Several weeks ago, I wrote I was becoming a bit bored with restaurant food. So many places serve the same tired dishes and few restaurants offer a refreshing surprise.
It is not that I dislike fried calamari, Caesar salad, crab cakes, mussels, flounder stuffed with crabmeat or burgers. Rather, I find a number of cooks are selecting inferior-quality ingredients.
Let’s dissect an authentic Caesar salad. The hearts of romaine must be cool and crisp. The dressing must be made with olive oil, lemon juice, a raw egg, anchovies, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, freshly ground black pepper and a top-quality Italian grating cheese, such as Asiago, Parmigiano-Reggiano or Locatelli.
Crab cakes are another dish that usually disappoints. It is difficult to find crabmeat from the Chesapeake Bay that I prefer over crabs trapped in the Gulf of Mexico. Even if cooks are using Mexican crabmeat, they are using a low grade, are adding way too much breadcrumbs and much too much Old Bay seasoning. The crab cakes are then fried to a dusty, salty death.
It is also more difficult to find a real juicy rare burger these days. Burgers should be fat, not flat. When they arrive flat, the natural beef juices are nowhere to be found.
A mussel antipasto always pleases me when the dish is prepared with either Prince Edward Island or New Zealand mussels. The cheap run-of-the-mill variety is dry and scrawny. The cook forgets to sauce them properly so what I sometimes end up with is a pool of flavorless sauce in the bottom of the bowl topped with over cooked mussels.
I decided to give you my recipes for a few restaurant dishes that are easy to prepare at home. Many of them are freeform, which means you can play with the recipe and add ingredients. Amounts are freeform as well.
Caesar Salad
Ingredients:
1-cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tin of anchovies
1 egg, beaten
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Grated cheese of your choice, such as Parmigiano Reggiano, Asiago or Locatelli
3 large hearts of romaine, cut into bite-size pieces
Directions:
Place the olive oil, lemon juice and anchovies in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until smooth. Add the beaten egg and process until the egg is incorporated into the dressing. Add the Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. Process again. Add a good-size handful of grated cheese and process until the cheese is incorporated into the dressing.
Pour the dressing into the bottom of a salad bowl. Add the romaine lettuce and toss well.
Pass the grated cheese at the table.
Serves four.
Note from Phyllis: I don’t care for croutons in Caesar salad, but you may add them if you like.
Mussels
Ingredients:
2 pounds Prince Edward Island or New Zealand mussels
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
4 fat cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
Handful of chopped, fresh parsley leaves
Directions:
Although the mussels are cultivated, wash them thoroughly in cold water, checking for any "beards" that might be attached to their shells. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy 4-quart pot. Add the shallots and garlic and saut� until the onions are translucent, about four to five minutes. Do not burn the garlic. Add the wine, raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the mussels to the pot, cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat to a simmer. Cook the mussels for a few minutes, shake the pot and cook for a few minutes more or until the shells open.
Remove the pot from the heat. Discard any unopened mussels. Using a long plastic or wooden spoon, spoon the sauce over the mussels. Add the chopped parsley and serve.
Serves four.
Note from Phyllis: You can substitute a can of beer for the wine in this recipe. You also can add one (28-ounce) can of diced tomatoes to the pot before adding the mussels.
The 21 Burger
Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
Sprinkling of dehydrated onion flakes
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Small handful of chopped, fresh parsley
Directions:
Place the ground beef in a bowl. Carefully break it up with your fingers. Add the remaining ingredients and blend gently with your hands.
Divide the beef into four equal parts. Wet your hands. Form the beef into four patties, making sure to not squash them flat.
The patties can be grilled outdoors or on an indoor grill. Or, add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter to a skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat and add the burgers. (I use a spatula to flip my burgers, but be sure not to squash them flat.)
Serves four.
Note from Phyllis: There is much debate about the amount of fat needed in ground beef to make a tasty burger. You will find 80 and 85 percent lean beef are best for grilling. If you buy ground beef that is too lean, such as 93 percent, you will end up with a drier burger. I found the above recipe, which comes from the long-standing 21 Restaurant in New York City, many years ago in a magazine. I have been preparing burgers this way ever since.
Crab Cakes
Ingredients:
1 pound top-quality lump crabmeat, picked over for shells
1/2-cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
Juice of 1 small lemon
Just enough fine, dry breadcrumbs to bind the crabmeat
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place the crabmeat in a stainless steel or ceramic bowl. Gently break the lumps apart with a fork. Add the mayonnaise, beaten egg and lemon juice. Gently blend the mixture with your hand. Gradually add the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Blend well.
Wet your hands. Divide the crab meat into four equal parts and make four rounded patties. You can top each crab cake with a dash of imported sweet Hungarian paprika, if you like.
Place the crab cakes on a cookie sheet. Broil until the tops are golden, about five minutes.
Serves four.
Note from Phyllis: Some people like to add a little minced red bell pepper to their crab cakes. I like to bake or broil them because I like the crusty top. You can saut� them in vegetable oil, if you wish.
