Marine Sorcerers and the $24 Mushroom: Young Man and the Sea by David Pasternack and Ed Levine

Although I love a good fish dinner as much as the next gal, I have always had a couple of issues with cooking seafood at home:

Number one, I have an irrational fear that I will poison my guests by serving them raw fish.  The rational part of my brain understands that restaurants do not have some magical method for rendering raw fish safe to eat, either. But the emotional part of my brain is convinced that it is going to be the piece of fish that I bring home and serve to my friends that will end up being bad. 

Number two, I have been continuously frustrated in my attempts to sear scallops at home.  No matter which method I tried, what pan I used, what I did to the scallops, I never could capture that perfect crusty sear that makes restaurant scallops so delicious.

Well, with the help of Young Man, I have been somewhat rehabilitated with respect to my seafood handicaps.  I served raw fish (fluke crudo with radishes) and I seared scallops with a little brown crust.  In my book, these are no small accomplishments. 

And some of the recipes were wonderful.  The oilve oil poached halibut with golden roasted beets and blood oranges was silky, juicy and sweet - a lovely light winter fish dish.  The linguine with clams and pancetta was so good that it caused me to wonder whether marine pixies were not sneaking into my stove and replacing my dishes with those of some wicked talented seafood sorcerer.

Many food writers have noted that fish is difficult to gussy up in a lavish, fantastical, sauce-laden complex way.  Here, with the benefit of David's fishy genius, those same qualities in fish will inure to your benefit. David Pasternack's smarts lay in being able to choose the perfect method for cooking fish or seafood simply, with a few ingredients.  The recipes are very clean and intensely flavored; most are simply adorned with some vegetables and drizzle of olive oil.  Simple and perfect, for the most part.

But, some recipes were grossly out of whack. The Taglietelle with Nantucket Bay Scallops, for example, was slick with oil – it called for 6 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of oil for a mere ¾ pound of pasta. I used half as much oil, and it was still so oily that no one could finish what was on their plates. The risotto with lobster and black trumpet mushrooms called for an inordinately large amount of mushrooms.  I used about half of them, and the risotto was still about 50% mushroom.  Pretty annoying considering that the mushrooms cost $24 a pound. I also noticed other problems with recipes – the description of scallops with spinach and parsnips, for example, references oranges in the description but does not include oranges in the ingredients or instructions.

Although I will be the first to admit that I am no pro in the kitchen, I really don’t see how these shortcomings could be attributable to my inexperience. I think that many of the recipes missed something in the translation from restaurant kitchen to home kitchen. For me, this is a book that I will use for ideas, but I will probably doctor and adjust the recipes as I go along.  After all, marine pixies are notoriously unreliable kitchen guests.

Comments

[Mr. Addict]

While I agree with TCA on the good dishes (poached halibut and linguine with clams), I feel a little more strongly than her about the ones that did not work.

Calling the Taglietelle with scallops greasy is an understatement. It was the Exxon Valdez of dishes.

The risotto wasn't much better. While the flavor of the risotto was good, the black trumpet mushrooms left whole (no instructions to chop) were overpowering and texturally at odds with the rice. The method for cooking the lobster didn't work, and the lobster had no real "connection" to the risotto flavor-wise.

[pbromley]

I haven't eaten at Esca yet. The dishes you made sound interesting, and I am curious to see if the problems with the recipes extend to eating them at the restaurant. Where did you get the Black trumpet mushrooms? Were you happy with the Lobster? Where did you get that ingredient?

[The Cookbook Addict]

Hey PB,

Got the black trumpets at Whole Foods. To tell you the truth, I don't think they were optimally fresh. Not worth the $ or the long lines at WF...The lobster was from Citarella, and was excellent. Citarella rocks.

If you go the Esca, pop back in and let me know how you liked it!

The Cookbook Addict

[pbromley]

Thanks for the info. I have had mixed experiences of late with Wholefoods so I am not surprised about the mushrooms. I haven't shopped at Citarella in a while as it is not near where I live. Sounds like it may be worth a trip to check it out again.

I'll definitely let you know what I think of Esca after I check it out.

[DougW]

To get the scallops like you want them, treat them like a fried egg in a stainless pan. If the pan is hot and you have the right amount of oil, the scallops come out with a great caramelized crust. If they are big ones, I do it like a pork chop. Sear it in the pan and finish in the oven. Of course, the times are considerably less.

[Mr. Addict]

I agree Doug, my experience has been to use a stainless pan, really high heat and mix of butter and oil. A really light dusting of flower can help the crust too.

The tricky thing about using the oven and timing is deciding how "done" you want the scallops to be. Sometimes I like the almost raw, other times just cooked.

[tina]

In my experience restaurant chefs do not generally generate intelligently designed cookbooks. they seem to assume that everyone has a number of persons in the kitchen do do all the work, on stoves that have very high BTU capability. Additionally, pricey ingredients prevail.

[James]

I love the food at Esca, but obviously the recipes in this book weren't tested. Every time I read a recipe and the amount of liquids make no sense, it turns out the recipe is wrong.

Great pictures as usual! I still can't believe you own all those dishes.