PERSIAN GARLICKY ROASTED EGGPLANT SPREAD (Mirza Ghasemi)

2 large eggplants
2 tablespoons grape seed oil, or other cooking oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 12 oz can diced tomatoes, drained of juices
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon quality evoo

Preheat oven to 400°F. Poke holes all over eggplants with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Eggplants are cooked if you pinch the neck and it is soft. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Peel off skin from eggplants (they should come off easily if cooked through). Finely chop and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds), add turmeric and eggplant, stirring occasionally, cook for 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and continue cooking for another 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add slightly beaten egg while continuously stirring.
Transfer to a shallow bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Serve warm or let cool.

This Persian dish is traditionally served with freshly baked flat bread and plain yogurt.

Recommended Wine: Syrah

PAPRIKA CHARRED OCTOPUS WITH POTATOES

PAPRIKA CHARRED OCTOPUS WITH POTATOES

6 tablespoons good quality evoo
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 bunch parsley
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
3 teaspoons smoked paprika
¼ cup red wine vinegar
6 small potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled
1 3¼ lb octopus, cleaned, head and beak removed, fresh or frozen
1 wine cork
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, carrot and celery, cook until soft (about 8 minutes). Add 2 teaspoons paprika and coriander seeds, cook until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Fill pot a little less than ¾ of the way full of water, add vinegar, bunch of parsley, potatoes, salt & pepper, and bring to a boil.

Dunk octopus tentacles into pot and immediately pull out; this will keep the skin from falling off and give an appealing curl for presentation purposes. Add octopus to pot, toss in a wine cork, reduce to a simmer, cook until tender (about 70 minutes) turning octopus occasionally, and removing potatoes when cooked (about 15 minutes). Transfer potatoes to a plate and let cool while octopus continues to cook. Transfer octopus to plate until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, rub skin off potatoes and cut in half. Cut tentacles into equal pieces. Toss with 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add octopus and cook until charred, turning occasionally (about 8 minutes). Remove from heat, add butter and potatoes and toss to coat.

In a small bowl combine remaining extra-virgin olive oil with lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, remaining paprika, salt and pepper.

Transfer octopus and potatoes to plates and drizzle with paprika oil. Serve.

Recommended Beer: Firestone Walker Pivo Pils

Homemade Lox

There's nothing quite like the taste of the salty goodness that comes from well-cured salmon. Salmon itself isn't all that cheap, and the cured stuff--forget about it. I only sometimes splurge and spend nearly $10 on a lox bagel for lunch but only when I'm really craving the stuff. Then I realized I could just make my own at home for 1/4 of the price! Lox is similar to gravlax by way of curing. Both are cured with a mixture of salt and sugar, but gravlax typically calls for additional herbs such as dill. I tried a few different variations until I reached what I believe makes the perfect lox. Hope you like!

What you need:

1 lb salmon cut into 2 equal portions
plastic wrap
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Himalayan Pink Rock Salt
1 teaspoon pepper
baking pan
small baking pan
weighted object

Place salmon portions skin side down on plastic wrap. Combine sugar, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl and mix until all ingredients are well incorporated. Rub salmon with salt/sugar mixture. Press flesh sides of each salmon against each other as if sandwiching them and wrap with plastic wrap. Make sure it's firm but not too tightly wrapped because you want to be able to release the liquids. Place the salmon in a baking dish. Place another baking dish over the salmon (or a plate) and place a weight on the dish. I used a bottle of olive oil. Place in refrigerator using something to prop up the pan the salmon is in so that it is tilted and the liquids can flow to one side. The object here is to avoid the salmon having to sit in it's own liquids that will be released in the curing process. Let it sit like this for 24 hours. Remove the pan and discard the accumulated liquid--it should have a syrup like consistency. Then place the salmon back into the refrigerator, this time flipping the salmon over and switching the side it was previously tilted towards. Leave for another 24 hours. After 48 hours of curing, you should be good to go but I let mine sit an additional 10 hours mainly out of forgetfulness. Remove the salmon and rinse off all of the salt mixture under cold running water. Slice downwards towards the tail and enjoy!

For a simple tea time snack, I spread goat cheese on sesame flat bread, topped with thinly sliced cucumbers, then with the lox, and a few capers. Cheers!

      

Clam Bake for Two

Okay, so I'm a Cali girl and have never been to a real clambake, but don't they just look like so much fun?! I did tons of research on what makes a New England clambake so authentic because here I am wanting to recreate this epic feast in the most traditional fashion. Also, clambakes are typically pretty huge. If you're going to put in the time and effort for one of these, it only makes sense to get all your friends and family in on the festivities right? But date night is coming up and I am really tired of dinner and a movie (well not dinner) and I really want to attempt a clam bake. Sounds romantic! Well it's not that simple here in San Diego where draconian laws prohibit fires on most beaches and the limited beaches that do allow bonfires, confine the space to small designated pits. So I can't just a dig a hole in the sand for a makeshift oven, but not a problem, I'll just dig a hole in the sand within the pit. Now I need some stones. I'm at Mission Bay because that's where these fire pits are, so it's not really a beach, and seaweed and stones are scarce. Still, I manage to find some rather large rocks off by the parking lot and noticed some seaweed washed ashore.

After placing my stones in the pit, my fiance threw in some wood we picked up from the free section on Craigslist. The object here is to build a fire on top of the rocks, wait for the fire to burn down so that the wood glows amber over the rocks and heats them up. Once the wood turns to ash, the stones should be at a temperature of about 400 F. If you place your hand above the pit you can feel the heat radiating.

After the wood turns to ash, use a shovel to shovel off as much of the ash as you can off of the rocks. I then separated my clams-- the jumbo ones from the smaller ones-- and wrapped them in cheesecloth creating 2 sacks of clams. I walked down to the bay and dunked them in the water so the cheesecloth is now wet. Also, grabbing some seaweed. Now it is recommended to use rock-weed-- that's the seaweed I could find at a real beach-- because those have the little balloon looking things on them that are actually filled with ocean water so you can really get that salt water taste infused in your clam bake. Oh well, I am quite determined on making this work so I opt for the seaweed available to me at the bay. I threw the sacks on top of the rocks and heard them sizzle.

Working quickly, I then tossed the seaweed on the clams covering them completely.

You also need a burlap sack or a canvas tarp to throw over the seaweed. I brought a rice sack with me from home knowing I don't need a huge tarp because of the small size of the clambake. Soak the burlap in the ocean water and place over the seaweed.

Then cover the whole thing with sand.

The whole thing, I said.

Basically, creating a steam basket. Now just kick back with your beau/belle and enjoy the sunset. 

After about 35 minutes. The clams should be good to go. Or at least I hoped. We tore the whole thing apart in anticipation and pulled out our sacks of clams smelling soooo good. Sure enough, they were all cooked to perfection. 

It was a clambake for 2 so the whole process didn't take more than 3 hours or so. It was a success. My fiance was definitely a little skeptical at first, but once he started sucking down clams one after the other, he was a happy camper. And so was I.

What you need:

shovel

6-8 stones

bunch of wood

3 lbs fresh clams

cheesecloth

seaweed

burlap or tarp

sand

lemon & hot sauce for garnish (optional)

Dig a hole in the sand and place the rocks in the middle.

Build a fire with the wood over the rocks. Wait for the fire to burn down and the wood glows amber until it turns to ash. Shovel off the ash. The stones should be at a temperature around 400 F. Wrap the clams in cheesecloth making a sack for easier handling. Dunk them in the ocean water making sure the cheesecloth is wet all over. Place clams on top of the stones. Cover with seaweed. Cover with burlap or tarp that has also been soaked with ocean water. Cover the whole pile completely with sand. You have now created a makeshift steamer. Relax with some cold brew for about 35 minutes. Shovel off the sand and pick apart your layers until you reach your clams. Enjoy!