Crabs Ahoy!

We came across these soft shell crabs yesterday at Whole Foods in Cambridge. These were caught live in Maryland and selling for $5.99 per crab, very simple to prepare as well. Pat Mr. Crab dry with a paper towel before dredging in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Cover the bottom of your frying pan with oil, once the oil reaches a medium high heat around 350f you’re good to go. The best part is it only takes 2-3 minutes per side. We served this po’boy style on some fresh bread, fresh lettuce, tarter and hot sauce. Mr. Crab had a nice crispy crunch with soft mild meat inside. This brought us back to a child hood vacation in Chesapeake Bay! Get them while you can.

Homemade Pizza Pies!

Much to the surprise of The Salted Cod, we have finally made a good pizza at home. The crust was basic supermarket pizza dough which was first oiled and grilled on the barbie to give it a nice crunch (and those burnt edges we love so much.) We then topped this pie with fire roasted eggplant & sweet potato chunks along with caramelized onions and crumbled goat cheese. A few sprinklings of dried rosemary really brought this to a higher level. The topped pizza then went under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

Even the roommates were impressed by this pie, "looks better than Mama Celeste!"

Here is our share! Week 1

We are happy to announce a new weekly series entitled, “Here is our share!” These specific posts are going to follow our CSA share from Parker Farm in Lunenburg, Massachusetts through out the summer and into the fall. Every Wednesday we meet up with Mr. Parker in Cambridge where he drops off weekly vegetable shares for us urban people who buy a share in his farm for the season. We receive a great variety of different items that are currently in season. It’s a great value which goes to a noble cause and it's super fresh! You can even talk to the farmer who grows your food (how many of you can say that?) We will post a picture of what was received for the week, and an entry or two of the more exciting things we have made with the share.

WEEK 1

Starting at the top from left to right: mustard greens, turnip greens, mizuna, spinach, lettuce, and bok choy.



After making a nice salad with some of the mizuna and boston lettuce greens we quickly turned out attention to the baby bok choy in share number one. The greens were chopped off the top while the bottoms were halved and braised with some wild mushrooms. We paired these tender greens with teriyaki chicken and brown rice. Next time we would suggest caramelizing the bok choy just a bit more.

Other tips after week one; let the greens soak in a large bowl then a few times around in a salad spinner. Not that we mind, but there is significantly more sand and dirt in these greens than the mega mart variety. It’s still a nice trade off.

Cheesy Ramp Potatoes!

This is my second meal with my Ramps.

I found this recipe for Scalloped Potatoes With Ramps on the Earthy Delights website through a google search for “scalloped potatoes ramps.”

I served these cheesy ramp potatoes with a simple (cheap) ham steak that I fried up in my old cast iron pan. I also prepared spinach sautéed in a bit of olive oil and 2 crushed garlic cloves.
My after thoughts on this recipe...
I would have liked a cheesier, sauce based scalloped potato dish. The recipe just throws the cheese on top in the last 20 minutes of cooking. If you try making this I would recommend making a béchamel sauce of sorts similar to mac and cheese sauce first and drench those taters and ramps. A little smoky bacon would have been a nice addition as well. Still a very good dish enjoyed by a few lucky people I know.
Highly recommended.

Fettuccine with Ramps alla Carbonara

This would be my secret weapon if my pasta dishes ever had to duel other pasta dishes. (Which they WILL someday!)

My Fettuccine with ramps alla carbonara comes out to visit once a year and its well worth it. A very simple dish once you find the ramps.

In the words of Alton Brown, your software:

• 1 pound of fresh pasta

• As many ramps as you can stand and or find. I used 15 bunches in this case. Cut the greens, cut the whites.

• 5 to 10 slices of prosciutto chopped

• black pepper

• 1/4 cup of pecorino romano

• pat of butter

• 1 egg

While the pasta is cooking, start by sautéing your ramp whites for a minute or two with a pat of butter. Next, add the ramp greens and chopped prosciutto. As soon as the pasta is just about al dente pull it off the heat and drain. Place the pasta back in the pan combine with the cooked mix of ramps and chopped prosciutto. Crack one egg right in there and ever so gently stir it around on low heat. You're not looking for scrambled eggs here but a nice glossy finish on your pasta. Finally, grind a whole lot of black pepper and mix in around 1/4 cup of pecorino romano and enjoy.

I sure did.

From Appalachia with love

From Appalachia with love is all I can say.

Last year, I really started getting into wild foods, farmers markets and cooking great meals myself . I heard of this wild plant called a ramp from various blogs. These ramps reportedly have the shortest harvesting season out of any plant I know, a mere 5 weeks a year tops. I've found that there is only one real farm that specializes in the growing of these wild leeks. The rest are gathered in forest land mostly throughout Appalachia. Last season, I scoured every farmers market and called different produce managers around town to no avail.

Yesterday, while walking through the Whole Foods produce section I spotted a basket filled to the brim with RAMPS! These babies were unmarked and not even priced. I grabbed a bag like a deranged maniac and stuffed it to capacity! My only fear now is how much are they charging for these?

After holding up the line at the register for a good 20 minutes the friendly cashier finally found a sku number and it came out to $2.99 per pound. I'm not sure if she gave up and just entered something else but $2.99 a pound was CHEAP. I've seen them priced online for upwards of $20.00 per pound.

Let me tell you, driving home these stink weeds lived up to their expectations. My car reeked of a very strong onion/garlic scent which I was thoroughly enjoying.

When I arrived home, I washed my little ramps off and happily put them in the fridge. Without a doubt, I will be traveling back to Whole Foods to buy them out.

Somerville says no!

Originally uploaded by dandrewwatts.

The Somerville Journal reports today that balcony grilling is illegal!

Sure there's a little guy in the back of everyone's mind saying this is probably wrong to do, but there is an irresistible urge for grilled meat that takes over, thus causing balcony grilling to prevail in my neighborhood.

If you talk a walk around my neighborhood in Winter Hill most balconies do have some type of grilling device in plain view. On any given summer night last year, I could look out my window and see someone grilling on a balcony or porch within eyesight of my very own balcony. Call me jealous, but if these guys are eating grilled burgers and dogs conveniently from their balcony, why can't I?

I am still deciding on my official stance regarding this issue. I do think if you can be responsible and attentive to your grill and have a working fire extinguisher handy, chances are you'll be okay. Do I really want to take a chance and play with fire? No one ever mentions the legality of this as well. I checked my tenant’s agreement on my lease and there was no mention of this issue. I still wonder what would happen if I burned down my house because I was grilling on my balcony, I think it would be safe to say my lease would be terminated at the least. Would any additional criminal charges be pressed as well? Would I be paying my landlord back for eternity for damages?

Speaking only for myself, I am not too comfortable with some drunken Tufts students hooting, hollering, and playing with lighter fluid next door. I trust myself, but who is watching them?
Maybe this is for the best. Redbones is just down the street anyway...

Worst Slice

There's no question that the Salted Cod has a weakness for pizza, and as a new contributor I felt obligated to blog this slice. If you didn't know already, Regina is Boston's best. Unfortunately, this is only true when you visit the original Thatcher Street location in the North End. I was on my way to a concert on Lansdowne and opted for the food court in the Pru, and made the worst pizza decision of my life. Their first mistake was choosing to not re-heat my slice and instead throwing it in one of those lame cardboard slice-shaped boxes. Lame. Second mistake, ordering two slices. I know good pizza when I see it, and I definitely was not seeing it. But my hunger got the best of me and there I was, sitting in the filthiest food court of one of the bougiest malls with two soggy, under-cooked slices in two hideous (and rather wasteful) boxes. As I was picking at the remains of my room temperature cheese, I realized I actually had a better slice of Regina at the Holyoke Mall. Man. The obvious moral of this pizza tale of woe is always stick with the original. And, for your own amusement here is a collection of me suffering through this poor meal choice.

Red Velvet

As the newest member of the Salted Cod (and the only one with the patience for baking), I was inspired to make a red velvet cake from the delicious cupcakes found at Tonnie's minis. The recipe is quite basic, mainly consisting of cocoa, vinegar, buttermilk, lots of sugar and of course red food coloring. The most important step in baking this cake was creating a paste of unsweetened cocoa and 1 oz. of food coloring to be folded into the batter. As seen in the photos below, the color becomes freakishly red after a few turns.


In the end I realized that the red velvet formula is far more superior as cupcakes. Don't get me wrong, this cake was baked with love and definitely gave me my chocolate fix, but I think because of its intense sweetness it fairs better in smaller doses.

The Salted Cod gets sauced

sample size
Originally uploaded by t8074.

Almost.



The Salted Cod recently took an unexpected field trip to the Harpoon Brewery this weekend. Harpoon gives tours of their Boston brewery Tuesday through Saturday. It's not so much a tour but more of a beer tasting and information session. No reservations are necessary just show up at one of the specified tour times. Your host talks about each beer Harpoon brews in pretty good detail, while the massive mob is trying to get as many free samples as possible.

The Salted Cod tasted the UFO which is an unfiltered Hefeweizen style beer with lemony overtones. The Salted Cod says this is an excellent summer brew giving house favorite Hoegaarden some stiff competition. Also sampled and pictured on the right is the Harpoons 100 Barrel Series. As explained by our host the 100 barrel series is a special opportunity for their brewers to make something they really enjoy in small batches. This beer is based on a Danish Style Farmhouse Ale they tasted in Denmark. Our guide said Harpoon actually flew the Danish Brewer over to help them craft this beer in its true form. It's a good beer with a lot of different flavors going on.

It's a recommended visit if you have the chance and it's free!

Yoshi's

Sometimes the Salted Cod is too lazy to cook.

Hey, it happens to the best of us. With Yoshi's down the street it happens to the best of us about once a week.

Fast Food (in another part of the world)

Falafel pita's are definatley one of my favorite vegetarian entrees. Who can resist that stuffed pita?

Step 1 - Make some grilled pita's


Step 2 - Make some falafel


Step 3 - Put it all together and enjoy*


*Excluded steps - making of homemade cucumber yogurt sauce. Adding of toppings of tomato, lettuce, pickels and hot sauce.

Happy Birthday to The Salted Cod!

The Salted Cod turns one year old today!!

It has been a good year for food, people have become more conscious of where the food they eat is actually coming from. This is actually The Salted Cod's 50th post as well. We have had well over 1000 vistors to the site since our first post. For this upcoming year my goal is to post at least one entry per week.

I would like to thank Steve for a lot of the behind the scenes prep work, he has helped to make this an enjoyable experience for me. I would also like to thank Lisa for her endless help with kitchen cleanup.

Support your farmers market this summer. Join a CSA, try to eat food that was only grown and or produced within a 100 mile radius of your home.

I love getting comments so keep them coming, and if you have any suggestions for the upcoming year let me know.

Eat local, eat less and eat fresh.

Local Harvest
Michael Pollan's resources for "sustainable eating"

Thank You
The Salted Cod

Tacos Al Pastor

Ok, so Steve and I have been on mission to make some authentic tacos similar to those back in the Southwest. We bought the masa mix and we were determined to make out own tortillas. It turns out you really do need a tortilla press to get the right. We tried and tried but it just wasn't quite the same. They tasted right but they looked like little mongrels. We stewed some pork for a couple of hours in this extra spicy chili sauce/stew I brewed up. We had tons of fresh lime to squeeze on, diced red onions, cilantro and some fried mexixan queso, and diced tomatos. it was a hell of a lot of work for this dinner but well worth it. Eat your heart out taco bell.

Spaghetti Regine Ragu

Pork Rib Ragu, with these huge hollow spaghetti tubes. Never seen them before, I found them in a small italian market in Somerville. The ragu was extremely flavorfull while the pasta was a bit clumsy. In the end it was damn tasty as you can see.

South Face Farm

Tried a new maple house...
South Face Farm in Ashfield. The owner Tom was a nice fellow his sugaring technique was a bit too modern for me. Overall not the greatest experience. After the extra long wait in the freezing cold we were seated inside the dining room which was a step up from a barn. The syrup was very light and not too robust in flavor. One oil can per table seemed quite sparingly as well for six people. The pancakes we're heavy, the fritters we're great. Paper plates and plastic silverwear all around. The pickles we're soggy too. Next time I'm going back to Gould's.

Irish

Egg

Happy Valentines Day!

I was hungry last night and attempted to make pita bread. It wasn't quite as good as store bought. Well it definatley wasn't as good as store bought. The finished product was hollow somehow though. This one pictured is a special V-Day Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce pita.

Pita Pockets

Frenchie

Homemade french toast with homemade bread.

I knead some bread

For months now there has been a bread machine in one of my cabinets and tonight I decided it was time and I invested in a $4 bag of bread flour. The recipe for a basic white loaf was simple, I dumped everything in the machine and came back two hours later to a round loaf of bread. It actually tasted great. Good for the simple breads but I still miss my crusty long loafs. I calculated I could make 9 loafs from that one bag of flour bringing my costs to about $0.50 a loaf. Not bad.

Balsamic!

A bottle of Balsamic...
This is my balsamic lemon chicken.
The chicken is dredged lightly in flour then peppered on the heavy side. Fry it up, remove it from the pan, and pour out excess oil. Deglaze the pan with some balsamic vinegar and the juice of half a lemon. Now you've got some excellent sauce for that chicken mini-portobello’s and baby spinach.

Fiesta Mac n Cheese

This is my Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Mac n Cheese!



Idealy this dish should be made with freshly roasted green chilies from you know where. In this case it's quite hard to find them this time of year in the northeast. I went with some poblano peppers. I oiled them quite heavily and roasted them over an open flame on the stove.

I then went ahead and made a standard mac n cheese recipe. I chopped up the roasted poblanos and a small amount of chopped cilantro and added that into the cheese sauce. On top I substituted in fresh chopped tortillas from the "Frontier" in ABQ. Delicious.
Next time more peppers...

Eggies

There were two eggplants just sitting there and I was bored.

Slice

This is Boston's 2nd best slice.

Farmers Market Caprese

This was the best caprese of the summer right here. My own grown basil, zebra heirlooms from Kimball fruit farm and Mozzarella di Bufala Campana from Italy.

TC Lando's

No surprise here, this place is like the holy grail of steak and cheese sub shops. I have been lucky enough feed my belly with one the these since the shop was in Maynard way back in the day. A damn tasty steak & cheese that has been known to cause cravings in people as far away as Rapid City and Los Angeles. A no thrills shop that you get what you pay for (that is a mini sub pictured be warned.) The only steak and cheese that I know of where the steak is chopped small. It almost melts in your mouth like a little bit of steak and cheese heaven.

What's for dinner

Leek ravioli
Originally uploaded by t8074.

Dave's fresh pasta goat cheese & leek ravioli with sage brown butter.

MV Bakery

mvbakery cupcake 3
Originally uploaded by t8074.

I stopped in for breakfast at the MV Bakery and grabbed a great croissant. later that day it was a homemade cupcake. great moist yellow cake with a mountain of frosting housed in an original container.

Beach dog

Beach snack
Originally uploaded by t8074.

yeah, same place as the slush. Nothin' fancy.

Beach slush

Beach slush
Originally uploaded by t8074.

Nothing better than homemade lemon-lime beach slush. Cheap satisfaction on a hot day. Found this good stuff biking from Oak Bluffs to Edgartown on the main drag.

Beach clams

Fried Clams
Originally uploaded by t8074.

Oh man so much good food packed into such a small harbor. These whole belly clams are from that little shack on the right on the way to Menemsha harbor.

Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll
Originally uploaded by t8074.

The glorious Menemsha fish market lobster roll. Still warm dripping with butter and lemon.

Dippin Donuts

Holly Smokes! Two indie donut shops in a row!! This place "Dippin Donuts" Has great cinnamon donuts, with a nice powdery cinnamon-sugar coating. They also serve homemade bagels which are great but...after touring NYC I was very disappointed to see them just shove a tiny cream cheese container and a knife in my bag. You take the time to make the bagel, how about getting some good cream cheese and putting it on for your customers as well. Still worth checking out.