Fresh Tart

I had the pleasure just a few short weeks ago of doing a cooking demo at the Minneapolis Home & Garden Show with Sea Change executive chef Jamie Malone. Since the show, Malone was named to Food & Wine Magazine's list of Best New Chefs 2013! Very exciting for her, and for Minneapolis. If you're waiting for a show at the Guthrie to enjoy a meal at Sea Change, you're so missing out. Very soon, when spring arrives, make your way over to their stunning patio, overlooking the Stone Arch Bridge, and feast upon oysters and perfectly cooked, sustainable fish, washed down with beautiful wine. A night to remember, for sure.

And for a night at home in front of a roaring fire, because that's just where we're still at, make this simple, elegant fish. I hadn't baked fish in a salt crust before doing the demo with Malone, but I sure will now. First of all, it's really fun. The crust is just egg whites and kosher salt, mixed until it feels like wet sand.

It takes just a couple of minutes to pat it around the fish - and draw on a smiley face, per Malone's suggestion - which can be done ahead by a few hours if you like. After a brief bake, crack open the crust (very impressive) to reveal moist, silky fish, not salty at all but perfectly seasoned, ready to eat alongside spring vegetables with a drizzle of best olive oil. You can't beat if for elegance and simplicity.

I made the version in the picture with whole snapper because I hadn't called ahead for striped bass. After having both (the striped bass at the Home & Garden Show with Malone vs. the snapper I made) call Coastal Seafoods ahead for the striped bass (they can order it but don't stock it); it's meatier flesh is a perfect fit for baking inside the crust.

Chef Jamie Malone's recipe for Whole Fish Baked in a Salt Crust with Fennel & Olives at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Along with my father-in-law's famously fabulous crab cakes, my other favorite is Andrew Zimmern's version, via our mutual friend Carol Mack. Both recipes have in common a very, very small amount of breading. Crab cakes should be mostly crab! Really, really good lump crab, in fact.

Recipe for Baltimore-Style Crab Cakes at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.

Hello from my (ridiculously brief) summer vacation in East Hampton. The only reason I'm posting a recipe while on vacation is that the local produce out here is so astonishing that I'm inspired to cook here more than I am at home. As much as the area is known for spiffy homes, those homes are separated by farms and farm stands bursting with glorious peaches, grapes, melons, vegetables, tomatoes, and berries. The sweet corn in particular haunts my beachy dreams with its caviar-pop sweetness.

As an added bonus, the fish scene is as fresh as the fashion. Every summer, my father-in-law makes us his famous crab cakes, a recipe I've already shared, so this year I settled on making up a crab and sweet corn chowder. It's not difficult to put your hands on good lump crab meat in Minnesota (Coastal Seafoods sells it, for instance), and Lord knows we know good sweet corn right exactly now. Work in some of the fresh herbs overgrowing your garden, serve wearing high heels alongside a plate of perfectly ripe tomatoes, and call it August, Hamptons-in-Minnesota style.

Recipe for Crab & Sweet Corn Chowder at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

And oh, congratulations chef Sameh Wadi (Saffron, World Street Kitchen) for his win at the Minneapolis Farmers Market Country Chef Challenge this past Saturday! He and chef Jack Riebel (Butcher and the Boar) faced off with fresh-and-fabulous items quickly gathered at the market. I was a lucky, lucky judge, along with Lee Dean, food editor at the Star Tribune, and Matt Brickman and Jamie Yuccas, weekend anchors at WCCO-TV.

Jack Riebel's luscious beer cheese soup with tomatoes, chiles, maple-glazed bacon, fried croutons.

Sameh Wadi's stunning tomato salad with smoked tomato vinaigrette and raspberries (top) and fragrant trout tagine with squash and sweet corn.

Not a bad way to kick off the weekend, ha! I went from the market to the airport. Whee! Nice.

Notice how both chefs featured the gorgeous tomatoes flooding the markets right now. If you're looking for new (as well as tried-and-true) ways to use the tomatoes in your garden or at the market (like the gorgeous tomato jam pictured!), join chef Scott Pampuch and me for the last class in our Provisions series at Kitchen in the Market. This Thursday night we will be talking and eating tomatoes and berries: Jams, syrups, freezing, sauces, preserving in oil, on and on and on. We'll share tasty cocktails and a delicious meal as we chat and learn. Join us!

Tis the season for the glory of soft-shell crabs, fried crispy and devoured while tongue-burning hot. They're in restaurants everywhere right now but they're a breeze to make at home as well, so if the craving strikes...get frying!

The Bangalore-style sauce is laced with chiles and fresh herbs, a perfect foil for rich, crispy crab.

Recipe for Crispy Soft-Shell Crabs with Spicy Bangalore-Style Dipping Sauce at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.

These butterflied shrimp are more of a technique than a recipe, a simple way to grill truly shrimpy shrimp.

Shrimp shells are where the flavor is at - even if you're preparing shelled shrimp for a salad or pasta, keep the shells! Either freeze them in an airtight plastic bag or make quick batches of stock as you go and freeze the stock. Use the stock to make risotto, soup, a simple pan sauce...wherever you add it, it's an incredible punch of flavor for very little effort.

Or especially during grilling season, just cook the shrimp in their shells. To not have to fuss with skewers, or with peeling hot shrimp (which is a bit of a pain), remove the legs from large shrimp (U15), then with a small, sharp knife, split them lengthwise down the middle without cutting all the way through the shells. Remove the vein that runs down the middle (running them under cold water makes the process go quickly) and press gently on the shrimp to flatten them. I set them on a baking sheet as I go, dry them all with paper towels when I'm done, then drizzle them with olive oil on both sides. I then sprinkle them very lightly with salt and grill over medium high heat until the shells are pink and the flesh is completely opaque, usually about 3 minutes per side.

Serving suggestions at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Tender chicken and shrimp wrapped around sugar cane, grilled, then topped with spicy peanut sauce. Wrap in lettuce leaves and devour, preferably less maniacally than I did, I could not get enough of these.

Recipe for Golden Coin Chicken-n-Shrimp Skewers with Peanut Sauce at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.

Coconut milk and a cashew butter finish make this gorgeous stew irresistible. This is everything I want to eat right now, after the holidays, when it's biting cold outside.

Recipe for Brazilian Fish, Shrimp & Mussel Stew at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.

Fun to make for a crowd - Super Bowl Sunday! - and utterly salty crispy addictive.

Recipe for Trinidad Salt Cod Fritters at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.

It's chowder season, yay! I'm a bit maniacal about chowder and all its briny, creamy glory.

Recipe for Montauk Oyster & Scallop Pan Roast at Food & Wine Magazine/Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures.

I first posted this last year, but the story and pics make me so happy, I'm pulling it up again for today. Happy Father's Day! - Stephanie

I sent my dad an email telling him to check out my buttermilk pancake post and wishing him Happy Father's Day.  This is what he wrote back:

I just got back from Canada last night.  We were fishing on Keefe Lake, which is in northern Saskatchewan, about 1,200 miles north of Sheridan.  We drove my pickup to Laronge and then flew the last 200 miles.  We had two shore lunches in the five days of fishing: The guide takes a large steel frying pan with high sides and fills it with canola oil, then sets it over an open camp fire.  When it's very hot, he dumps in frozen french fries.  When the french fries are starting to brown, he drops in onion rings.  After two or three batches, he starts frying the fish.  The fish are walleye, caught that morning and cleaned while still flopping.  Each fillet is rolled in flour, then dipped in beaten egg, then rolled in potato buds, and then dropped into the very hot oil.  They are fried until they "look pretty".  Meanwhile, canned baked beans are heating next to the fire.  Everyone grabs a plate and the feast is on while the guide continues to fry fish until everyone is stuffed.  All of this is best accompanied by cold beer.  Dessert is canned peaches with egg coffee.

I loved this email.  I laughed.  My mouth watered.

I thought of my Grandpa Meyer (my dad's dad, who was a walleye fisherman extraordinaire, above).  I thought of my Grandma Meyer (who fried all that walleye - dredged in flour, fried in butter - until we all got full).

I got a tear in my eye.

I marveled that my dad drove 1,000 miles before his short flight.  (He lives in Sheridan, Wyoming.)  He, my stepmom Susanna, and my sister Stacey embrace a long drive.  I...do not.

I thought about how my dad is a true Renaissance Man: Lawyer, serious hunter/fisherman/outdoorsman/horseman, history expert, dog whisperer, nightmare debater, incredible cook, our family's storyteller, father of four.

I thought about how much I love my family for loving real, good food.  I thought about how much I hope I'm passing this love on to my son.

And then I decided to fry up some walleye.  I'd never heard of dredging fish with potato buds before (see dredged in flour, fried in butter, above), so I decided to give the guide's technique a try, since I assume the man knows how to fry up some fish.  It was completely delicious, a light as air crust around moist fish (similar in effect to panko crumbs).

All of this is best accompanied by cold beer. Yeah.

Shore Lunch Fried Walleye
Serves 4 (except in my family, where this would barely serve 2)

1 lb. walleye fillets
1 egg + 1 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. flour, on a plate
1 1/2 c. instant mashed potato flakes or panko crumbs, on a plate
peanut oil or other oil for high heat frying

Fill a wok 1/3 full of oil and set over medium high heat.  While oil heats, beat egg, 1 Tbsp. of water, and 1 tsp. of salt in a pie plate.  Line up the egg, flour, and potato flakes.  When oil is hot, dip both sides of walleye fillets in flour, then egg, then potato flakes, then transfer the fillet to the hot oil.  Fry fillet, turning once, until fish is nicely golden brown on both sides.  Drain on paper towels.  Repeat with other fillets and serve immediately.