Seafood, Cheese, and The Rules

The Rules say using cheese in seafood dishes is forbidden. The Rules dictate that the flavor of cheese is too bold and overwhelming for mild, delicate fish and shellfish. Cows and fish are separated by geography and therefore must remain separate on the plate, The Rules will have you believe.

If The Rules were strictly enforced, bagels with cream cheese and lox, Smoked Salmon Spread, crab dip, pizza with anchovies, tuna melts, tuna noodle casserole, coquilles St. Jacques, and even Caesar Salad would be prohibited. Who among us would want to live in a world without those?

The Rules against combining seafood come to us from the Italian culinary tradition, and you know I have great respect for Italian culinary tradition. I’m not saying that so many chefs, home cooks, and nonnas are wrong. But I am saying The Rules are meant to be broken. Cook what you like! Eat what you like, people, no matter what anyone else has to say about it!

So go ahead and fold crabmeat into your fettuccini with Alfredo Sauce and sprinkle grated parm onto your Spaghetti with Seafood Marinara and linguini with clams if you want to! Just be prepared for a few sideways glances from orthodox Italian cooks.

Before I get to a recipe that breaks all The Rules, I have a quick announcement: Leite’s Culinaria is giving away a copy of Flavored Butters. Enter for your chance to win.

Baked Paccheri with Crab and Ricotta
Printable Recipe

2 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter, diced, plus more for greasing the baking dishes
2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 quart milk
½ small yellow onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
500 grams (1.1 pounds) paccheri
2 large eggs
1 clove garlic, grated
1 ¾ pounds ricotta
5 ½ ounces grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
1 pound lump Dungeness crabmeat, picked over

Heat the butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until it melts, bubbles, and the foam subsides. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it begins to smell toasty. Whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, add the onion, bay leaf, clove, and nutmeg, and simmer for 20 to 22 minutes, or until thick. Remove from the heat, strain through a fine mesh sieve, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let cool.

Cook the paccheri in a large pot of boiling, salted water according to the package directions. When the paccheri begins to soften, using a wire skimmer, transfer it from the pot to a large bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking process, and then drain it thoroughly. Layer the paccheri between clean kitchen towels to dry.

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Butter 8 individual baking dishes. Whisk together the eggs and garlic in a large bowl. Stir in the ricotta, 1 ½ ounces of the Parmegiano, and the crabmeat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe into the paccheri, filling each one loosely. Divide the filled paccheri among the baking dishes, arranging them in a single layer. Divide the white sauce among the baking dishes and spread evenly. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 4 ounces of Parmegiano. Arrange the baking dishes on a baking tray and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

Serves 8. The paccheri should be boiled until it begins to soften but not until it is al dente. Undercooking the pasta in this way ensures that it doesn't become too mushy once it's baked. Feel free to substitute manicotti or jumbo shells for the paccheri. This rich dish is best accompanied by a salad with a sharp vinaigrette.

Images of Alaska and Smoked Salmon Spread

Wild, wondrous, and wintry. Alaska in the cold months is breathtaking. The forests, covered in a sheet of snow and ice, look as though they are made of glass.


And they're teaming with wildlife even in the bitter weather. Timid moose calves venture to the edge of the glass forest to graze on twigs while mother moose watch from between the trees.


Incidentally, the Alaskan cookbook I got includes various recipes for moose.

My one big goal in Alaska was to eat as much king crab as possible.


Which I did.


But for the first time for me, food took a back seat to the scenery. You simply don't notice a grumbling belly when you're watching a dozen Dall sheep scurrying up and down a cliff side.


We were told that the appearance of such a large group of sheep is very rare, and the sight brought out all the area nature photographers.


(If you're a photography enthusiast, note I was the ONLY person using a black lens.)


It turns out my Alaskan cookbook also has lots of recipes for mountain sheep. I think those Alaskans will eat anything that moves.

We got to see a grizzly bear at a wildlife preserve.


My Alaskan cookbook has a few bear recipes too, but it seems like a bear would probably eat you before you could eat it.

This time of year daylight is fleeting.


The sun doesn't rise as much as it peeks above the horizon.


Mountains cast long shadows across the valley floor.


The perpetual dusk makes the cold sink in.


It's bone chilling.


And it looks as cold as it feels.


But do I retreat to the warmth of the indoors?


No, I brave the freezing temperatures to marvel a little longer.


I'm overwhelmed by Alaska's beauty.

Of course, it's inevitable that my attention eventually turns back to food…

There's no need for a recipe for king crab legs since they're simply reheated and served with drawn butter, so here's another seafood delicacy inspired by our Alaskan adventures.

But first…Here's Smoke In Da Eye's review of Seared to Perfection. And in case you missed it, here's the demo I did of the Sage-Rubbed Pork Loin Chops with Cranberry-Pear Compote from Seared to Perfection on KOIN Studio 6 yesterday. I'm happy to report that I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be!


Smoked Salmon Spread
Printable Recipe

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
5 ½ ounces hot-smoked salmon, skinned
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Generous pinch cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill, chives, lemon juice, and cayenne in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Season to taste with pepper.

Makes about 2 cups. Serve with crackers, baguette slices, or cucumber sticks. Also makes a great bagel schmear. Keeps for a couple of days tightly sealed in the refrigerator. It’s best at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge about half an hour before serving.

Cake of One Sort or Another

My birthday was exactly one week ago. And since we’ll make the most of any excuse to celebrate, the festivities are ongoing. The hubby must've set out to spoil me because he’s been taking me out to eat a lot. We’ve indulged in fried chicken (my favorite guilty pleasure), ham and cheese croissants and chocolate bouchons at the Pearl Bakery, Chinese food, including an order of whole fried garlic fish (mmmm, garlic), gooey pizza, sushi, and Elephants Delicatessen’s Ding Dong Cakes. Yes, that’s cakes plural, because one cake is never enough. Oh, and he even managed to put a birthday candle into my birthday coffee. Don’t ask me how he did it, he’s the engineer…

Besides all that, we've also found room for some home cooking, mostly because I had to play with my birthday presents, all cookware of course (my family knows me well). So I made roast chicken rubbed with sweet Spanish paprika, garlic, and olive oil with the All-Clad Ultimate Chicken Roaster Hubby got me, and (although I’d already busted it out of its box and played with it once before) I used my KitchenAid Stand Mixer Pasta Press Attachment, a gift from my generous parents, to make homemade extruded spaghetti with sausage and broccoli.

The only birthday activity I didn’t get to—and trust me, I’m not complaining—is baking a birthday cake. I do usually bake my own cake, but with so much devil’s food and whipped cream coming my way already, it would’ve been overkill…

Um, hold everything—did I really just imply that there’s such a thing as cake overkill?

Anyway, I prepared cake of another sort...Lucky for me, Pacific Northwest Dungeness crab season just happens to coincide with my birthday season.


Ultimate Dungeness Crab Cakes with Chipotle Mayonnaise
Printable Recipe

¾ cup mayonnaise
2 to 3 chipotles en adobo sauce, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 large egg
¾ pound lump Dungeness crabmeat, picked over
1 ¼ cups panko breadcrumbs
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Blend together ½ cup of the mayonnaise, the chipotles, about a third of the garlic, and the lime juice in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt.

Mix together the green onions, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, egg, and the remaining garlic in a large bowl. Stir in the crabmeat, ¾ cup of the panko, and the remaining ¼ cup of mayonnaise and season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide into 8 equal portions and gently form each portion into a ball. Gently pat each ball into the shape of a small patty, about 2 ½ inches across. Dip each crab cake into the remaining ½ cup of panko to coat, patting so that it adheres.

Add the oil and butter to a large, heavy nonstick frying pan and heat over medium heat until a pinch of the breadcrumbs sizzles immediately when added. Add the crab cakes and fry without disturbing for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Using a fish spatula, turn the crab cakes and fry another 1 to 2 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown. Remove the crab cakes to a paper towel-lined plate and drain for about a minute. Arrange the crab cakes on individual plates, divide the chipotle mayonnaise among them, and serve immediately.

Makes 8 generous crab cakes. Pasty crab cakes that taste more like filler than crab are an all-too-common disappointment, so this is a recipe for crab cakes that are crisp and buttery on the outside, tender and moist on the inside, and big on sweet crab flavor. If Dungeness crabmeat is unavailable, try another variety. Be careful not to shred the crabmeat when mixing it with the other ingredients, and use gentle pressure when forming the cakes so that they hold together. One last thing—you may want to make extra chipotle mayo because it’s great on burgers too.

Crab

In a blind tasting of snow crab, king crab, and Dungeness crab, this taster found that Dungeness crabmeat was by far the sweetest, most tender, and most delicious. But you can judge for yourself.


Salad of Crab, Avocado & Grapefruit
Printable Recipe

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ripe Hass avocado
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over
1/3 cup diced red onion
Suprêmes from 1 grapefruit
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, and oil in a small bowl. Halve, pit, peel, and dice the avocado. Combine the avocado, crabmeat, onion, and suprêmes along with their juices in a large bowl, add the oil mixture, and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper, transfer to individual bowls, and serve immediately.

Serves 8 to 10 as a first course. For the most brilliant color, use Ruby Red grapefruit if you can find it.