Why Aren't You Using Chili Threads?

I always learn a lot when I attend Collaboration Kitchen at Catalina Offshore Products, but it's the small unusual stuff that I'm exposed to that tickles me the most. Last month's Collaboration Kitchen featured Cafe Chloe's new chef Devon Junkin and he created a variety of wonderful, very accessible seafood dishes for the crowd. There's not one that I can't see myself making in my kitchen, from the delightful Hamachi Crudo with its crunchy apple and radish slaw to the divine Nicoise Salad and Bouillabaisse. But the folks I was surrounded by did double and triple takes when we were brought the Seabass with Vegetable Nage. Yes, the dish was warming and packed with lovely flavors--but what we were all spellbound by were the skinny long red threads perched atop the seabass filet. Chili threads.

All of us had to have them. Had to know where we could get them. Very simply, they were the coolest garnish ever.

I did a bit of research on them and found that they're Korean in origin so I got in touch with my friend Debbie Lee, an L.A.-based Korean-American chef and the author of Seoultown Kitchen. Debbie said, "Oh, you mean Silgochu! Yes, they are basically shredded from the pepper and dried. They can be very spicy as well. I use them to enhance soups, stews, and often use inside my Jeon items to add color and a kick of heat. My grandmother put them in her celebratory mung bean pancakes as well." (Jeon-style refers to dishes that are dredged in flour, then dipped in egg batter and fried.)

The threads can be found at Specialty Produce, but also at Korean markets and online spice shops. I bought a bag of them at Zion Market  for less than three dollars. They aren't crispy--more like elongated saffron threads. I tried toasting them, but they burn quickly. Toasting brought out some pepper aroma and a bit of heat, but I don't think you need to toast them and Debbie said she doesn't.

I added the chili threads to a luxurious cauliflower soup my friend Candy Wallace gave me. They added color and a little bite at the back of the throat to the creamy texture. They make even scrambled eggs look ravishing. I even found a delightful sounding recipe for warm rosemary olives with chili threads on the blog Feasting at Home. You can get even more ideas on Pinterest.

But, how about enjoying Devon Junkin's lovely Seabass with Vegetable Nage? It's a perfect cold-weather meal, thanks to the sauteed savoy cabbage and that dreamy light broth that makes the nage.

Seabass with Vegetable Nage
from Devon Junkin of Cafe Chloe
(printable recipe)

Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 pounds seabass filets, skin on
1 savoy cabbage, sliced
3 yellow onions, 2 of them sliced
2 turnips, sliced
2 celery roots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1/2 pound butter
1 cup white wine
Chili threads

For the nage:
Sweat down two onions, the turnips, celery root, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns in two tablespoons butter. Add wine and reduced by half. Add one gallon of water, bring the nage to a simmer, and cook for one hour. Season and strain through a chinois. Slowly whisk in all but two tablespoons of the remaining butter.

Pre-heat oven to 350° F.

For the cabbage:
Cut out the cor and cut the cabbage into long strips. Julienne the remaining onion and sweat down in two tablespoons butter. Add the cabbage and sweat down. Add one cup of the nage, season, and cook until the cabbage is tender.

Sear the seabass, skin side down, until crispy. Flip and finish in the oven.

In a shallow bowl, add the cabbage and nage. Top with sea bass and garnish with chili threads.




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Return to Victoria: A Confab Christmas Dinner

Craving a little tradition for Christmas, even if it isn't your own? For us former English majors, there's nothing as captivating as a savory description of a well-laid holiday repast--a table groaning from the strain of supporting a bulging  joint of beef, sumptuous pudding, quivering aspics, and anything with thick, fluffy mounds of cream. From Chaucer to Austen, Dickens to Woolf and beyond, English authors have known how to transform the basic annual Christmas meal into memorable culinary repasts.

Then there's real life. In San Diego. In 2012. But English expat Andrew Spurgin and his merry band of Confabularie will bring that style of sumptuous holiday dining on paper alive--in their unique way. On Sunday, Dec. 16, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Cafe Chloe's sister space, Oliver & Rose, Cooks Confab, with its extraordinary assortment of chefs and mixologists from around San Diego, will take us back to the days of Victoria and Albert--adding a bit of a French twist--and offer a Christmas meal that marries British tradition with Escoffier. Guests are even asked to arrive dressed to the nines in dinner attire, period dress, or even Steampunk-inspired ensemble. And, don't forget a Teddy Bear or some other new unwrapped plush toy that the Confab will be donating to children in need for the holidays.

"We're going to whisk you away to a forgotten era," Spurgin says. This is the style of food in which he finds great romance and he's long been fixated on even the most esoteric of traditions, like "port-iquette." For instance, Spurgin says, according to British naval custom, a decanter of port is placed in front of the host, who then serves the guest to his right, then passes the decanter to the guest of the left (port-side), at which point the port is passed to the left all the way back to the host. If the decanter doesn't make it all the way back, it's impolite to ask for it directly. Instead the host asks the guest closest to the decanter if his knows the bishop of Norwich or any other English village. This should get the decanter moving again. However, if the offender answers, "No," the response is that "the bishop is an awfully good fellow, but he never passes the port!" Even the most oblivious guest should realize then that he's hogging the decanter and will send it on its way.

Now, the menu is too long to list (mostly because I have a recipe to share with you below), but suffice to say that terrines, aspics, mince meats, Welch rarebit, rolling carvery, Yorkshire pudding, Christmas pudding, Stilton cheese--and port-- will all be involved. (There will also be a sixpence hidden in one of the puddings that will bring both good luck and a gift certificate for dinner for two.)

Surely, following dinner you'll be inspired to prepare at least one traditional English dish for your loved ones. Spurgin gave me his recipe for Yorkshire Pudding to share:

Andrew Spurgin's Yorkshire Pudding
(printable recipe here)
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 cup whole organic milk
1 cup hens eggs
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted twice
1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
2 tablespoons cold water
1/4 cup turkey drippings

1. Drain off turkey drippings and strain through a fine strainer. If cooking a beef roast do the same. If you have no drippings, use duck fat, bacon fat, lard, or butter.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
3. With a mixer, beat the eggs into the milk and salt. Sieve the flour into the custard and get rid of any lumps. Let rest for an hour at room temperature. Pour through a strainer and stir in the rosemary.
4. Heat a 12-count muffin or pop-over pan in the oven until very hot.
5. Heat the fat if it's not liquid. Mix the cold water into the custard. Add about a teaspoon of fat into each muffin cup. It should be smoking.
6. Give the custard one quick stir, then immediately fill each muffin cup 1/3 full with the custard and pop it into the oven. Do not open the oven until they're fully cooked.
7. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and serve immediately, sopping up with lots of lovely gravy.


Tickets for Cooks Confab Christmas Dinner are $175 with a percentage of the proceeds going, as always, to Slow Food Urban San Diego. You can purchase tickets at Brown Paper Tickets. Oliver & Rose is located at 726 Ninth Ave. in downtown San Diego.


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Cooks Confab: The Incredible Edible Egg!

Is there anything in the food world as wonderfully packaged and divinely luscious as your basic egg? It's the magical ingredient that can bask in the glow of its own light, scrambled, poached, or fried and lends a hand with other ingredients to puff up a souffle, add rise to a cake, and substance to a sauce.

So, it's no surprise that the next Cooks Confab is turning its attention to eggs. The confabularie is preparing brunch on Sunday, March 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. and this time newest member Trey Foshee of George's California Modern in La Jolla is hosting.

Here's a taste of what you'll be tasting and the chefs who are preparing it for us:

Brian Sinnott (1500 Ocean)/Nathan Coulon (Quarter Kitchen)

Stracciatella alla Romana

Escarole, Parmesan

Chicken egg

*

Hawaiian Loco Moco

Handmade SPAM, mushroom gravy, rice

Guinea hen egg

Andrew Spurgin/Donald Coffman (Waters Fine Catering)/Timothy Kolenko/Jeff Jackson (A.R. Valentien)

Schaner Hen Egg Quiche

Shaved Mushroom "Salad", Chervil, Parsley, 

Frill Greens, Pickled Artichoke

*

Pickled Egg with Finnan Haddie, Beets and Horseradish

Jason Knibb (Nine-Ten)

Truffle Deviled eggs

*

Sous Vide Duck Egg, chilaquiles

Katie Grebow (Cafe Chloe)/Amy DiBiase (Roseville)
Celebration of Egg Sauces
Bearnaise - Roast Top Sirloin
*
Gribiche - Local Asparagus
*
Aioli - Pewee Fingerling Potatoes
*
Emulsified Dressing - Baby Greens

Paul McCabe (Kitchen 1540)

 Eggs Royale, Dashi Gelee, Sea Urchin, Tempura Sea Beans

*

Scrambled Eggs, Perigord Truffles, Crème Fraiche, Buttered Toast

Georges Team

Vegetable Spanish Tortilla with Aioli

*

Pan Perdu with Poached Apple Syrup, Smoked Bacon Cream

*

Planked Salmon, Quail Egg, Caviar, Potato Foam

Tickets are $80 per person, and includes food, beverages, gratuity, and tax. A portion of the ticket price goes to Slow Food Urban San Diego. For reservations, contact Kristine Sauer at 858-454-4244. George's California Modern is located at 1250 Prospect St. in La Jolla.


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San Diego Gourmet Says "Oui"

Executive chef Katie Grebow joined Robert Whitley, Maureen Clancy and me this morning on San Diego Gourmet. Cafe Chloe, the popular French-style wine bistro located downtown on 9th Ave. at G St., is one of those rare restaurants that is not only fabulously good, but consistently good. I'm especially fond of the mussels, her crab cake made with Dungeness crab and, oh, those frites with three sauces!

We chatted about how she honed her cooking skills, her participation in the upcoming June Cooks Confab (she's handling the tongue part of a "tongue-and-cheek" dish collaboration with A. R. Valentien's TK Kolanko), the restaurant’s emphasis on sustainability and her passion for cheese. And, we touched on her soux chef’s spring obsession with offal appetizers.

Tune in at signonradio.com to listen to the podcast or just listen below:





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