and brown. They're starting to curl up. We're going to get a little crinkly and then you know you're right about there. We're going to take these out. All right now we're ready to finish this sauce here. Everything is nice and soft. And we're going to pour in some fresh yarn.

You know wonderful citrus flavor there some softened water and we're going to turn the heat down and start stirring that right on in there. A little bit more butter. You never go wrong with a little little extra butter. So we have all this beautiful Carmel color there to go with the scallops. Once all the butter has incorporated shut the heat off and we're going to take some sections are in Juice get all the pith out of there and you're not really cooking these. You're just kind of heating them through add just a little bit of salt and maybe a touch of pepper. OK. See how that is. This is good. This is good. OK now we're going to put it together. What I have here is a little bit of Parmesan polenta. This is why I said to use those dry packs scallops because they're very firm meaty. You know when you put them in

the brine that wet pack it's not good. These are the best. OK let's put those around the polenta. Now the piece de resistance. We're going to get this sauce here. This is a beautiful beautiful thing. Make sure you get some of that butter on there. And then we're going to take some of our crispy fried leeks and just put those right on top of there. And you have an amazing dish that will delight family and friends. Enjoy. You know scabs equal shells. So let's go see Andrea our kitchen you got it for everything on the half show. Today what the show's going on around here.

Well I actually have a question for you. Yeah what do you do with your oyster shells if you have your oyster shucking party thrown in the driveway. Well I have a better idea. It's actually a creative entertaining idea and you can recycle them. Oh but I like to recycle you do. Well first what we do is take your spent show and we're going to soak them in a mixture of half bleach half water and then after that I take them in kitchen sink a little dishwashing detergent scrubbing with a wire brush or tooth brush. Then I put them in a dishwasher just to sanitize them a little bit more and get rid of that bleach smell to taste kind of yucky. So what I did here is I just took my clean shells took a little jumble I'm cramped some cocktail sauce and while you easy pick up appetizers. Then over here I took that abalone shell. Filled it with some cocktail sauce and just makes a great presentation on a table. We actually have a scallop shell here. We're going to put the seared scallops and them very nice. Yes let's give it a go. All right. Look at this. It's like they're going home. They're

happy now. OK you ready for this one I'm ready. All right. That he solicits you did it again. Yeah. I hope you've enjoyed this taste of Californias coastal cuisine when visiting California stopped by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's a must see. And until next time don't forget to live local but Coco style. Thanks for watching coastal cooking. I'm John Shields. In this exclusive offer an autographed copy of the companion cookbook coastal cooking with John Shields is available at your phone number and website on your screen. Also on DVD or VHS a collection of John cooking some of his favorite coastal cuisine.

The video includes an interview recipes a photo gallery and more. Both are available on line at Coastal cooking with John Shields dot com for recipes and much more. You may visit our website. There's info on John's travel tips for entertaining plus links to places he visited and friends he met. Coastal cooking with John Shields dot com. This program was made possible by Philip seafood. Philip squirm a seafood cuisine. That can be served at home any time available at supermarkets nationwide. Phillips seafood make every night taste like a night out by Gertrude's coastal dining at the Baltimore Museum of Gertrude's features regional cuisine using sustainable progress on the web at truth.